“There is still something left in me” – Fabio Jakobsen confirms Visma talks as he fights to revive stalled career

Fabio Jakobsen has confirmed that talks with Team Visma | Lease a Bike have been taking place for some time as he attempts to rescue a career which has stalled badly over the past two-and-a-half seasons.

The former Tour de France stage winner is free to join another team immediately after leaving Team Picnic PostNL by mutual consent. His contract had been due to run until the end of 2026, but both sides agreed to bring the partnership to an early conclusion.

Visma had initially discussed signing Jakobsen for 2027. His departure from Picnic has now created the possibility of an earlier move, with reports suggesting he could even change teams before the end of August.

No agreement has yet been signed, although Jakobsen made clear that Visma’s interest did not begin when the rumours surfaced this week.

“The rumour mill is running at full speed,” Jakobsen told AD. “Visma are a dream team and one of the best teams in the WorldTour. The talks have actually been going on for quite a long time, but nothing has been signed yet.”

Jakobsen has not won since the opening stage of the 2024 Tour of Turkiye. During that period, he has gone from being one of the peloton’s leading sprinters to regularly struggling to reach the finales where his speed once made him so dangerous.

His years with Quick-Step brought five Vuelta a Espana stage victories, the European road title and a Tour de France stage win in 2022. That victory came less than two years after the devastating crash at the Tour of Poland which left him with severe facial injuries and placed his career in doubt.

The move to Picnic was supposed to provide another reset after he left Soudal – Quick-Step. Instead, he managed only one victory for the team and gradually disappeared from contention in major bunch finishes.

“Unfortunately, it did not become what we had hoped for,” Jakobsen said. “This gives them the opportunity to work towards the future with other riders, while I can convince another team that there is still something left in me.”

Jakobsen underwent surgery on both iliac arteries in 2025 after restricted blood flow was discovered in his legs. A broken collarbone later interrupted his return, and his performances have remained well below his previous level throughout 2026.

Even Jakobsen is unable to give a definitive explanation for why the recovery has taken so long. “Maybe it still plays a role,” he said. “It could also be a lack of training or simply that my level is not high enough. It is difficult to identify one clear reason. But it is clear that my time at Picnic PostNL is over.”

Visma’s position is equally clear from Jakobsen’s account. They are not discussing the rider who once won repeatedly at the highest level as though he could immediately return to that role. “The original idea was for 2027,” he explained. “Now an opportunity has suddenly opened up to make the move earlier. Visma are one of the teams. They see it as a project. We just still have to reach an agreement, and that is what we are working on.”

The Dutch team have lacked an established pure sprinter since Olav Kooij moved to Decathlon CMA CGM Team. Matthew Brennan has won repeatedly in 2026, but his wider range makes him a different proposition to the specialist bunch finisher Jakobsen was at his peak.

Jakobsen would arrive with no recent results capable of guaranteeing him that position. Visma would first have to establish whether he can again handle the demands of reaching a sprint before rebuilding the finishing speed which once separated him from most of the peloton.

Jakobsen is not yet committing to another race this season, despite the possibility of an immediate transfer. “First I need to train and then find a place somewhere,” he said. “I do not know whether I will race again this year. There is a lot of work to be done. The past six months have not exactly been great. They have been disappointing, to be honest.”

EF Education-EasyPost and Alpecin-Premier Tech have also reportedly shown interest, although Visma remain the clearest route back into the WorldTour. The attraction is obvious for both sides. Visma could take a relatively low-cost chance on a rider with proven elite speed, while Jakobsen would enter a performance system capable of assessing whether his decline can still be reversed.

For now, he remains without a contract, without a return date and without a victory for more than two years. What he does have is interest from one of cycling’s biggest teams and another chance to prove that his best days have not disappeared completely.