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Fabio Jakobsen returns to racing: Daily News Digest

Hello CyclingTips readers, 

With Paris-Roubaix rescheduled to October, it was a slightly quieter weekend than cycling fans might have hoped. Nonetheless, there was spellbinding racing in the Basque Country, a hard-fought sprint in Turkey, and an emotional return. 

All that and more in today’s Daily News Digest.

Iain Treloar
Senior Editor

Gaudu takes stage as Roglic wins Itzulia Basque Country

Itzulia Basque Country ended with fireworks on the queen stage and an impressive overall victory for Primoz Roglic. The short but mountainous 111 kilometre route saw Roglic capitalise on a moment’s inattention from UAE-Team Emirates, a team that had the race lead with Brandon McNulty and Roglic’s compatriot, Tadej Pogacar, in fourth overall.

When a split formed with McNulty and Pogacar on the wrong side of it, Roglic pushed ahead with Hugh Carthy (EF Education-Nippo) and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ). Carthy was eventually distanced, leaving Gaudu to take an uncontested stage win while Roglic crossed the line alongside him, both riders celebrating an important victory.  

Arvid de Kleijn wins opening stage of Tour of Turkey

The Tour of Turkey began in snow-affected conditions, with the stage shortened to just 76.4 kilometres. An early breakaway of two riders held off the peloton until 7 km to go, before a hectic lead-in to the final sprint. At 1.5 km remaining, a crash disrupted the leadout trains of Deceuninck-Quick Step and Uno-X.

It was the Norwegian Pro-Team Uno-X, trying to set it up for Kristoffer Halvorsen, that looked best placed, but Arvid de Kleijn (Rally) was on Halvorsen’s wheel, just sneaking past in a photo finish. Delko’s Pierre Barbier was in third, with Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quick Step) just behind. 

Fabio Jakobsen returns to racing

This year’s Tour of Turkey holds special significance for Fabio Jakobsen of Deceuninck-Quick Step – it marks his return to racing after eight months. Jakobsen suffered serious injuries after being put into the barriers in the Tour of Poland last August, and despite fears he may never race again, has spent the time since undergoing multiple operations to rehabilitate the damage and methodically return to health. 

“I love riding my bike and race, so I missed it a lot, that’s why I am extremely happy to be here. It’s great to finish a race,” Jakobsen said after safely finishing the stage in the main bunch.

“It makes me proud to make it this far. To see that other people are happy, almost as happy as I am, is a special feeling and makes me want to perform.” 

Filippo Pozzato dodges injury in crash

Filippo Pozzato has narrowly avoided injury in a crash that saw substantial damage to his bike. The ex-pro was descending a climb in Veneto when a truck approached him on the wrong side of the road, forcing Pozzato to crash off the side of the road. 

“I would like to ask everyone once again to drive more attentively and with more concentration, because you can really endanger your own life and the life of someone else,” Pozzato wrote on Instagram afterward.

The Italian rider had a 19 year professional career, riding for teams including Mapei-QuickStep, Liquigas, Katusha and Lampre-Merida.

Ellen van Dijk returns positive COVID-19 result

Ellen van Dijk (Trek Segafredo) will miss this week’s Brabantse Pijl and Amstel Gold Race after returning a positive test for coronavirus. The Dutch rider said that she fell ill after Tour of Flanders, but sees one upside: “I am now happy that Paris-Roubaix has been postponed.”

On which note …

Meme of the day

In case you missed it

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