Fabio Jakobsen battles cramps to open season tally

After a miraculous recovery story last year Fabio Jakobsen returned to the pro peloton and asserted himself back as one of the top sprinters in the world. This year, he's looking to keep up with that title.

Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl have got two wins in two stages in the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana and it is no surprise. Coming in with a strong team and good preparation, word within the team is that they were ready to take on this challenge: "Three good training camps, Remco showed yesterday that as a team we are in shape, on a personal level I'm also in good shape."

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Valenciana: Fabio Jakobsen takes first win of the season

I'm happy I could finish it off, I have to say towards the end I didn't have the best legs as I started to get a little bit of cramps as at the end it was hot and it was quite a good pace today. But yeah to win is never easy, it makes it more enjoyable."

"It started with Josef Cerny he basically controlled almost the whole day. In the final 10 kilometers Mikkel Honoré did a huge effort on the front, after that it was Mattia, and Remco did an amazing pull. And then it was Yves, Michael. [Intermarché] Wanty passed us in the last corner, otherwise it would've been a perfect leadout but in the end a win is a win and I'm happy to pay back the guys."

This was on paper the sprint stage that Jakobsen would struggle the most with the gradients in the final kilometer. With Michael Mørkøv and Yves Lampaert, the Quick-Step leadout will be hard to beat in the coming sprints, and the possibility of the team taking all wins in this race doesn't actually seem too unlikely.