The entire European press was waiting for him after the arrival in Munich, his clipless pedal shoes had already been exchanged for sneakers and the mixed zone manager was about to send him from hot to again, but one hour after crossing the finish line Fabio Jakobsen took the lead. a real gentleman still extended the time for, among other things In the leader’s jersey. And that provided an interesting insight into the head of a leader/winner.
National coach Koos Moerenhout already announced in advance that there was ‘a good spirit in the group’ and that ‘Jakobsen showed himself to be a good leader towards his teammates’, which the selector emphasized again afterwards. ‘You could tell that the team believed in it and that everyone knew what their job was. I had the feeling that it wasn’t going to be that.’
It’s not easy, as the Netherlands started with eight riders from no fewer than eight (!) different teams, including leader Jakobsen (Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl). “How does the pack leader handle this?” asked In the leader’s jersey afterwards literally confronted the eventual European champion. And he answered – as we know him – eloquently and clearly.
‘Yes, what does that start with?’, is the first answer from Jakobsen. “Some people say I have it naturally. I’m just Fabio and I always ask everyone what they think, what their qualities are and what they like to do. What do they feel good about? Do they want to help me? Then they say: yes of course, I like to do this, I like to do that.’
Jakobsen: ‘You have to trust the boys above all’
‘I mainly take their opinions into account and then we make a plan together’, says Jakobsen. ‘It’s collaboration and sometimes people think that a leader says how things should be done, but that’s not the case. I ask them how they want or see it and then we do it together. I can’t go into too much detail about the tactics, but you have to trust them: I always tell the guys to do their best and just make a decision. If they make it, it’s often the right one, but you have to make a decision. If you wait, the opportunity is gone.’
‘They all did it perfectly’, he compliments his seven compatriots who took charge of the race. ‘It starts with Jan Maas and goes all the way to Danny van Poppel who drops me into Tim Merlier’s wheel with speed. Then it’s up to me to make as much speed as possible in the last two hundred meters.’
The national coach is also included in the well-considered analysis of the top sprinter of Dutch origin. ‘Koos called me in the Tour and I said: Koos, if I had to say it now, I’ll say no. I’m pretty fucked up. But I also know that it will be in two weeks and that I can win, but then it has to be lucky. Then we go for it too.’
“You have to give all those guys confidence and I like to do that. Then I can pay them back this way’, he laughs broadly in his beautiful European jersey, which he calls one of the most wanted jerseys in cycling.
Jakobsen: ‘It has been a step-by-step process’
The Poland story is also discussed. ‘There the question was whether I could still become human at all. That’s what you want first, then teeth and then you move on. That has been a step-by-step process and I have never looked too far ahead. It was day by day, week by week and that made it a process until the 2021 Vuelta, where I believed I could win again.”
“That makes me very humble,” the Dutchman says. “I am happy to be here and very grateful to be able to experience this. On August 5, I always think of Bjorg Lambrecht (a young, promising Belgian cyclist who died on that date in the 2019 Tour of Poland) and not of my own crash,” he refers to the date of his horror crash in 2020. ” We miss such guys.’
Tom van der Salm (Twitter: @TomvanderSalm) | e-mail: [email protected])
