Fabio Jakobsen: "These victories help me build my confidence for the big goals that I have later in the season"

2022 has so far been an incredible year for Fabio Jakobsen. After an incredible recovery and return to competition last year, he has since become one of, if not the most dominating sprinter in the peloton. After taking two stage wins at the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana, he repeated the achievement by easily taking both sprint wins that were available at the Volta ao Algarve.

“Winning is always nice. Even though we missed Tim Declercq, who is out with gastrointestinal problems, we still went for it and the guys did a perfect job, for which I am grateful. They were there the entire day, setting the tempo in the bunch and making sure I was protected all the time," Jakobsen spoke out after the finale of the stage, in which he beat Tim Merlier and Bryan Coquard in a slight uphill bunch sprint in Faro.

“Coming into the last roundabout, I was ideally placed, just behind Bert, and at 200 meters to go, I decided to open my sprint. I knew there was an uphill drag to the line, but I felt good and had the power to maintain the speed all the way to the finish. Considering where I was this time last year, taking my fourth win in just three weeks feels pretty special. These victories help me build my confidence for the big goals that I have later in the season," he concluded.

Those bigger goals revolve around the Tour de France very likely, where he is building up a good base to have a team surrounding his needs. The Dutchman has won three stages at last year's Vuelta a España, and he seems to be on a position to have the biggest saying within Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team, even when being compared to Mark Cavendish. This spring he is still yet to tackle several classics in Belgium and also Paris-Nice, where he will face more sprints with a high level of competition.