"Leading-out, positioning, or collecting water bottles..." - Small steps of Fabio Jakobsen to reach his former level

Fabio Jakobsen had to overcome many obstacles in his career, most recently pinched illiac arteries. The former European champion underwent a surgery in April to get rid of the ailment. Four months later, Jakobsen was back in action at the Tour of Denmark and from Wednesday, also back at the WorldTour level at Renewi Tour.

"It's going well. At least, well enough to race again," Jakobsen told In de Leiderstrui. "In Denmark, it actually went okay. We rode hard, but of course, everyone trained all summer. I've only been back in full swing for four or five weeks, so I did notice I was a bit lacking. But it was enough to ride in between."

Jakobsen dropped out of the race after two stages, something that might have been rather intentional: "We had a dropout in the Renewi Tour, so it was a risk to finish Denmark and then perhaps start the Renewi Tour a bit tired. That made it a wise decision not to continue there and now have five good days. Of course, you prefer to finish a race, but we also need to keep building momentum."

"It was a 50-50 decision to stay there. I would have been willing to take the risk, but the team preferred me to spend five days here at Renewi. And I ultimately agreed to that," explains the Picnic PostNL sprinter, who has to put his own ambitions aside for a while.

Ultimately, the Dutchman likes racing in front of his home, or almost home, crowds as pretty much anyone. "I enjoy riding in the Netherlands and Belgium, and the Renewi Tour is a great race. I'm going to try to help the team. Whether that's leading-out the sprint, positioning myself, or collecting water bottles, it doesn't matter to me. I just want to have a good race and get better again."

The sensations are regardless great, as far as the 28-year-old can judge. There'll be a lot of work to do in the off-season but for the first time in a while, Jakobsen can see a clear pathway towards his best self.

"The problem is solved, I can tell. Now I'm just lacking fitness. My legs aren't getting as acidic as quickly, and I'm doing well, but I've been out of action for too long. And I just need to get that back."

"Normally, when I crested a climb, my legs would struggle to turn," he explains the difference. "And then I'd think I'd dug too deep. From the moment I reached the top, my legs started turning better again. Then, on the flat or the descent, I can immediately make up positions where I'd previously been struggling."

Jakobsen still lacks something to compete at the highest level, but that's a margin that can be overcome with time, which is a positive. "It's quite confronting that you still have to drop off when the pace is high for a long time. But that's training, not something related to what I had. You want to compete right away. I'm used to riding in finals, so that's a bit of an adjustment."

All in all, he can't help but draw a positive final assessment. "I already felt things were improving in training, but the racing itself was good," Jakobsen says. "In Denmark, I even tried to jump into the first breakaway, something I haven't been able to do for a year and a half."