European Championships Munich 2022: Fabio Jakobsen sprints to road race glory
Two years since nearly losing his life in a crash at the Tour of Poland, the Dutchman continued his remarkable run of form in bunch sprints with gold in Munich.
Cycling Road
Fabio Jakobsen kept up his superb recent record in bunch sprints to take gold in the men's road race at the European Championships on Sunday (14 August).
The Dutchman, who suffered life-threatening injuries and lost most of his teeth after compatriot Dylan Groenewegen forced him into the barriers at the Tour of Poland two years, scored his 12th win of the year to take the coveted title.
France's Arnaud Demare took silver with Tim Merlier of Belgium in third.
The largely flat course of 209km from Murnau am Staffelsee to Munich always looked like one for the sprinters and so it proved.
Jakobsen was brought into position perfectly by Danny van Poppel, normally the lead-out man for Sam Bennett (who finished fifth just behind van Poppel) at the Bora Hansgrohe team, and he surged past Merlier with Demare following him through into second.
The 25-year-old, who also won a stage at the Tour de France this year, thanked his teammates afterwards saying, "We are all from separate commercial teams and we tried to create a real team here and I think succeeded.
"They all did a good job, a perfect job, and I'm super proud of them... especially Danny van Poppel. He put me in the wheel of Merlier in the last 500m and I could go into his slipstream and push power at max speed and I'm super happy that I could win.
"I think it's probably one of the biggest victories of my career. I'm proud of this jersey and I'm going to wear it with honour for a year."
European Championships Munich 2022 men's road race results:
1 Fabio Jakobsen (NED) 4hr 38:39
2 Arnaud Demare (FRA) same time
3 Tim Merlier (BEL) " "
4 Danny van Poppel (NED) " "
5 Sam Bennett (IRL) " "
6 Luka Mezgec (SLO) " "
7 Elia Viviani (ITA) " "
8 Alexander Kristoff (NOR) " "
9 Jon Aberasturi (ESP) " "
10 Mads Pedersen (DEN) " "
How to watch the European Championships Munich 2022
For a detailed full schedule of the event, check out the official website here. Please note the schedule is subject to change.
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