Fabio Jakobsen ‘grateful to be alive’ after Tour of Poland crash

The 23-year-old suffered a heavy crash at the end of the first stage of the Tour of Poland earlier this month after contact with Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jumbo–Visma) in a sprint finish.

The race doctor, Dr Barbara Jerschina, told reporters at the time that Jakobsen’s condition was life threatening, while his team confirmed the rider was put in an induced coma.

Groenewegen was criticised for his role in the crash by the UCI, who called his behaviour “unacceptable” before adding that they had “immediately referred the matter to the disciplinary commission to request the imposition of sanctions commensurate with the seriousness of the facts."

"It was a serious craniofacial injury, with open wounds but everything went well,” Dr Dorota Dudek-Dyczkowska added last week. “He is a very strong, determined man and his injuries do not require a stay in the intensive care unit but he will require further rehabilitation. He will most likely remain in hospital for a few weeks. He has been walking and is in good physical condition.”

Speaking two weeks after the crash, Jakobsen thanked the medical staff in Poland, and admits he can “slowly look to the future” after a “difficult, dark period”.

“It is now two weeks after my crash in Poland. The trauma doctors and nurses at the finish line in Katowice saved my life, for which I am extremely grateful to them. I spent a week in the intensive care unit at St. Barbara hospital in Sosnowiec. Here they immediately operated on me for five hours and gave me the chance to live. I am very grateful to all employees of this hospital.

“It was a difficult, dark period for me in the ICU, where I was afraid of not surviving. Thanks in part to the organisation behind the Tour de Pologne and my team Deceuninck – Quick-Step, my family was able to be close to me, which gave me a lot of strength.

“Last Wednesday I was transferred to the Leiden University Medical Center. I was admitted to the ENT department and treated further. Step by step I can start to live more independently. Currently I am at home, where the wounds in my face and my injuries can continue to recover. In addition, I have to rest a lot in the coming months because of a severe concussion. In the coming weeks and months, I will undergo multiple surgeries and treatments to fix facial injuries.

“In particular I would like to thank Dr. Rafael, who was my surgeon in Poland, Dr. Vanmol, who was present as a team doctor in Poland, Patrick Lefevere who brought my family close to me and Agata Lang and family who, on behalf of the Tour of Poland, did very well in taking care of my family.”

“I instantly thought of the 100m race in athletics and the lanes,” Sir Bradley Wiggins said on the latest episode of his podcast, The Bradley Wiggins Show By Eurosport. “Lots of sprinters sprint with their head down or looking five metres ahead and are constantly aware of riders coming up, and sometimes you can tend to naturally drift slightly – as Groenewegen did.

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“Some sort of markings, or something on a road, systematically in every race, for the last 50m even, so you’ve got some bearing of where you are.

"A lot of sprinters, they don’t do it intentionally, it’s a natural instinct when someone’s coming on either side of you. If you are aware of seeing lines crossing under your wheel as you’re going, you’ll realise that you’re going to get disqualified so you may back off.

“It might not work, but it’s the only thing I can think of when you’re flat-out sprinting. Something needs to be done rather than just disqualifying riders. Someone like Groenewegen now has to live with the consequences of that – no-one in the professional peloton intentionally goes out to do that to a rider.”