Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl (France) - Press Release: Dutch sprinter makes it six victories in 2022 at the end of a day hit by crosswinds.
Fabio Jakobsen powered to his first World Tour win of the season with another phenomenal sprint at the end of a stage battered by ruthless crosswinds and broken into numerous echelons just 70 kilometers from the start.
After leaving behind Auffargis, the peloton allowed three men to open a gap, but things quickly changed shortly after passing through Dourdan, the site of two Eddy Merckx victories back in the ‘70s. The wind picked up and soon the bunch splintered, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl being one of the teams that decided to spread chaos. This spelled the end of the breakaway, and despite a brief regrouping with 60 kilometers to go, the field was again chopped to pieces once the wind intensified.
Having four members in the newly-formed front group, the Wolfpack made sure of controlling every attempt and setting a pace that prevented the chasers from rejoining the group that numbered around 30 men. As they entered Orléans, which returned as a stage finish for the first time since 2012 – when Tom Boonen won – Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl took over the reins again and stormed to the front with Yves Lampaert, Zdenek Stybar and Florian Sénéchal, who dominated the finale, providing another outstanding lead-out to Fabio Jakobsen.
Photo credit: ©Bas Czerwinski / Getty Images.
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