'Tough times never last but tough people do' - Fabio Jakobsen abandons Tour de France

Fabio Jakobsen (Dsm-firmenich PostNL) abandoned the Tour de France early during stage 12 after being dropped from the peloton during the early attacks. 

The Dutch sprinter was reportedly not feeling 100%. He was first dropped after 15km of fast racing, fought for 20 km but eventually climbed off when he was timed more than four minutes behind the peloton. 

“Tough times never last but tough people do,” the Dsm-firmenich PostNL team posted on social media.  

“After battling through a fast and climb-filled #TDF2024, Fabio Jakobsen is forced to abandon the Tour, not feeling 100%. 

“We zullen samen sterker terugkomen, Fabio! - We will come back stronger together, Fabio!” the team added in Dutch.  

His teammate Nils Eekhoff was also involved in an early crash with race leader Tadej Pogacar but was able to return to the peloton.

Jakobsen won a stage of the 2022 Tour de France and has 46 career victories. 

His career almost ended in 2020 when he clashed with Dylan Groenewegen in the high-speed sprint on stage 1 of the Tour de Pologne. Jakobsen suffered serious facial injuries but returned to racing in April 2021, while Groenewegen was banned for nine months.

Jakobsen joined Dsm-firmenich PostNL for 2024 but has so far only won a stage at the Presidential Cycling Tour of Türkiye.

His abandon comes only hours after Astana-Qazaqstan announced Michael Mørkøv would be a DNS on stage 12 following a positive COVID-19, amid concerns of several potential cases in the peloton.