{"id":238042,"date":"2025-11-01T15:47:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T15:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/238042\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T15:47:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T15:47:09","slug":"id-be-lying-if-i-said-i-didnt-have-to-get-used-to-giving-instructions-to-wout-van-aert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/238042\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019d be lying if I said I didn\u2019t have to get used to giving instructions to Wout van Aert”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Team Visma <\/a>| Lease a Bike is one of the top teams in the peloton and alongside the sports director role comes a lot of responsibility and pressure. Jesper Morkov<\/a> has thrived in this role this year guiding the team to both its Grand Tour wins despite being around the same age as several of the team’s riders.In words to DR Sporten<\/a>\u00a0the Dane shared details on the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a. Early on in the race there were barely no differences, but on stage 9 to Estacion de Valdezcaray Vingegaard attacked early in the climb, creating a difference to Jo\u00e3o Almeida which then allowed the team to race with a different strategy. And with an illness that developed during the race, conservative racing became the priority when the queen stages began.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cJonas had his eye on the Angliru stage. But on the day, he told me he wasn\u2019t feeling great, so we had to switch to a more defensive plan,” Morkov explained. “It wasn\u2019t about winning anymore, but about not losing time.\u201d He ultimately rode in the wheel of Almeida in the entire final kilometers but then lost in the downhill sprint.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

However ultimately, Vingegaard rode in the end to the overall win, the same feat the team achieved at the Giro d’Italia with Simon Yates where Morkov was behind the wheel. At age 37, which wouldn’t even have him as the oldest in the team if he was a rider, he’s managed to prove himself as a quality sports director worthy of being in a top team.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course I wondered if Visma might be a bit too high a level for me. But I rolled up my sleeves and showed that it\u2019s not about your r\u00e9sum\u00e9. When you succeed in both the Giro and the Vuelta, and when you help a young rider like Matthew Brennan\u00a0achieve 12 wins in his first pro season, that gives you confidence,” he admits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But it did for a while feel odd to guide around legends of the sport such as Jonas Vingegaard<\/a> and Wout van Aert. \u201cI\u2019d be lying if I said I didn\u2019t have to get used to giving instructions to Wout van Aert. He\u2019s one of the biggest stars in the sport, so the idea that I, with my modest CV, would give him advice on how to ride a finale, that took some getting used to.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, he feels like he is a good fit for the team, and with Vingegaard being Danish, Morkov is a worthy asset to collaborate with. \u201cIt sounds banal, but it\u2019s incredibly relaxing to have someone to speak Danish with. It makes it easier to talk about other things than cycling, there\u2019s a comfort in using your mother tongue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin the team, I can feel more respect, or maybe that\u2019s saying too much, but there\u2019s no doubt that the results I\u2019ve been part of this year have strengthened my position.\u201d However it is difficult to say he will be the man to guide the team at the Tour de France. \u201cRight now, I\u2019m just taking things as they come. This is the dream job I never dreamed of, because I never thought it was possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Team Visma | Lease a Bike is one of the top teams in the peloton and alongside the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-238042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}