Having made a miraculous recovery from awful injuries sustained at the Tour de Pologne last year, Fabio Jakobsen says he is not guaranteed a place on the Deceuninck-QuickStep team at the Tour de France.
The Dutch rider, who roared back to form at La Vuelta with three stage wins and victory in the points classification, said Mark Cavendish was now part of the team and had shown he was back to his best.
And Jakobsen said that after he had raced in the spring campaign, his form would be assessed and it would be decided who in the team would ride the Giro and who would go to the Tour.
"I would like to ride it, but I am looking forward to the spring first," Jakobsen said of the Tour de France in an interview with De Telegraph.
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"I have missed (the spring races) for the last two years, and that’s where I will have to earn my place in the Giro or Tour team.
"I like that not everything is certain, that keeps me sharp. And we have Mark Cavendish. He showed in the last Tour that he is back. We are both sprinters, but we also give each other a lot."
Going into the 2021 season, Deceuninck-QuickStep had Irishman Sam Bennett as its lead sprinter and he delivered repeatedly, with seven wins by the end of the first week in May.
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Jakobsen was coming back after his crash and Cavendish had been taken on by the team as something of a punt, though he immediately started to show form again.
After the 2021 campaign, Bennett has moved on to Bora-hansgrohe. Jakobsen seems fully recovered and Cavendish's career looks re-born, having won four stages at the Tour and the green jersey.
And that return to form by the Manxman must be factored into team selection from the start of the 2022 season; something Jakobsen accepts even though team boss Patrick Lefevere had previously spoken of the Dutch rider as a certainty for the Tour.
Jakobsen's crash at the Tour de Pologne occurred after Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo Visma) deviated from his line. The roadside barriers then failed spectacularly and turned into dangerous projectiles that flew into the bunch and took down other riders.
Deceuninck-QuickStep is now suing Groenewegen and while Jakobsen said the case was in the hands of the team's lawyers, it was something he supported.
"I hardly ever think about it. That is in the hands of the right people who have studied for it. I still stand behind the road we have taken and I think this has to happen," he said.
"This benefits cycling and everyone's conscience, and then there will be clarity. Hopefully, the outcome will not change my future. I am especially happy to be back on the bike and still good at it."
