Another lackluster sprint from Fabio Jakobsen has experts in disbelief: "If Jakobsen has another year like that, he'll lose his position in team hierarchy"

Fabio Jakobsen started his 2025 season on Tuesday at the AlUla Tour. Despite a good position heading into the final meters, he was merely able to get up to speed briefly before sitting done with a hopeless expression in his face. He finished eleventh, suggesting that a miraculous resurrection after a disaster of 2024 may not be happening after all.

"Jakobsen has had a terrible year. They say now that he has lost a lot of weight and muscle mass. I wonder if that will make him perform better," the analysts at Kop over Kop podcast outline.

According to the gentlemen, the team is also partially to blame for Jakobsen's failure last season. "The way the team wanted to tackle it failed. We can say that the sprint train was fine, but the leader was not fine. The team wanted to solve it themselves at first, but then Jakobsen said: 'Listen to me a bit more. I've been a good sprinter for years too'."

The analysts compare Jakobsen to Dylan Groenewegen, who also had weaker periods in the past. "You saw it with Groenewegen too. We are very structured with data and that is very good for riders who ride uphill. I think that is different with the sprinters. It takes confidence, bravado, guts and aggression to get those riders to their peak. Things didn't go well for Groenewegen last year either, so he started doing the old-fashioned training behind his father's moped and riding flat out. That's how he puts himself back on the map."

The question is what Jakobsen needs to return to his old level. "What does he need? Does he need Tim Merlier and Mark Cavendish to be next to him, so that he thinks: oh my, I have to have that spot here!"

Finally, it's a question of how long will be the Dutchman able to keep his position of number one sprinter of Picnic PostNL against up and coming youngsters like Pavel Bittner, Tobias Lund Andresen and Casper van Uden. "If Jakobsen has another year like that, it remains to be seen who they should send to the Tour de France at Picnic PostNL, but let's hope that Jakobsen shines again like before."