Three stories of overcoming come together in the 39th edition of the Vuelta a San Juan. In all of them, their protagonists saw death pass before their eyes: evenepoel when he fell off a bridge in Lombardy, Bernal crashing into a bus during training… Same case of a Fabio Jakobsen (26 years old) who two and a half years ago suffered a terrifying fall in a sprint of the Tour of Poland that left him in an induced coma and with multiple injuries. Despite the difficulties, the Dutchman Soudal Quick-Step He came forward with an iron will to not only recover a great level on the bike, but to be an even better cyclist.
“I think I’ve become a stronger runner, a bit older and hopefully wiser. If you look at the results, which in the end is what marks, I have won a stage in the Tour, I am European champion and before the fall I had none of these victories. Last year I got more than ten victories, something I hadn’t done before either. It is clear that I have become someone stronger.” Jakobsen explained to AS’s question during his meeting with the Spanish media at the Del Bono hotel in San Juan, one day before starting his 2023 season on Argentine soil.
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The adversities brought Evenepoel very close, with whom Fabio claims to have a close emotional bond: “We both know what it means to come back after a serious crash. It has taken us time, between six months and a year. We have talked a lot about it, we love cycling and that shows why Remco and I are at the top of our sport, because we train, we enjoy what we do and we have a very strong mentality to keep going. We are very supportive of each other and are very happy to be together. I feel a kind of connection to Remco because of what has happened to us.”
This friendship will allow the Belgian team to distribute the roles with absolute clarity in San Juan, with the world champion being their man for the general classification and the European champion their trump card for partial victories. “Remco is a very strong rider and it’s great to have him here with us. He will be important, along with Lampaert and Morkov, to prepare the train for arrivals. There will be several sprints for me and in the Colorado stage we will have to help him (Evenepoel) to give the best of himself”, Jakobsen analyzed the team’s objectives for this event, in addition to making it clear where his personal ambitions for the future: “When you’re a sprinter you want to be the fastest and win as many races as possible. That is what I want to be, but it consists of going year by year. Cycling is an increasingly specialized sport and my talent lies in massive sprints. I’ve got the legs and the speed for it, so My goal is to become one of the best sprinters of my time.” Of course, it will not be for lack of will…