"I want to go there again next year" - Fabio Jakobsen looking to return after brutal Tour de France for more success

Fabio Jakobsen has his debut in the Tour de France be one of the most complicated races he could experience, but he survived the harsh pace through the three weeks to make it to Paris with a stage win in the pocket.

"Yes. It was my first participation and not exactly an edition tailored to the sprinters. There are some flaws, but I don't think that's abnormal. Patrick was also satisfied with the team in general, although we missed a few chances," he confirmed. With Yves Lampaert and Jakobsen winning the first two stages and carrying the yellow jersey, it was still far from an unsuccessful race for the Belgian team.

"I was very satisfied with the sprint, especially in the first week. It's just a shame I couldn't show it more often. Just do a seven. With pride, because of the three real pure sprints, I still won one," he added. It was not an easy race for the sprinters, with late attacks and breakaways taking three opportunities from the pure fast men like Jakobsen, to his disadvantage.

He also took pride from completing the race - despite the struggles - as he said "in this Tour I never thought there was time for recovery". He finished just inside the time limit on stage 17, and suffered from fatigue and mechanicals on the last two sprint stages respectively.

“That the Tour de France is the toughest cycling race there is. And partly because of that also the most prestigious, but at the same time not always the nicest. And yet I want to go there again next year. That's how top sport works," he confirmed, having the ambition to return with higher ambitions and looking for better results - including a possibility at the green jersey in which Wout van Aert dominated this year.