Fabio Jakobsen is on the verge of winning his first Grand Tour points classification.
One of the longest stages of this edition was also one of the hardest, with five ranked climbs all stacked in the second half of the route to Castro de Herville, which travelled close to the border with Portugal and brought more significant changes to the general classification.
Green jersey Fabio Jakobsen, who won three stages in his first Grand Tour appearance in two years, rolled over the line surrounded by all his Deceuninck – Quick-Step teammates, who ensured he would overcome all of the day’s hard obstacles safely inside the time limit.
In what will go down as one of the most emotional and beautiful images of this edition, a metaphor of that fantastic Wolfpack spirit that guides the team in every race, no matter of its importance, Andrea Bagioli, Josef Cerny, Fabio Jakobsen, James Knox, Florian Sénéchal, Zdenek Stybar, Bert Van Lerberghe and Mauri Vansevenant arrived at the finish together, with a big smile on their faces, all but securing our squad’s second triumph of the year in the points classification of a Grand Tour – which Fabio is poised to take home for the first time in his career.
“This is amazing. I am so happy I could cross the line together with the guys, because without them I wouldn’t have won the sprints here and this prestigious green jersey. They’ve always been by my side and for that I am so grateful. I love my teammates and I love being part of Deceuninck – Quick-Step, just saying it makes me very proud. The last few days have been really hard and the legs are empty, but I am happy with what I achieved these weeks, I couldn’t have asked for more”, a smiling Fabio said after concluding stage 20.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
