# Mickaël Delage

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

## Career

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. 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.
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.

## Major results
### 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

| 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 |
Legend :
| — | Did not compete |
| DNF | Did not finish |