Fabio Jakobsen grabbed his second Vuelta a España stage win in a week on Saturday, continuing his extraordinary career revival by powering to victory on stage eight while the champion, Primoz Roglic, retained his overall lead.
The Deceuninck-QuickStep rider picked his moment in a frantic bunch sprint at the end of the 173km flat ride from Santa Pola to La Manga del Mar Menor. Jakobsen surged to the front of the queue in the closing seconds and kept his wheel ahead of Alberto Dainese (Team DSM) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix).
Jakobsen also won Tuesday’s third stage, a year after a horrific crash in the Tour of Poland. The Dutchman had to be placed in a medically induced coma and required surgery after a high-speed collision with Dylan Groenewegen near the finish line.
There was no change in the overall lead as Roglic and his fellow general classification contenders came over the line together right behind Jakobsen. Slovenia’s Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) has an 8sec overall lead over Felix Grosschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) and a 25sec advantage over Enric Mas (Movistar) heading into stage nine.
Sunday’s stage is a punishing 188km mountain route from Puerto Lumbreras to Alto de Velefique which could lead to a change in the general classification before the first rest day of the race on Monday.