Fabio Jacobsen took pole position as a sprinter for Quick-Step Alfa Vinyl at the Tour de France. The Dutchman will start his 2022 season at this week's Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana.
Since arriving at Quick Step in 2018, Morkov has led Elia Viviani, Sam Bennett, and Mark Cavendish to Tour de France sprint victories, quietly cementing his reputation as the best lead-out man in the world.
By Jacobsen's calculations, this week will be the first time Morkov has led him since winning his second Scheldepri in 2019. The Dutch rider didn't need to say that much, but given that Cavendish, who won four stages and the green jersey at last year's Tour, is currently scheduled to compete in the Giro d'Italia, he is at the top of Quick Step's sprint hierarchy at the start of the 2022
"I'm with him.
"It's been a long time since we've run together, and I think it was the second Scheldepri that I won," Jacobsen said of Morkov in a pre-race video conference.
"I love working with him. I think Michal was the best lead-out man last year. Maybe even the year before last. He's a very nice guy, very experienced. We will be racing together a lot this year with the Tour de France in mind. We have to work hard for that. We are even sharing a room this week."
The Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana is Jacobsen's first race of the season, but it is no exaggeration to say that his itinerary to the Tour began last year at the Vuelta a EspaƱa.
"You could say this is the end of my comeback," Jacobsen said after his first victory in Molina de Aragon. When he took the green jersey in Santiago de Compostela after the Vuelta, he was already thinking about 2022.
In fact, Jacobsen noticed residual effects after three weeks of racing and struggling in the mountains during the winter and especially during Quick-Step Alphavinil's last pre-season training camp in the Algarve.
"I felt better [climbing] there than in the last week of the Vuelta," Jacobsen said. When you do a big tour at the end of the season, you can feel it the following year. As my trainer Vassilis [Anastopoulos] said, I was pedaling in circles on the climbs, not squares. So there is a rhythm. The hills in the Algarve are a little steeper than in Spain. I worked a little harder and it worked out."
While riders like Jacobsen's teammate Remco Evenpoel will be at the front on Wednesday's hilly Valencia course, sprinters should get their first chance on stage 2, Trento.
Jacobsen finished second to Dylan Groenewegen two years ago in Valencia, beating his countryman rival on the final stage. This time his rivals are Viviani, now with Ineos, and Giacomo Nizzolo (Israel Startup Nation).
"Two years ago, we had to wait for the third sprint stage in Valencia, but we were already close in the first two sprint stages.
Jacobsen repeated his victory in the final week of last season, as Quick-Step secured the top spot in the World Tour standings ahead of Ineos Grenadiers. With the potential to win on all terrains, the team is favored to remain atop the World Tour in 2022, but the Dutch rider explained that the in-season ranking is secondary.
"We as a team want to win everything," Jacobsen said.
"It starts with winning races, winning the GC, winning one-day races. And at the end of the season, we will wear the UCI WorldTour's highest team logo on our chests. We won't make a special run for it early in the season, but it could be a goal at the end of the season. Besides, (coach) Patrick (Lefebvre) is very happy with us and sometimes winning gives you something special."
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