Vuelta a España: Jakobsen describes stage win as 'dream come true' after battle back from horror crash

The crash happened a year ago at the Tour of Poland and left the Dutchman in an induced coma

Fabio Jakobsen on the podium in his green jersey after winning the fourth stage of the 2021 Vuelta
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Fabio Jakobsen described his win on stage four of the 2021 Vuelta a España as a "dream come true" after he had battled back from his horrific crash a year ago in Poland.

Jakobsen was perfectly placed by his Deceuninck - Quick-Step team-mates on stage four before jumping onto the wheel of French sprinter, Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ), using his slipstream to power around and take the win.

>>> Five talking points from stage four of the Vuelta a España 2021

A beaming Jakobsen spoke after the stage: "It's a dream come true. You know, after the crash it was a long way back but I'm happy I'm here.

"It took a lot of time and a lot of effort has gone into this by a lot of other people and I think this is also their victory."

The Dutch sprinter crashed on the opening stage of the Tour of Poland in August 2020 after fellow countryman Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) diverted from his line and colliding with Jakobsen.

Jakobsen then hit the barriers and broke through them head first into another fence. The horrendous injuries he suffered included a skull fracture, broken nose, loss of 10 teeth, brain contusion, torn palate and the loss of part of the upper part of his jaw.

"Talking about all the doctors, surgeons and medical staff in Poland to my second family here, the team and everybody in between, this is also their victory," he said. 

"It's also my family's victory because they are the reason I am here."

Jakobsen made his return to racing at the Tour of Turkey back in April where he played a key part in supporting Mark Cavendish to taking his four stage wins in his comeback.

He then went to the Algarve to support Sam Bennett in the sprints which were dominated by the Irishman. 

But then it was off to the Tour of Wallonie and two stage wins against sprinters like the European champion, Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka-NextHash) which set him up perfectly to come into the Vuelta on sparkling form and bullish confidence yet again.

His next chance to sprint is the next stage with stage five being pan-flat from Taracon to Albacete over a 184.4km route. 

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Tim Bonville-Ginn

Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!


I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.


It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.


After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.


When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.


My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.