Fabio Jakobsen: Evenepoel is a special kid and he's like a little brother to me

Upon returning to competition it didn't take long until Fabio Jakobsen came back to his winning ways, by kicking off the season with a couple of strong stage wins in the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana.

"It's an honour to be part of this team, I think everyone saw today what a textbook leadout is, I'm happy I had the legs. Yesterday I was boxed in and I couldn't sprint, that's frustrating as a sprinter but we had a talk and today we made a plan and stuck to it. I have to thank the guys, all of them, we controlled the stage and did the leadout and I'm happy I was the fastest," Jakobsen said in the post-race interview, after the Quick-Step team did a brilliant job setting him up for the stage win.

"I did a normal winter preparation as I did in the previous years before I crashed, so it was actually a normal winter and I guess I'm now at this level and from here we go on, next race is Algarve, then Kuurne and Paris-Nice". Jakobsen has his calendar set-up for the spring with some goals and sure enough wherever he steps foot, it is likely that he will be one of the man to beat when a possible sprint is on the menu.

He's also had very good words to say about his teammate Remco Evenepoel, who has done a lot of work in the leadouts of Jakobsen, even when he was in the leader's jersey the day before the queen stage: "He's a special kid and he's like a little brother to me, we have a good bond and the fact that he's helped me here says a lot about him. He's a perfect teammate and I look forward to the future to race with him."

Both Jakobsen and Evenepoel will now head to the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal where the Belgian is set to try and win the race for the second time. They have both been on a training camp in the region back in January and look fit to go and take more wins across the border.