Can Jakobsen still improve as Tour de France progresses? "Spent months working on the sprint train"

As of writing, we are just over one week into the Tour de France. During this time, there have been several bunch sprints (four times, to be precise), albeit disguised ones. Fabio Jakobsen, one of the key players for the Netherlands, managed to truly sprint only twice, which he attributed to simply no longer having a top sprint. IDLProCycling.com brings you up to speed on what is happening with Jakobsen's sprint!

We had sprints on day three, day five, day six and day eight. In those stages, Jakobsen finished seventh, fifth, twenty-eighth, and one hundred forty-sixth, respectively. You could say he did quite well during the first two opportunities, but not so much during the latter two. "We were too far back, but we were together, that's a positive point we need to take from this. I'm confident that we can still get close," said dsm-firmenich PostNL teammate John Degenkolb after one of the 'failed' sprints.

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL started the Tour de France sprinters' ball with confidence

After that first sprint, IDLProCycling.com spoke with team director Matt Winston, who was looking forward to the subsequent sprints with confidence. With the benefit of hindsight, it's interesting to put those quotes in perspective. "The first sprint of the Tour went quite well for us. If you look at the last five kilometers, you see a strong display of teamwork on our part. In the last 25 kilometers, we did everything to keep Fabio fresh and at the front. That's something we can build on, especially since we managed to position him well at the start of the sprint. That was also the goal, so it went as well as we could have hoped," he said at the time.

"We weren't necessarily disappointed," he continued about that seventh place. "We said at the start of the Tour that we wanted to make our mark in the first three days. We certainly did that, looking at the performances of Romain Bardet and Frank van den Broek on day one. We're looking at the bigger picture, and I think that's going quite smoothly."

Months spent working on Jakobsen's sprint train

Whether Winston feels the same three sprints later, we don't know. "We can't underestimate the fact that Fabio is a pure sprinter. If you have to sprint for the first time after two super tough and also hot stages, it's obviously a bit harder for someone of that type," he also put into perspective the challenging opening weekend in Italy. "You don't just get through treacherous stages like that easily. Yet I found him remarkably fresh on day three, so that's a very good sign. Also, the positioning of our train was very good, which was not always the case earlier this season."

"Our sprint train is something we've worked on for months," Winston also pointed out. "Actually, since the beginning of the year already. We should be happy with it, build on it, and look forward to the next sprints. That's how Fabio sees it too. Whether there's still room to grow as we head towards those next sprint opportunities? That remains to be seen. Some are quite tough, due to, for example, a difficult approach. Or due to a finale that should not be underestimated. So, we will also have to see what the rest of the teams do." Good luck, Fabio. Hopefully, the tide will turn!