What’s going on with Magnus Cort? Dane forced to end season early, still in the dark about his ailments

Cort started the season excellently. The extremely strong rider was the best in three of the five stages of O Gran Camiño, and even in the queen stage, he was able to keep up with the best. This earned him third place in the final rankings, behind Derek Gee (Israel - Premier Tech) and Davide Piganzoli (Polti VisitMalta). He then continued his fantastic spring with two sixth places in the Strade Bianche and Milan-Sanremo.

In May, he finished second in Eschborn-Frankfurt, but things clearly went wrong in the run-up to the Tour de France. He disappointed in the Critérium du Dauphiné, and he was completely invisible in La Grande Boucle itself. A rest period after the Tour should have done him good, but on his return, in his home country during the Tour of Denmark, no less, he had to withdraw after only two days.

Cort has not competed since then. He tried to recover again, but by the end of September, he decided not to race anymore this year. "Unfortunately, I have to end the season here," he wrote on Instagram. "After weeks of trying to find the energy to train and race without success, it has been decided that it is best to get a proper rest and hopefully come back strong for the next season."

The uncertainty about what is wrong is particularly frustrating. “We don’t know fully what is wrong so that is a bit frustrating. I can look back at a season where I maybe had my best spring ever. So I can still be proud of what I have achieved this year even though I would really have liked to be out there with the team fighting for important uci points right now.”

Uno-X Mobility is currently engaged in a fierce battle for the last WorldTour spot. At the time of writing, the Norwegian team has a lead of just over 200 UCI points on Cofidis. Uno-X could have used Cort's services: he won the Veneto Classic last year, deep into October. Now that he is on the sidelines, the Dane concludes with: "#ItIsHardToBeACyclist."