Dylan Groenewegen (BikeExchange-Jayco) sprinted to a fifth Tour de France sprint win in Sønderborg on stage three of the 2022 Tour de France after stage two winner Fabio Jakobsen was pinned and unable to sprint.
Jakobsen inspired many in his Tour debut with his victory yesterday, which marked an exceptional return from his near-fatal injuries at the Tour of Poland in 2020 – but he has struggled to celebrate for his Dutch compatriot, who is serving a 9-month suspension for the cause of the crash.
“Yes, I think he shows that he is a good sprinter,” said Jakobsen after crossing the finish line. “I have to say that before the fall I admired his palmarès and looked up to him a bit.
“But that’s completely gone now after the fall because of the mistake he made. I think this is normal.”
The Tour of Poland crash resulted in Jakobsen being placed in an induced coma and subsequently undergoing multiple reconstructive surgeries on facial injuries – including severe damage to his jaw and teeth.
“It’s nice for him to win, but it doesn’t really affect me,” added Jakobsen.
Jakobsen lamented the finish in which he couldn’t fight for the sprint win.
“I think the team did a perfect job up to the last corner,” he said. “All the guys pulled really hard – I was pretty light on the bikes. But then I think that we should have stayed a little more to the right with Florian in the last corner [Sénéchal] so nobody could happen.”
“I’ve decided to stay calm – to hope that Michael Mørkøv knocks out. Unfortunately, he thought I was behind the wheel. I was not. I think that’s where I lost my chance to sprint for victory because I was just too far behind. It’s also a sprint, but you can understand that I’m a bit frustrated.”
The result was clearly a disappointment for the Belgium team, who would have welcomed a second consecutive win after the controversial selection of Jakobsen over Mark Cavendish as star sprinter.
The team expressed elsewhere that the train got mixed up after the last corner – Yves Lampaert could also be heard giving feedback to Mattia Cattaneo on the team bus on his position in the final kilometers of the race.
Jakobsen found his form to be good and remains confident he can fight for another sprint win at this year’s Tour.
“I know I’ve got it in my legs, the speed is there,” he said. “I just have to be able to get out and then get on the line.”