Fabio Jakobsen has sprinted three times on the evocatively-named Avenida dos Descobrimentos in Lagos and each time he has mounted the podium afterwards to receive the first yellow jersey of the Volta ao Algarve.
Already the winner of a pair of stages at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, Jakobsen was the favourite to claim the honours on Wednesday. Those odds shortened still further when he had five of his QuickStep-AlphaVinyl teammates for company in the reduced front group that contested the finish after two mass crashes in the final hour of racing.
Remco Evenepoel, Yves Lampaert and Bert Van Lerberghe helped to pilot Jakobsen, who duly delivered a powerful kick in the final 200 metres to win the day, beating Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) – later relegated for his manoeuvre in the finishing straight – as well as Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) to the line.
“It was a hectic last 60km, but I think we were always there with the team: we stayed calm and we were with a small bunch,” Jakobsen said after the podium ceremony. “In the end it was Remco who pulled us over the climb before Lagos, he did an amazing pull. Even as a GC guy, it’s super to see he puts in work to lead me out in the sprint.
"Then we hit the roundabouts with Lampaert and Van Lerberghe, and they put me in a perfect position to launch my sprint. It was a tailwind, so it was a fast one.”
In the period since his last Volta ao Algarve stage victory in 2020, Jakobsen had endured and overcome more than could ever be expected of a man of his years. If success at last year’s Vuelta a España marked the symbolic and emotional end of that arduous period of rehabilitation, then victory in the friendly confines of Lagos was a more modest, but no less welcome step back into a familiar routine.
“I love to come here, the weather is good, it’s the perfect area to race and start the season,” Jakobsen smiled. “We did a training camp here at the beginning of February. We know this finish quite well and I’m super happy to take the victory for the third time.”
QuickStep-AlphaVinyl directeur sportif Tom Steels, winner of nine bunch finishes at the Tour de France during his racing career, is better placed than most to weigh up the magnitude of Jakobsen’s comeback from his horrific crash at the 2020 Tour de Pologne. “I think both,” Steels said, when asked if Jakobsen’s physical or psychological recovery had been the more striking.
“Physically, of course, he had to come back from very far,” Steels continued. “He needed last year to come back physically. We saw in the Tour of Spain he was already on a good level, and now with a good winter and a good preparation, he is where he has to be. I mean, for me, he has the qualities to be one of the best in the world. It’s just nice to see him on this level again.”
Jakobsen is the man currently occupying the most coveted position in sprinting, namely, number one in QuickStep-AlphaVinyl’s depth chart. He is scheduled to make his Tour de France debut this July, even if Mark Cavendish, winner of four stages and the green jersey last year, would be more than willing to return to the race should the opportunity arise, and he began his season with a stage win at the Tour of Oman last week.
Steels, who cohabited with fellow fast men like Jan Svorada during his time at Mapei, maintains that Cavendish’s presence on the team does not place any additional pressure on Jakobsen’s shoulders.
“I’d talk more about motivation,” Steels said. “They’re both on the top level. One is young and the other one, Cav, is still riding on a really high level, but it’s motivation. It’s nice to see them both on a high level. It’s always good to have two top sprinters on a team.”
