Fabio Jakobsen is a rider that you would call a pure sprinter and for good reason. The Soudal - Quick-Step rider had very dramatic moments on the mountains of the Tour de France last year, but despite that he looks to prioritize the sprints completely into 2023.
"If you look at pure speed and the way I win my sprints, not many guys can pass me once I start, Jakobsen said in a recent interview. "You're only the fastest for one day, and it's hard to compare, but overall, if you look at the races I won... the number was the highest, and at the European Champs where most of Europe's sprinters were active, I was fastest. So for sure, I would put myself in the top three and on a really good day I think I can be the fastest."
Jakobsen took 13 wins in 2022 including a stage at the Tour de France and the European Championships. He combined both quantity and quality to be one of the stars of the season, two years after almost losing his life in a sprint at the Tour de Pologne.
"Last year, Jasper Philipsen was very successful, he's a guy to watch. Of course, Dylan Groenewegen, Wout van Aert you always need to watch, Mads Pedersen was also strong," Jakobsen comments on his competition. "I expect Caleb Ewan to come back, didn't have his best season. Sam Bennett ended quite high in the Vuelta. There are many sprinters you need to watch."
In the 17th stage of the Tour, Jakobsen rode in only 15 seconds inside the time limit, isolated and last on the road. It was a successful day for the Dutchman, however a brutal one, which exposed his weakness to the mountains in a way that hadn't been shown before.
"As a sprinter, your focus should always be to be the fastest sprinter. Of course, everyone remembers the stage I just finished within the time cut, and this is something I don't want, but on the other hand, if you want to be the fastest over 250 metres flat, you're probably going to be the slowest on longer climbs of one hour," he explains.
Hence, Jakobsen won't be working on his climbing. Among his spring goals will be Gent-Wevelgem, but Patrick Lefevere himself as said that "last year we tried a few classics and that was disappointing" and isn't positive that the team's head sprinter is yet capable of dealing with climbs.
"I'll try to hit the same level again in the sprints or be even better, and keep the climbing where it is, which is just good enough to finish," Jakobsen continued. "It's hard to win a stage in the Tour. I was only involved in three sprints last year. One, I had bad luck with positioning in the last corner, the other one I lost the chain on Champs Elysées. So one win out of three is not bad. This year's Tour is more sprint friendly, so hopefully there will be five sprints. I always say if you can win one you can win two so that's the goal for this year."
However outside of the flat days there will be little hopes for the European champion. Nevertheless the Belgian team has kept it's strong leadout into 2023 and Jakobsen will be well supported for his terrain of specialty.
"I dream about San Remo but I think the Cipressa is for now too hard. They do 10 minutes all-out, and last year there were 26 riders on the top. I am not one of 26 in the WorldTour peloton. We need to wait for other conditions, maybe a headwind on Cipressa. But you never know in cycling. If I'm in good shape team will always send me. I dream about it," he concluded.
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