The sycophant may be a slowcoach (7)
I believe the answer is:
crawler
'the sycophant' is the definition.
('crawler' can be a synonym of 'sycophant')
I don't understand the remainder of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for crawler that I've seen before include "Minion" , "Sycophant" , "Toady" , "Internet search program" , "Obsequious person" .)