Fabio Jakobsen bounced back to something approaching his best form on Thursday, finishing fourth on stage 3 of the Tour of Guangxi.
Once one of the world’s preeminent sprinters, winning bunch kicks in a variety of races and topping the points classification in the 2021 Vuelta a España, the 30-year-old former Dutch champion has a total of 46 wins to his name.
However, in recent years the Visma-Lease a Bike rider has regressed into a shadow of his former self, with his most recent victory as far back as April 2024. Thursday’s result was his best WorldTour placing since the UAE Tour in February of that year.
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Suffering illnesses and injury, including iliac artery endofibrosis, Jakobsen was often unable to finish races, let alone contest the sprint, and while his results were tailing off towards the end of his time with Soudal-QuickStep, his loss of form coincided with a move to what is now Picnic-Post NL.
In more than four years with the team, he managed only one victory. However, a mid-season move to Visma over the summer seems to have sparked something in Jakobsen.
Since joining the team on August 14th, he has won two national-level races and has begun clawing his way up results boards, drawing praise from his sports director in Guangxi, Gaëton Pons.
"This fourth place almost feels like a small victory when you consider where Fabio has come from," Pons said. "In his last four races with the team, he has achieved his four best results of the season. Physically, he's not back to his previous level yet, but we're clearly seeing progress. He wants to fight again, enjoys racing, and is showing a lot of confidence. That's an important step toward next season."
Seeing Jakobsen slipping out the back of the bunch whenever the road tilted uphill had become a sad but familiar sight, so the team hadn’t identified Thursday’s 212.3km stage, which included almost 1,800m of climbing, as one for him, but he defied expectations, playing a full part in the final.
"He managed to survive the climbs thanks to the support of his teammates. In the finale, the guys did an excellent job. Fabio himself mentioned that it had been a long time since he'd had such a good lead-out. Owain [Doull], in particular, did a fantastic job in the final meters."
Friday’s stage is hillier, and Jakobsen is highly unlikely to be able to fight for the win, though Saturday’s fifth stage could present another chance.
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