"It's not an easy way back": Fabio Jakobsen motivated by the progress made in his recovery

Fabio Jakobsen knows well what is it like to stand on top of the sprinter hierarchy, but he's just as intimately what it feels like to fall from the grace of cycling gods and hit the rock-bottom. But despite the two serious setbacks in Jakobsen's career, the 29-year-old is committed to rise to the top for the third time and reward the team's patience of past two seasons.

"No excuses, the past two years in the team have been, to use a bad word; 'Shit.' No results, one win, that's not why I came here. But at least there was a diagnosis, why I couldn't sprint for wins," Jakobsen told Cyclingnews during the team's January training camp in Calpe.

Jakobsen's career was interrupted by a brutal crash at the Tour de Pologne 2020. But despite the horror injuries, Jakobsen was back at the Vuelta just a year later, winning three stages and points classification. But as if that wasn't enough, Jakobsen was put through another trial when in early 2025, he was diagnosed with a restricted blood flow in his legs. The Dutchman underwent a surgery and made a brief return the same year to recover the "race feeling" after a long absence.

"Now it's a process to get back to the peloton, to being in the final of the sprints, to making the podium. After that comes winning. The last two years have been really, really disappointing. But now it's time to make up for that and make the team proud." And Picnic PostNL could use some good news after Oscar Onely's buy out...

While the blood flow in iliac arteries nowadays is curable, and the likes of Marianne Vos or Cian Uijtdebroeks have made a seemingly full recovery, others such as Eli Iserbyt were forced to end their career. "It was rough," Jakobsen said of the surgery. "It was quite painful because they go through the abdomen, so they really open you up, it was open belly surgery."

"Luckily the medical world has advanced so much that they cut a piece out, stitch the pipe [vein] back together and usually the blood flow is normal again. But you're off the bike for five weeks, then you're slowly building up for another five to ten weeks. So it's about three months without real training."

Jakobsen hopes to join the first group, the first signs are good: "When I did blood tests before surgery, there was 42 per cent and 38 per cent less pressure in my ankles. Now we're back to 96 or 98 per cent. So, now the blood flow is constant, even when the leg is best all the way up, even in the aggressive position in the drops," Jakobsen revealed. "Now it's just about building back up to the top shape. It's not an easy way back but when you feel that you're improving all the time, that's motivating."

The goal for 2026 is clear, to return to winning races again. "I always want to win or be good at something. I think it's the competitiveness in me. I think that's why I am a professional cyclist," he said.

But it won't be easy, and even being competitive would already be a massive step up compared to how Jakobsen raced in 2025. "Let's start with being on the podium again," he said pragmatically. "For the past year, I was just following the wheels. I don't think there's one race where you see me get out of the slipstream and do a good 150 metre sprint, so the first goal is to be in the final again, in the first five, the first three, and then show a decent sprint."

Jakobsen will start the season at AlUla Tour, before moving further east to ride the UAE Tour. Then will follow a block of Belgian one-day races. And afterwards? That will depend on the feeling from these races. Hopefully, it's a good one.