The last climb was almost fatal for Fabio Jakobsen.
The 17th stage of the Tour de France ended at the top of the Altiport de Peyragudes, by a slope in a straight line, after 129.7 km of racing.
If the Pyrenees saw Tadej Pogacar win 4 small seconds ahead of the yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard, it was almost 37 minutes later that Fabio Jakobsen crossed the finish line.
The Dutch rider struggled in the high mountains, and almost did not arrive in time.
Fabio Jakobsen finished the stage with a delay of 36′48 minutes, just 15 seconds before the authorized time limit of 37′03 minutes.
Just in front of the sweeper car, in the last hectometres at more than 16%, the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl rider was pushed by his entire team so as not to be disqualified from the Tour de France four days before the end .
Watch these amazing images!
The Wolfpack encouraging @FabioJakobsen in the final meters of the #TDF2022 stage, as he pushes hard to make it inside the time limit by 17 seconds!
What a fighter!
pic.twitter.com/zgMVP33dOQ
— Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team (@qst_alphavinyl) July 20, 2022
This is not the first time in this Grande Boucle that the Quick-Step team has been eliminated.
His Danish teammate Michael Morkov had finished the 15th stage of the Tour after the deadline, 12 minutes late after riding alone for 180 km.
Fabio Jakobsen will therefore be at the start of the 18th stage this Thursday in Lourdes with the entire peloton, for a finish at high altitude.
Op 1 minuut 5 de verzorger die @FabioJakobsen zo hard als kan aanmoedigd om de tijdslimiet te halen!🙏 pic.twitter.com/Ig4nEgPPFR
— Bas Tietema (@BasTietema) July 20, 2022