Mickaël Delage

Mickaël Delage
	Delage at the 2011 Four Days of Dunkirk
Personal information
Full name	Mickaël Delage
Born	6 August 1985 (age 38); Libourne, France
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	70 kg (154 lb)
Team information
Current team	Retired
Disciplines	Road; Track;
Role	Rider
Rider type	Rouleur
Professional teams
2005–2008	Française des Jeux
2009–2010	Silence–Lotto
2011–2021	FDJ

Mickaël Delage (born 6 August 1985) is a French former professional road and track cyclist, who last rode for UCI WorldTeam Groupama–FDJ.^[3]

Career edit

Born in Libourne, Delage participated at the World Track Championships in Moscow in 2003 as a junior, where he won the silver medal at the points race, after Australian Miles Olman. In that same year he would become national junior champion of France at the team pursuit (alongside Jonathan Mouchel, Yannick Marie and Mickaël Mallie) and the madison (together with Mouchel). In 2004 he would win the national title in the points race at the under-23 level.

Delage spent 17 years as a professional rider on the road, riding for 15 of those years with the Française des Jeux team across two spells.^[4] He made his Giro d'Italia debut in 2006 and finished in 129th position and he won the 1st stage of the Tour de l'Avenir. Later that year he would again become French national champion when he won the team pursuit together with Mathieu Ladagnous, Jonathan Mouchel, Sylvain Blanquefort and Mickaël Preau. In 2007 he made his Tour de France debut.

Delage's two periods with FDJ were separated by an interlude with Silence–Lotto, joining the Belgian squad alongside FDJ team-mate Philippe Gilbert. Whilst at Lotto he achieved what he later described as the best performance of his career, finishing as runner-up in the 2009 Clásica de San Sebastián. He returned to FDJ in 2011, where he found a role as a leadout man for Arnaud Démare.^[4]

Delage suffered injuries at the 2020 Tour de Pologne when he crashed whilst riding downhill at 80 km/h, including a meniscus injury and friction burns. Following this he decided to retire from competition when his contract expired at the end of the following season. Although his 2021 season was disrupted by undergoing knee surgery in March, he returned to competition at the French National Road Race Championships, and finished his career at Paris–Chauny in the autumn.^[4]

Major results edit

2003

National Junior Track Championships

1st

Team pursuit

1st

Madison

2nd

Points race, UCI Junior Track World Championships

2004

1st

Points race, National Under-23 Track Championships

2005

9th Overall Circuit Franco-Belge

2006

1st

Team pursuit, National Track Championships

1st Stage 1 Tour de l'Avenir

2007

10th Tour de Vendée

2008

4th Overall Tour Down Under

2009

2nd Clásica de San Sebastián

2010

3rd Road race, National Road Championships

2011

5th Overall Tour de Luxembourg

6th Paris–Tours

7th Overall Tour de Picardie

9th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk

9th Grand Prix d'Isbergues

Tour de France

Combativity award, Stages 3 & 11

2012: 3rd Cholet-Pays de Loire; 3rd Grand Prix de la Somme; 6th Polynormande
2013: 1st La Roue Tourangelle; 7th Paris–Bourges
2014: 6th Paris–Bourges; 9th Grand Prix d'Isbergues; 10th Grand Prix de la Somme
2016: 1st Stage 1 (TTT) La Méditerranéenne; 4th La Roue Tourangelle
2018: 8th Paris–Bourges
2019: 7th Tro-Bro Léon

Grand Tour general classification results timeline edit

Grand Tour	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Giro d'Italia	129	—	—	—	—	—	144	—	—	—	148	—	—	—	—
Tour de France	—	117	—	101	DNF	132	—	—	143	—	—	DNF	—	—	—
/ Vuelta a España	—	DNF	103	73	DNF	—	—	—	—	109	—	—	112	DNF	142