Vuelta a España: Jakobsen gets sweet birthday win on stage 16

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Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) gave himself a special 25th birthday present at the Vuelta a España, winning the hectic sprint in Santa Cruz de Bezana to take his third victory in this year’s race.

The Deceuninck-Quickstep team took control in the final two kilometres. Jakobsen lost his teammate's wheel but had the sprinting skills to protect his position near the front in the snaking finals kilometre and then had the speed to win.

Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) tried to challenge him but had to settle for third, with Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) coming through to take second. Michael Matthews (BikeExchange) was fourth.

"A birthday is always a good day, but I'm over the moon with this win," Jakobsen said, praising the chase of his Deceuninck-Quickstep teammates.

"I think what we saw today is the 'Wolf pack'. I was dropped on the climb, the guys waited for me, they brought me back and I won the race. The only thing I can do is win a short, fast sprint – they did everything else today."

Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) finished safely in the peloton to retain the overall race lead for another day and so into the Asturian mountains and Wednesday's mountain finish at Lago di Covadonga.

The Norwegian leads Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) by 54 seconds, with Primož Roglič third overall at 1:36 and Enric Mas (Movistar) his closest rival at 2:011.

How it unfolded

Stage 16 of the 2021 Vuelta a España was described as the last opportunity for sprinters before the final mountain stages but the 180km ride from Laredo to Santa Cruz de Bezana was never going to be an easy day for the fast men and their teammates, with the inland Cantabrian hills offering terrain for a breakaway and other attacks.

The riders were relaxed at the start overlooking the sea after enjoying the second rest day, but the tension soon emerged in the peloton due to an early crash that involved overall contenders Enric Mas (Movistar) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and saw a number of others go down.

In the confusion, the early break formed with Stan Dewulf (AG2R-Citroën), Mikel Bizkarra (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Dimitri Claeys (Qhubeka NextHash), Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo) and Jetse Bol (Burgos-BH) going clear.

They were allowed to open a 2:00 lead but the pace was high with 47km covered in the first hour.

The stage stabilized in the opening 80km with Team DSM, Groupama-FDJ and Deceuninck-QuickStep leading the chase, giving race leader Odd Christian Eiking and his Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert teammates a day off the front and in the wheels.

The attackers worked together, determined to take their chance but their lead rarely extended beyond 2:00, with the sprint team's playing cat and mouse. 

Mid-stage the impact of the early crash emerged in full when Ciccone abandoned, in pain and in tears, after a chainring cut into right knee. Soon after that, Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) also retired due to his injuries, and Sep Vanmarcke (Israel Start-Up Nation) did too.

The control of the peloton ended after the day's lone classified climb, the category 3 Alto de Hijas with 80km to go.

Harm Vanhoucke and his Lotto Soudal teammate Maxim Van Gils attacked on the climb to go across to the break. Vanhoucke made it across to create a six-rider move and there was a sense more attacks would come.

The break lead by 1:20 but their advantage melted under the Spanish sun as UAE Team Emirates upped the pace on a second uncategorised climb in an attempt to hurt their sprint rivals. It worked, with Jakobsen also distanced.

However, he and his Deceuninck-Quickstep team did not panic, even when they were 30 second behind, instead gathering together to chase on the rolling roads to the spectacular coastline.

The rise in speed and aggression also cut into the break's lead and was down to just 30 seconds with 50km to go but the catch failed to happen when Jakobsen caught the peloton and the sprint teams eased to focus on the finish.  

The rolling roads hurt the breakaway and the peloton, with late climbs splitting the six riders up front, with Simmons the first to suffer the pace. Dewulf was the last to survive, using his fresher legs to attack alone. Yet there was no escape as first Ineos Grenadiers rode on the front to position and protect Egan Bernal and Adam Yates, then Groupama-FDJ lead the line to set-up Arnaud Démare for the sprint.

Bora-Hansgrohe then took over, followed by EF Education-Nippo. But as so often occurs, Deceuninck-Quick timed it best, hitting the front with 1.8km to go. It was late and hectic, but they positioned Jakobsen where he wanted and where he indeed to be.

When Alexander Krieger (Alpecin-Fenix) dived into the line to lead for Sacha Modolo, Jakobsen stayed calm and collected. Trentin was on his wheel and perfectly placed but Jakobsen took the right lines through the late curves and then opened up his sprint at exactly the right time.

A year ago, he was in hospital after his terrible Tour de Pologne sprint crash. A year later, as he celebrated his 25th birthday, the Dutchman was back where he belonged, winning his third stage of the Vuelta a España.