Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep) has abandoned the Tour de France before the start of stage 12, revealing he is struggling to recover and heal from the injuries he suffered in the high-speed sprint crash on stage 4.
The 2022 stage winner had struggled in the subsequent sprints and had to fight against the time cut on stage 10 as he rode in pain during the first half of the Tour.
“Due to my stage four crash, and after discussions with the team, we decided it’s better for me to stop my Tour de France journey here.” Jakobsen and his Soudal-QuickStep team announced.
“At this point it seems impossible for me to get to Paris, as I am not recovering, and my body is not healing from the crash.”
Jakobsen had been expected to contest the multitude of sprint stages on the 2023 Tour de France parcours alongside Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla). However his best result was fourth in Bayonne, the day before his crash on the Nogaro motor racing circuit.
“I’m very sad to leave the Grande Boucle, because I had big goals for this race and wanted to be at my best with the team.” Jakobsen said.
“I will now take some time to recover and clear my head, and hopefully be back at my best later this season.”
Jakobsen is the second big-name sprinter to leave this year's Tour de France after Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) had to abandon on stage 8 to Limoges due to an innocuous crash in which he broke his collarbone.
The Dutch sprinter was one of Soudal-QuickStep’s best hopes for a stage win alongside former World Champion, Julian Alaphilippe, but as of stage 11, the normally successful Belgian team haven’t secured a stage victory.
