Fabio Jakobsen abandoned his final race of the season at the Tour of Guangxi as a non-starter on stage 3, ending a tough first year at DSM-Firmenich PostNL in which he has only managed one victory.
It's been a season of struggle for Jakobsen plagued by crashes and illness, with the Dutch sprinter not making it past stage 12 at either of his key goals - the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France. Jakobsen has eight withdrawals among his 2024 results, with today's DNS in Guangxi being his third from his past six race days.
DSM-Firmenich PostNL didn't specifically reveal the reason why Jakobsen pulled out of his final race of the season, however, the Dutchman had struggled in the first two stages, finishing in 48th and 123rd, respectively, without contesting either bunch sprint and showed signs of illness.
"The team set out to go for it with Fabio Jakobsen in the finale. However, during the stage Jakobsen indicated to the car that he wasn’t feeling so good, so the team switched their roles and protected Casper van Uden as sprint finisher," read DSM's post-race report after day 1.
Jakobsen joined DSM-Firmenich PostNL from Soudal-QuickStep for the 2024 season, however, the partnership between Dutch fast man and Dutch team hasn't been as successful as they'd hoped, with their lead-out train not firing and their sprinter not performing.
The 28-year-old is contracted for two more years at DSM-Firmenich PostNL until 2026.
“It was everything together. Then you miss just a few per cent and you feel that very hard in top-level sport. I think it can all be solved. Only, you first have to find out what it is. I know roughly myself, but of course not completely yet,” said Jakobsen of his issues in 2024 to WielerFlits earlier in the season.
"Then it's working together with the people who know about it with my own feeling and insight as well and then it has to be fine towards next year. Ultimately, sprinting is the only thing I can really do with the pros, in the rest I will always be one of the worst. But we want to win again with that sprinting. Then we have to work on everything."
It's Jakobsen's lowest win tally in a season since he turned pro with QuickStep in 2018, with his sole win coming at the 2.Pro Tour of Turkey in April. He's twice been a runner-up in 2024, with his best WorldTour result being fourth on stage 1 of the UAE Tour.
In 2021, after he fought back to form after a life-threatening and near career-ending crash at the 2020 Tour de Pologne, Jakobsen miraculously managed six wins and three at the Vuelta a España.
Without Jakobsen, a six-time Grand Tour stage winner, being nowhere close to his top form, DSM have yet to crack the top 14 on a stage of the Tour of Guangxi and look unlikely to score another win and escape finishing with their lowest WorldTour win total since the WT was started in 2011.
