Mark Cavendish's leadout Michael Morkov positive for Covid-19 and taken out of Tour de France

Michael Morkov is racing his final Tour de France but it has had a premature end. The Astana Qazaqstan Team rider, who has been supporting and leading out Mark Cavendish in the bunch sprints so far, has been forced to abandon the race after contracting Covid-19.

It is said that Bahrain - Victorious is having Covid-19 within it's team as riders made it to the start of yesterday's stage in separate vehicles - whilst throughout the stage Fred Wright reached the finish out of the time limit and Pello Bilbao had a very bad day and fell out of the overall classification. Cofidis also had two riders abandon after displaying unusual fragility at the start of the stage. Surely, there are cases of the disease in the peloton, whether it be riders, staff or organization. Morkov has been confirmed to test positive.

"Yesterday evening and this morning Michael Mørkøv was tested positive for Covid-19," Astana shared in a press release. "Despite the rider feels good and doesn’t have essential symptoms, the medical staff of Astana Qazaqstan Team took a decision to stop the rider, first of all, to protect his health from long-term effects the virus could provoke in the future."

Cavendish's victory early in the race was achieved without a leadout in the final kilometer, but Morkov has still been present in the final kilometers of the flat stages. Just some days ago, the Danish rider announced his retirement: "I'm very proud of what I've achieved as a track cyclist, as a road cyclist, being a part of the biggest races in the world, being a part of some of the biggest teams as well," he had said.

"Being surrounded by great teammates and I’ve made a lot of friendships during the years. I'm very proud of what I got out of my talent, to be honest," he said. "I was never the most talented rider as a young rider, but I really managed to work really hard, and I feel I achieved all what I could achieve."