"I managed to get an XL suit" - Fabio Jakobsen set to try and defend Baloise Belgium Tour lead in time-trial
CyclingFriday, 16 June 2023 at 14:36
One of the fastest sprinters in the peloton today, Fabio Jakobsen is not renowned for his individual time-trial ability. Entering stage 3 of the Baloise Belgium Tour in the race lead however, Jakobsen is going to give it his all to defend the jersey.
"I came to the Baloise Belgium Tour to sharpen up my form a bit more. I've won three times this year and winning is winning, right?" Jakobsen said in a pre-stage interview with In de Leidestrui. Outsprinting Mathieu van der Poel for the win on stage 2 in a dominant performance, things certainly look good for the Soudal - Quick-Step sprinter.
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Nicknamed the 'Hulk of Heukelum', Jakobsen is a big, strong, powerful rider. As such his requirements when it comes to a skinsuit are different to most.
"I managed to get an XL suit. It fits well and is ready on the bus," he explains. "I think we've shown that the train is very good. When the time trial is successful? When I come in safely."
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- This is pretty much a low bar for a star rider. Domestiques from other teams got higher GC rankings than him. Either he has to really train for those 1 hour climb or give up on GC hope altogether. Not a fan of Pidcock, but I think he's definitely capable of doing better if he really trained for long climbs, which his coach said he didn't. Best of luck to him.
KerisVroom05-06-2025 - Nuh, realistically, Jonas is the only main rival unless some accidents befall Tadej.KerisVroom05-06-2025
- I just simply don't believe team orders were at fault. In what world would a pink jersey leader knowingly throw away their lead just to follow team orders? Del Toro surely knew the gap to Yates was growing and he was going to lose his lead. So either Del Toro didn't have the legs or he was stupid and listened to alleged team orders to only follow Carapaz. It simply does not make sense - I mean even if the team orders were true, Del Toro shouldn't take it literally e.g. if Carapaz crashed and all the other top ten riders went 3mins up the road, would Del Toro really be stupid enough to "follow team orders" and stick with Carapaz? This is an exaggerated example, but it is exactly what Del Toro did with Yates. Del Toro only has himself to blame - if someone is threatening your lead, you chase, it shouldn't take team orders to tell you to do that!Pogboom05-06-2025
- Chris Froome...who cares yet he gets top billing here!frieders305-06-2025
- "The idea was we’d race to win every day – or every day that suited me – and do the best GC I could." It was supposed to be "either or", not "and". The dreams of GC glory are confounded by the lack of recovery. He should have stuck to stage wins.abstractengineer04-06-2025
- There are three GT winners in that group and all different onesabstractengineer04-06-2025
- Nobody, it aint the TDFabstractengineer04-06-2025
- RIP Mustafa Ayyorkun.
santiagobenites04-06-2025 - From what I can gather, seems the DS had drilled into Del Toro before the race and again at the start of the long climb that he must mark Carapaz. Imperfect info made it difficult for the DS to directly tell Del Toro to close on Yates before the end of the climb, so it was mostly left to Del Toro's unexperienced judgement, who may have been near his limit anyways. In the end, probably either one could have lead the chase, but then would have come in third, while helping the other to first. Great execution of a great plan by Visma in Wout getting on top of the climb in advance and Yates being able to get that separation that caused the stalemate behind him. Also, in hindsight, big mistake by both EF and UAE in letting the break and Wout get so far out.Meeper04-06-2025
- Don't think Carapaz and Del Toro could have reeled him back in once Yates got to Wout; too big of an engine. The lead would have been stretched long enough to prevent them from closing the gap at the end.Meeper04-06-2025