Lefevere on Cavendish and Jakobsen's battle for Tour de France spot: "The best one will go"

It has been a reason for discussion for many months and as the season has gotten underway, the debate on which sprinter will lead Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team at the Tour de France is far from over as both Mark Cavendish and Fabio Jakobsen opened their season strongly. General manager Patrick Lefevere has come out to say the spot is not yet confirmed for any of the riders, and they have to prove their spot.

"I know that Fabio Jakobsen said at the media day in Calpe at the beginning of January that he is normal going (to the Tour de France), but I have a long list," Lefevere said.

"So much can still happen, look what happened last year…"

Both Cavendish and Jakobsen have had incredible comeback stories this past season, now their paths cross as they both want to be at the Tour de France. Whilst Cavendish returned to the top level with four wins at the Tour de France after years of sub-par performances, Jakobsen recovered from a life-threatening crash at the 2020 Tour de Pologne to take seven wins late in the season, three of them at the Vuelta a España.

Lefevere completed: "The best one will go to the Tour and then they have to finish it off against all the other sprinters. I'm especially happy that my two sprinters are on the march. Cavendish is already on the list of the Giro. Then we'll see, huh. Let's start another part of the season this weekend.”

Whilst Cavendish is scheduled to be at the Giro d'Italia, he has started off the season strong with a win at the Tour of Oman and is currently at the UAE Tour where he's already taken another win, with hopes that a strong set of results may catapult him to another presence at the Tour de France where he can overtake Eddy Merckx's record 34 wins. As for Jakobsen, he has started his season in the Mediterranean where he's taken two wins at the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana and two more dominant wins at the Volta ao Algarve.