Cav vs Fab

When Fabio Jakobsen finished his opening time-trial at the start of last year’s Vuelta a España in Burgos, he came coughing and wheezing his way through the mixed zone, the area where journalists speak to riders beyond the finish line. This journalist called for an interview but Jakobsen appeared to ignore the request. This is not unusual. Plus, it seemed that the 7.1km up-and-down effort through the city had taken it out of him: he was in some distress.

Yet once he had sufficiently recovered, with the coughing fits coming only every 30 seconds or so, he turned around and, riding against the flow of riders finishing their own efforts, made his way back to the journalists.

This is unusual, and perhaps it says quite a lot about Jakobsen. At the time, he was one of the supporting actors as the Vuelta got underway, his story one of the sub-plots to the third Grand Tour of 2021. But it was a fascinating one, given that it was his first three-week race since a horrific crash at the Tour of Poland in 2020 that almost ended his career. That almost ended his life.

Jakobsen’s recovery took place behind a veil of privacy, although inevitably the secrecy fuelled speculation about his state of health and even the possibility of disfigurement

Back from the brink

In the immediate aftermath of the crash, the medical team at