'Another new beginning' for Jakobsen ahead of 2026
Fabio Jakobsen has revealed a cautious approach to 2026 in what he and Picnic-PostNL hope will see the Dutchman put years of bad luck behind him. He's set to kick things off at the sprinter-friendly AlUla and UAE Tours in late January and early February, then return to Europe for a series of Belgian Classics starting at Le Samyn and building towards the Scheldeprijs on 8th April – the UAE Tour and Brugge-De Panne are notably the only WorldTour level events on his schedule for now.
"Do I see this as a new beginning? Another new beginning," Jakobsen told Wielerflits. "I consider myself a natural optimistic. I like positivity. That's because I've been so close to the end. I spent two days in intensive care after that crash in Poland, where I feared for my life. Everything that happens to me now is less bad than that, that's how it feels."
The sprinter endured a pretty disastrous start to his three-year contract with Picnic-PostNL from 2024, which was meant to come as a fresh start following six storied years with Soudal-QuickStep, including a horrific life- and career-threatening crash at the 2020 Tour of Poland. After a disappointing 2024, 2025 was punctured by surgery to treat a narrowed pelvic artery – a diagnosis that came as a relief to Jakobsen who'd struggled to make an impact where he belonged. The early signs during his lengthy recovery were good and a rejuvenated Jakobsen worked his way slowly back into competition, only to see his resumed season ended prematurely by a broken collarbone.
The now-29-year-old was conspicuously absent from Picnic-PostNL's published goals for 2026, with sprint hopes pinned on Pavel Bittner and Giro stage-winner Casper van Uden – Max Poole taking up the GC gauntlet left by Oscar Onley – but Jakobsen hasn't gone anywhere.
"I have the goal for myself that I will be relevant again in the finals, then the rest," Jakobsen said. "By that I mean that at least I have enough overview to make choices. That I have another sprint in my legs to sprint from eighth place to fifth, or from fifth to the podium or even further. I will have to build that step by step. It is not very realistic to say that I want to win another stage in the AlUla Tour right away. First I want to get back to a place where I am able to sprint ... After the Scheldt Prize, we take stock of the first time.”
