Cav vs Fab

Which sprinter should Quickstep take to the Tour de France: the ‘Comeback King’ Mark Cavendish or the ‘Miracle Man’ Fabio Jakobsen? Both are in great form and both have a remarkable tale to tell. Cyclist examines the likely outcome

Jakobsen’s recovery took place behind a veil of privacy, although inevitably the secrecy fuelled speculation about his state of health and even the possibility of disfigurement

When Fabio Jakobsen finished his opening time-trial at the start of last year’s Vuelta a España in Burgos, he came coughing and wheezing his way through the mixed zone, the area where journalists speak to riders beyond the finish line. This journalist called for an interview but Jakobsen appeared to ignore the request. This is not unusual. Plus, it seemed that the 7.1km up-anddown effort through the city had taken it out of him: he was in some distress.

Yet once he had sufficiently recovered, with the coughing fits coming only every 30 seconds or so, he turned around and, riding against the flow of riders finishing their own efforts, made his way back to the journalists.

This is unusual, and perhaps it says quite a lot about Jakobsen. At the time, he was one of the supporting actors as the Vuelta got underway, his story one of the sub-plots to the third Grand Tour of 2021. But it was a fascinating one, given that it was his first three-week race since a horrific crash at the Tour of Poland in 2020 that almost ended his career. That almost ended his life.

Back from the brink

In the immediate aftermath of the crash, the medical team at the hospital in Poland put him in an induced coma. Jakobsen, who had been sent flying into the barriers after clashing with Dylan Groenewegen in the finishing straight, had suffered a brain contusion, skull fracture, broken nose and torn palate, and lost ten teeth as well as parts of his upper and lower jaw.

For months there was little news and there were no pictures of Jakobsen. His recovery, if indeed he was recovering at all, took place behind a respectful veil of privacy, although inevitably the secrecy fuelled speculation about his state of health and even the possibility of permanent disfigurement.

Over the winter he attended a Quickstep training camp in southern Spain. He was back on his bike and training, we were told. But it was made clear that he was taking baby steps and that any return to racing might be some months away.

It wasn’t clear whether that was realistic. Never mind the physical side of sprinting, what about the mental part? How on earth could Jakobsen ever again get involved in the jostling and barging of a bunch sprint, when in Poland he had been sent sprawling into barriers facefirst at almost 80kmh?

Also at the camp in Calpe in southern Spain that winter was Mark Cavendish, who had re-joined the Belgian team and was attempting his own resurrection; his less dramatic, perhaps, but in some respects just as unlikely. While one sprinter was attempting to overcome debilitating injuries and trauma, the other was – on the face of it – trying to turn back time.

Neither man was the team’s top sprinter, or even close to it. The undisputed number one fast man at Quickstep was Sam Bennett, winner of two stages and the green jersey at the previous year’s Tour de France.

Few, then, would have bet on Cavendish and Jakobsen usurping the Irish sprinter; fewer still would have dared imagine that the pair would win seven Grand Tour stages and the points jerseys in the Tour de France and Vuelta between them, while Bennett, at least