At the end of the 5th and last stage run over 188 km between Zakopane and Krakow and won by his Italian teammate Davide Ballerini, Evenepoel is ahead in the final standings the Danish Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) by 1 min 52 sec and the Briton Simon Yates ( Mitchelton-Scott) by 2 min 28 sec. This is Remco Evenepoel's fourth victory this year in a stage race after his successes on the Tour San Juan, the Tour of Algarve and the Tour of Burgos.
Ballerini won in a massive sprint, ahead of the German Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and the Italian Alberto Dainese (Sunweb). Evenepoel, a great hopeful of world cycling at only 20 years old, had practically secured the final victory the day before, during the mountain stage which he won hands down after an impressive solitary breakaway of 50 km. He then crossed the finish line by selling off the bib number "75", that of his teammate Fabio Jakobsen, victim of a very serious fall during the 1st stage.
Jakobsen came out of a coma
Jakobsen, who was life-threatening and underwent five-hour surgery, finally came out of a coma on Thursday. According to doctors, he could return home soon. The defending champion of the Netherlands crashed heavily on Wednesday shortly before the finish line. In a sprint at full speed, on a downhill false flat, he was crushed by his compatriot Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) and thrown over the barriers. Groenewegen was disqualified after this accident in which several riders and a judge were injured. The Katowice (south) public prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into this spectacular fall.
Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (Ineos), for his part, withdrew from the race before the start on Sunday. After winning the 3rd stage and donning the yellow jersey, he suffered a fall 66 km from the finish on Saturday. According to its sporting director Matteo Tosatto, Carapaz is suffering from pain and has preferred to withdraw in view of his preparation for the next Giro, of which he is the defending champion.
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