Fabio Jakobsen: "Winning is never easy"

Fabio Jakobsen appears to be in good shape for his maiden Tour de France. The Dutchman demonstrated his sprint legs at the Elfstedenronde. In the sprint in Bruges, he defeated Caleb Ewan and Tim Merlier and has shown to be in the right position heading into the Tour.

"Winning is never easy. I kind of restarted at the Tour of Hungary and then went to a training camp in Spain with a part of the Tour group. The legs were good there, but a race is different than training. It's good to excite the body again today. I could feel my legs.” he said after the win.

"There was a chicane two kilometers from the line. The speed went way down there and you have to be in the first ten to fifteen riders. Lampy (Lampaert) brought me to the front and Florian [Sénéchal] also managed to move up and win the sprint. It was a bit messy, but the speed was high enough." he said. Jakobsen was able to hold on superbly in a chaotic finale, starting the sprint in a good position.

Jakobsen's sprint was certainly not easy. "It was a headwind. Timing is very important. I attacked at 200 meters from the line. That's always a bit of a gamble, but I know I have that in my legs. I felt on the left Ewan coming, but he also feels the headwind at a certain point. The speed between us was the same, but I started my sprint a little bit earlier and that's why I win," he concluded.