The European Champion was fourth in Saturday’s stage.
Fabio Jakobsen was again in the frame at the Argentinean race, which scheduled an almost flat stage on the penultimate day, comprising just two small classified climbs, in the first part of the course. Starting and finishing outside the Velodromo Vincente Chancay, the stage was short and very fast, as underlined by the average speed recorded at the end of the day, 47.34km/h.
Jan Hirt and Pieter Serry were on pace-setting duty for Soudal Quick-Step, spending a lot of time in the wind behind the seven-man breakaway, whose advantage fluctuated around the two-minute mark. Once the catch was made, our lead-out train slotted into position at the front of the bunch, with Remco Evenepoel as locomotive. The World Champion peeled off just before the flamme rouge, where Yves Lampaert and Michael Mørkøv took over for Fabio Fakobsen, who opened his sprint at 150 meters to go and came less than a wheel from his second victory at the race, concluding in fourth place, as Sam Welsford (DSM) took the win.
The Vuelta a San Juan – our team’s final outing of the season in the southern hemisphere – will come to an end Sunday afternoon, when the sprinters will get another opportunity in the shortest stage of the competition, a 112km journey held around San Juan.
Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images
