Fabio Jakobsen is set to return to race action in coming days after the Tour de Pologne crash last August that proved both life-threatening and career-threatening.
The former Dutch champion will get back into the peloton at the Tour of Turkey this weekend where he will be part of a Deceuninck-QuickStep line-up that also includes fellow sprinters Mark Cavendish and Álvaro Hodeg.
Jakobsen crashed on the finish line on the opening stage of Tour de Pologne last year, though he actually won the stage. Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) moved to his right in the sprint, which caused the crash.
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And after a catastrophic failure of the crowd control barriers Jakobsen crashed through them and into the scaffolding holding up the finish line gantry. Groenewegen was suspended for nine months though no action was taken against the race.
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Among the many injuries Jakobsen suffered was brain trauma and serious facial injuries, including broken teeth. He said while getting back into racing would be dangerous, his goal was to try and help the team and also finish the Tour of Turkey, which starts on Sunday.
Speaking to the media ahead of his first race back he was in good form and was even able to joke about the fact he lost so many teeth. He explained he is still missing ten - five on the bottom and five on top - and has to wait for five months to have implants and his bones need to further recover.
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“First of all, I looked sharp because when I arrived back from Poland I lost 5 to 6kg and without teeth, it’s a little hard to eat that all back,” Jakobsen joked about the situation when a journalist remarked that he looked lean in recent photos in the media.
He explained the goal for the team in Turkey was to win a stage with Cavendish and he was very willing to help with the lead-outs, though he said the first thing he must do is trust the other riders in the peloton.
“My sprint is not back at the top level yet but I’m still a sprinter and I think that’s why they’re still confident I can win races,” he said. “It motivates me that they say things like that, because I think everybody at times has doubts in themselves.
“In my mind, I’ve already won a couple of races but my
body has to work with me, I’m not 100 per cent sure but if my trainer says the
old Fabio is still in there.
“I can sometimes feel in training that it’s going quite well. Let’s say; I’m 50 per cent sure I’ll win a race and the other 50 per cent I’m not so sure. I’ll only sprint if I feel I can win but I don’t think for now that’s the case.”
Jakobsen is a rider who has always won a lot of races, with the 24-year-old taking seven wins in 2018, his first season at WorldTour level and his first year with Deceuninck-QuickStep. Those wins included Scheldeprijs.
In 2019 he took 10 wins including Scheldeprijs again, the Dutch road title and two stages at La Vuelta. And last year, though he barely had any racing due to the Covid-19 pandemic and his crash on his first day back racing when events returned, he still took four wins in just 13 days of racing.
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