Fabio Jakobsen will be in action for the Wolfpack this week.
Over 900 kilometers spread across five stages make up the course of the 43rd Tour of Hungary, a race where we will be present for the first time in the team’s 20 years of existence. First held in 1925, when the peloton took on a mammoth 510.5km stage starting and finishing in Budapest, the event marks the Wolfpack’s second outing in the space of just one week on Hungarian soil, after the Giro d’Italia Grande Partenza.
The first four stages will see the sprinters and the puncheurs split the spoils, before the much-anticipated showdown on Gyöngyös-Kékestető, at the end of a day that will take in three ranked ascents and almost 3000 vertical meters. There, on the Matra, the country’s highest point, the general classification winner will emerge and take home the yellow jersey.
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl will be at the start with Tim Declercq, Fabio Jakobsen – a winner of six races so far this season – Iljo Keisse, Florian Sénéchal, Stijn Steels and neo-pro Stan Van Tricht – a strong six-man team that sports director Wilfried Peeters is confident can fight for good results: “We carry a lot of confidence and motivation into this race, which we will ride for the first time. There will be a couple of chances for a bunch sprint this week, where we’ll try to be in the mix with Fabio, who can rely on Florian to lead him out, but also on a solid squad to control the race.”
Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen / Getty Images
