Fabio Jakobsen celebrated his birthday with a victory at the Vuelta a España, sprinting to his third win of the race in Santa Cruz de Bezana and strengthening his grip on what looks like being his first career points classification jersey.
The Dutchman, now 25, unleashed plenty of power in a shortened sprint to the line after 180 kilometres of racing from Laredo. A final kilometre without a strong team presence to do a proper leadout resulted in a sprint from a short distance out from the line, with Meeus opening up the sprint, and Jakobsen having just enough pace and space to overcome the Belgian.
Jakobsen had been distanced on an uncategorised climb 55 kilometres from the finish after UAE raised the tempo at the front of the main bunch. However, Jakobsen made it back in with the help of his team five kilometres later, and then took care of business in the sprint.
Jakobsen was quick to thank his team, saying that he wouldn't have triumphed without the Deceuninck-QuickStep 'Wolfpack'.
"A birthday is always a good day but I'm over the moon with this win," said Jakobsen. "I think what we saw today is the Wolfpack.
"I was dropped on the climb, the guys waited for me, brought me back and I won the race. It was all because of them. The only thing I could do was do a short, fast sprint. They did everything else today."
Jakobsen now holds a commanding lead in the green jersey standings, on 250 points to Trentin's second-placed haul of 123 points. It's a long ways away from the young sprinter fighting for his life after a horrific crash at the Tour of Poland last year, and Jakobsen recognised that in his post-race interview.
"I'd like to take this moment on my third victory to thank three people that were really important in my recovery," said Jakobsen. "Professor Meyer from Nijmegen hospital, Yvan Vanmol my doctor at the team, and my osteopath Cor van Wanrooij for my recovery. I'd like to thank those three. I love you all and this is for you."
The Vuelta a España continues with Stage 17, a mountainous day in the saddle for the riders from Unquera to Lagos de Covadonga over 186 kilometres. The broadcast on SBS VICELAND and SBS OnDemand starts at the earlier time of 2135 AEST, with the SKODA Tour Tracker starting at 1945 AEST.
