Fabio Jakobsen won his third stage in the race this year with Stage 16 of 2021 La Vuelta a Espana on his birthday on Aug. 31.
Fabio Jakobsen took his third stage win in this year’s La Vuelta when he rocketed past the other sprinters over the finish line on Stage 16.
Jakobsen previously won Stage 8 and Stage 4 and currently also leads the sprint classification standings.
Fabio Jakobsen plays it cool for most of Stage 16
The race started with a crash within the first five kilometers that took out both Van Marcke and Ciccone almost immediately, both having to abandon the race. Despite trying to continue after getting caught up in the crash, Rudy Molard also eventually abandoned the race.
Mikel Bizkarra, Jetse Bol, Stan Dewulf, Dimitri Claeys and Quinn Simmons formed a breakaway group that kept ahead of the peloton for most of the latter half of the race.
Jakobsen stayed close to the front of the peloton but sufficiently back from the very front where he conserved his energy in preparation for the sprint finish.
The breakaway splintered in the last twenty kilometers with various attacks from Dewulf, Bizkarra and Bol and slowly got mopped up by the peloton. Dewulf managed to break clear and maintain a lead until the final few kilometers when he was finally caught by the peloton.
The last few twists and turns in the course saw riders jockeying for position with Education-First Nippo losing their formation with a slight wobble of Lawson Craddock’s wheel before he managed to stay upright and avoid causing a crash.
In the end, many of the contenders sprinted towards the finish but it was Jakobsen who got there first.
2021 La Vuelta a Espana overall classification and standings after Stage 16
Odd Christian Eiking has managed to keep pace with most of the contenders and retain the leader’s red jersey.
Jakobsen took not just the stage but the sprint points lead and will keep that lead till the end of the race.
Many of the general classification contenders did not make many time gains on their positions though Ciccone abandoning the race while in the 12th position overall meant many below him moved up one place.
Sep. 1’s Stage 17 is a huge mountain stage and it is uncertain if Eiking will hold on to his lead and the red jersey.