"Bodybuilders of the cardiovascular system" - Fabio Jakobsen on how pro cycling can be detrimental for health

Fabio Jakobsen was one of the top sprinters in the early 2020's, even though he suffered a career-changing and life-threatening crash at the 2020 Tour de Pologne. In recent years, his performance has been more often hampered by an iliac artery issue (the same that just forced Eli Iserbyt into retirement at an early age). However, the Dutchman is motivated to make a comeback in 2026.

He is also going to be under pressure to do so, as his three-year contract is coming to an end this winter, and if he does not put the results forward, it's unlikely that the team will choose to keep him with other sprinters such as Pavel Bittner and Casper van Uden on board.

“No excuses, but the past two years in this team have been, to put it in bad words: shit, no results, one win. It’s not why I came here,” Jakobsen shared with several news outlets in Calpe including Domestique. Objectively speaking, the Dutchman can't be satisfied with the outcome of the past two seasons. In 2024 he was rather absent but still added a win to his name. In 2025 he had two outings where he had Top10 results at the UAE Tour and Paris-Nice, but these are now quite distant and ultimately didn't contribute to the team's success.

However this was in great part due to blood flow restriction in the iliac artery, diagnosed in March, which saw him take a break from cycling all the way until August. “But then at least there was a diagnosis for why I couldn't sprint for wins anymore in the final. Relief is the wrong word, but at least you understand why and how, and you understand that it had less to do with training and with nutrition and with sleep and with all the other things.”

However for a second time this decade, he needed to undergo a months-long recovery, which naturally saw him return to competition in August without good form. He only rode in a domestique role throughout the last races of his season, although he was not able to finish any. Whilst not yet a veteran, the 29-year old has learnt a lot over recent years and understands well the dangers that come with being a professional rider.

“As you get older, you realize that nothing is permanent and top sport can be unhealthy or sometimes detrimental for your health. But luckily nowadays we can at least fix that in the medical world. The condition that I had was partly bad luck but also partly self-caused, I would say, because we’re doing abnormal things, of course, with five, six or seven-hour training rides and Grand Tours".

“It’s like we’re bodybuilders, but bodybuilders of the cardiovascular system. So yeah, every now and then there’s a rider that’s going to push the limits and go further. I wouldn’t call it bad luck, it’s just unlucky.”

Team Picnic PostNL have just lost Tobias Lund Andresen, Romain Bardet and Oscar Onley in the space of a few months, without having signed a new rider who can take up leadership at the team. Hence, there is more space for Jakobsen to have opportunities if he finds good form, however he first needs to get the season on the road.

A decision to race a Grand Tour at the time being is out of place, and hasn't been made for the Dutchman. “It’s too soon to say. I think if you come from a year like that, then to speak only about winning is maybe even a step too high. I can feel in training that it’s in the legs, and now it’s about showing that final sprint in the final of races.”

Jakobsen will start his season at the AlUla and UAE Tour, to try and take and take advantage of the pan-flat stages to open up his tally for 2026, or at least taking motivating results. He has Le Samyn, Nokere Koerse and Scheldeprijs also on his schedule as he looks to also get back to contention of the Belgian cobbled semi-classics.

And at the end of 2026 looms an important question, which is of his next contract. Will it be elsewhere, or still in the Dutch team that took a big bet on him? “I’m not even thinking about that yet, I’m focusing on the here and now. I’m not talking to other teams yet because no one knows – and I also don't know – how it’s going to go. I don’t think it’s my last year on the bike. But first we need to start racing and get a good half a year in to see how it goes".

Then this team and other teams will know what my position is within cycling and if it’s worth even keeping me or giving me a contract. I am positive that I can perform again, but it’ll be a wait and see. I can say now that I’m confident and I’m going to win again, but no one really knows," he concluded.