Vuelta a España stage 16: Fabio Jakobsen celebrates birthday with hat trick win

Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) celebrated his 25th birthday winning stage 16 the 2021 Vuelta a España.

This is the third stage win for the Dutch rider, who wears the green jersey as the leader of the points competition.

“I am just really grateful that I can still race, and I get goosebumps when I win. It feels so nice to be in the peloton again. I know it’s dangerous and there can be crashes, but I love to do it, and the adrenaline that comes with it. With a third win, in the green jersey, on my birthday, it’s a dream for any young boy or girl in cycling,” Jakobsen said “A few months ago I didn’t know if I could be a bike rider again, and here I am with three victories. I couldn’t be happier than I am right now. I love the Vuelta.”

There were no changes to the general classification, as Odd Eiking (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) maintained a near-minute lead over Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), and 96 seconds advantage over two-time defending Vuelta a España champion Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma), despite a crash early in the stage that took down Martin.

“I know many people expect me to lose it, but we will do our best and see what happens,” said Eiking “It’s a big, big challenge ahead of me. I am really happy with my Vuelta so far, and if I keep it tomorrow, it’s a big, big bonus.”

“I am comfortable in the red jersey, I like to wear it and I am not going to give it away for free. I am going to fight for it,” he added.

How it happened

GC leaders Enric Mas (Movistar Team), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) — in second overall — and Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) all took tumbles early into the mostly-flat, 180-kilometer stage. Only Ciccone was forced to abandon.

Five men were up the road with a 1:47 gap at 95km to go on what appeared to be a straightforward sprinter’s stage. The five at the front were Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo), Jetse Bol (Burgos-BH), Mikel Bizkarra (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Dimitri Claeys (Qhubeka NextHash), and Stan Dewulf (AG2R-Citroën).

Just inside of 75km to go, Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto-Soudal) tried to bridge to the front. He was stuck in no-mans-land for the following 10km until he made it to the bunch 90 seconds up the road from the peloton.

On rolling terrain at 56km to go Jakobsen fell off the pace — temporarily ceding 32 seconds — as other teams applied pressure to the green jersey. His Deceuninck-Quick-Step team was in formation to pace him back.

UAE-Team Emirates lead the chase while trying to distance the “Wolfpack”, but the gap continued to stretch and contract over the successive 20km, with pacing help from Alpecin-Fenix, Team DSM, and Jumbo-Visma.

With 16km to go, the chasers still had to make up 28 seconds on the break.

Vanhoucke, who had previously bridged the 90-second void between the peloton and the break was the first to give up the group on the front. He dropped back at 14km to go, while Dewulf continued to lead the remaining break onwards, with just a 26-second interval to their pursuers.

Bol gave an attempt at going solo off the front of the break at 10km to go. Behind this bunch, Andreas Kron (Lotto-Soudal) attacked from the peloton, then just 13 seconds back, with Jumbo-Visma on the front to keep Roglič safe.

Movistar Team did the same for Enric Mas, while EF Education-Nippo looked to be positioning Magnus Cort for another win.

The long remaining rider from the break, Dewulf, was caught at 4.5km to go as Groupama-FDJ took control of the front of the race, trying to set up Arnaud Démare for a win.

In the chaotic final 3km, Deceuninck-Quick-Step tried to control the front, as Team BikeExchange also jostled for positioning Michael Matthews.

Jakobsen was dropped by his readout man and stage-13 winner Floria Sénéchal, but as soon as Sénéchal realize this, he slowed in the final 400m.

Jakobsen was on the wheels of Jordi Meeus (Alepcin-Fenix), and the ever-present Matteo Trentin. As soon as Jakobsen started to wind up his sprint, he rocketed from the others on the front.

🥰Las emociones de @FabioJakobsen después de un peleado tercer triunfo de etapa en #LaVuelta21

📹The emotions from Jakobsen and @deceuninck_qst after a great team effort to grab another stage win in La Vuelta! pic.twitter.com/dVe9zhzijc

— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) August 31, 2021

What’s to come

Stage 17, 185.8km from Unquera to Lagos de Covadonga, should sort out the GC. Four climbs, each successively more challenging than the previous await riders on one of the most challenging days of racing at the 2021 Vuelta.