The 22-year-old became the first Dutchman to take a win at the race since it was elevated to World Tour status.
Fabio Jakobsen made it twenty-four Deceuninck – Quick-Step wins this season at the end of the 122.6km-long stage 3 of the Tour of Turkey, where after being put in a perfect position by Max Richeze, he outsprinted overall leader (Sam Bennett) and Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data), despite a small incident which occurred with 100 meters to go.
“I was a bit far back going into the final kilometer, but I remained calm and confident. Max started his lead-out 400 meters from home and I left it late, because of the headwind. I got a little bit close to the barrier, as the wind was coming from the left, and a flag got caught in my shifter, but fortunately without any consequences, and I could finish off my team’s amazing work”, said the first Dutch rider in seven years to claim a stage win at the Tour of Turkey.
The stage between Çanakkale and Edremit followed its usual pattern: Eros Capecchi took up pace setting duties once again at the start of the day and made sure the advantage of the six leaders didn’t escalate, keeping it at three minutes before beginning to chew into it and reduce it to mere seconds with 15 kilometers left. His hard work paid dividends inside the last ten kilometers of the stage, where the remnants of the breakaway were easily pegged back by a bunch inside which tension was mounting with every kilometer.
The power lead-out machine that Deceuninck – Quick-Step is, comprising Remco Evenepoel, Davide Martinelli, Michael Mørkøv and Alvaro Hodeg, stomped its authority on the final and rode a huge tempo, which put in difficulty many riders, before Richeze dropped off Fabio Jakobsen at the front, from where the 22-year-old sailed to his third victory of the season.
“Without my team it would have been impossible to win, that’s why this is their victory. Of course, I was the one who sprinted to the line, but only after benefiting from their exceptional job. The last meters were slightly uphill, which played a bit into my favour, as I like this kind of finishes. It gives me great pleasure to rack up another victory and be on the top step of the podium in a World Tour race ahead of guys like Bennett and Cavendish. We came here for at least a success, we got it and now we’ll see what else we can do on the remaining stages”, a delighted Fabio concluded after picking up his tenth win in the pro ranks.
Photo credit: ©Justin Setterfield/ Getty Images
