On 5 August 2020, Fabio Jakobsen crashed through the barriers during the high-speed finale of stage 1 of the Tour of Poland in Katowice after rival Dylan Groenewegen pushed him off in the final sprint. He suffered numerous broken bones. The doctors put him into an induced coma.
Jakobsen fought for his life
They stitched his face with 130 stitches. When he woke up in the intensive care unit, he saw aluminium coffins being wheeled onto the ward. "That's when I knew it was really serious," he later recalled. Even a priest came. "They asked me if he could sit at my bedside. I nodded. I'm not religious, but I thought that if it wouldn't help, it wouldn't hurt. I was desperate, I wanted to stay alive," he said in an interview with the Dutch newspaper Daily newspaper AD.
At the time, nobody could have believed that Jakobsen would ever work as a professional cyclist again. And certainly not so fast and so successful in the always dangerous bunch sprints. But things turned out differently: in 2022, Jakobsen took part in the Tour de France for the first time and recorded his first stage win on the second day.
Jakobsen comes up trumps at the Vuelta a Espana
"You can think it's a miracle. It's definitely a special story. Almost a fairytale," Jakobsen tried to put his emotions into words. His Tour stage win also put him in the spotlight outside of the cycling world. Jakobsen's comeback had already begun in 2021. At the Vuelta a Espana he celebrated stage wins on the 4th, 8th and 16th stages - and took the green jersey of the best sprinter.
There were also two second places. The Dutchman was by far the most successful sprinter at this Vuelta, ahead of the up-and-coming Jasper Philipsen from Alpecin-DeceuninckHe won two stages after all. Former Milan-San Remo winner Arnaud Demare was no match for him, nor was Michael Matthews, winner of the green jersey in the 2017 Tour de France, although top sprinters such as Caleb Ewan and Mark Cavendish were absent.
Cycling fairytale in three stages
Nevertheless, this comeback has the traits of a cycling fairytale. Jakobsen himself divides his recovery process into three stages. "Firstly, it was about becoming a normal person again. Then it was about whether I could become a professional cyclist again. And the third part was whether I would be good enough for the challenges of a bunch sprint," Jakobsen told TOUR on the sidelines of this Vuelta a Espana.
It was both a physical and psychological rehabilitation process. "I can't say which process was the more difficult. They were both interdependent. The physical healing affected my self-confidence. The feeling of being able to take part in races again motivated me to train," he says.
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl gets Jakobsen back on track
He benefited from the fact that they were able to Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl know how to turn sprinters' souls back into winners in a crisis. "We built him up carefully, gave him time and instilled our trust in him," said team boss Patrick Lefevere, usually a roughneck when it comes to employee motivation.
Despite the terrible crash in Poland - Jakobsen is not afraid of the hectic bunch sprints, he claims: "I'm focussing on the race situation. I know what I have to do." He is not always applauded by his rivals. "You rode into my sprint train," Belgian Jasper Philipsen accused him after stage 2 of the Vuelta a Espana 2021.
Trouble with Philipsen
Two kilometres before the finish, Jakobsen's rider, Zdenek Stybar, had in fact caught up with Jakobsen between Philipsen and his rider - if you want to win in bunch sprints, you can't be squeamish. Philipsen slowed down, but then won anyway - in a finish that the two sprinters ultimately fought out with a large safety margin between them. The ensuing dispute between the two at least took place in a calm tone of voice. Jacobsen is not the type to freak out anyway: "I'm actually a calm guy," he says.
The fall and its consequences have made him even more reflective: "I now know what it's like to lose everything." And a smile flies across his face as he adds: "I think I've grown ten years wiser." Now he is not only back in the race, but success has also returned. "My results here are better than those of 2019," he stated during the Vuelta. Three years ago, in his very first Grand Tour ever, he took two stage wins in Spain.
Ambitious goals
Jakobsen is ambitious - the comeback has whetted his appetite for more: "I want to have a career like Peter Sagan or Mark Cavendish in the future," he says confidently. Jakobsen will have to measure himself against Dylan Groenewegen again. The same Groenewegen who pushed him into a barrier at 80 kilometres per hour at the Tour of Poland in 2020 - but the story seems to have a happy ending for both of them.
Groenewegen eventually won the Stage 3 of the Tour de France 2022after Jakobsen had previously won the second stage. Groenewegen also had to go through a lot after the accident.
Groenewegen and Jakobsen meet again
As a result, he was considered persona non grata for a long time and was banned for several months. "It's been a long road. I can only thank my team, my family and my friends. Mentally, it was a tough time after everything that happened," explained Groenewegen, who rode for the team. BikeExchange drives.
Whether Groenewegen and Jakobsen will become friends again, however, seems rather unlikely after Jakobsen's latest statements. "Before the accident, I admired his successes and looked up to him a little," said the 25-year-old. "But that's completely gone after the crash because of the mistake he made." At least it will probably not be the last time that Jakobsen comments on Groenewegen, because both are back at the top of the world - something that hardly seemed possible two years ago.
