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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