Michael Mørkøv (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) got a memorable debut in the world's toughest bike race, the Tour de France in 2012, when he wore the mountain jersey in the first week.

His recent participation in the Tour of California was a new experience for the Dane, as he commented to the team website: “The Tour of California is a great and varied race but it’s the set-up around the race that separates it from the races on the European roads. There is a bigger show and hype around you, the scenes are colourful and the announcer beefs up the atmosphere in true American style.”

“It was good fun and at the same time inspiring and motivating to be supporting Michael Rogers. He was incredibly good at delegating the workload and letting everyone know what he needed. We did a good job and got a fairly good result.”

Speaking of his future ambitions, Mørkøv said: “I'm doing Tour de Suisse in a few weeks where I'll do my best to show my worth in terms of getting picked out for the Tour de France line-up. The dream of another Tour de France is alive, and very much so. I believe in my chances even though this year's competition is tougher than perhaps ever before.”

“I have planned the season for it and at this time, I have 2-3 training sessions a day to reach my absolute peak condition in July. Since the team time trial is extremely important in this year's Tour, I spend a lot of time on my time trial bike.”

Before the Tour come the national championships, though, and Mørkøv has set his sights on them, too: “The TT championships are a good test for me regardless of the Tour de France but I also have two bronze medals, I would like to replace with more precious metal. But it's hard to win the Danish national championships. Competition is fierce and we have a long and growing list of time trial specialists in Danish racing.”