Victims of serious falls in recent years, Fabio Jakobsen and Nacer Bouhanni were again overtaken by bad luck this weekend.
The bad flashback. Fabio Jakobsen, on the right of the road, along the barriers, and there… The last stage of the Tour of San Juan offered the Dutch sprinter a reminiscence of his terrible fall in the Tour of Poland. Packed down by Dylan Groenewegen, Jakobsen had ended up in the railings, and he could have lost his life.
This me, the sprinter from the Soudal-Quick Step formation was luckier. During the final wrapping, the European champion hit a spectator’s phone. Hit in the face, he was thrown off balance, but he was able to avoid the fall at full speed.
🇳🇱 Fabio Jakobsen comes in contact with a supporter who knocks the glasses off his face in mid-sprint.
Goes to show that safety on sprint finishes needs to be improved! People should not be able to have their arms so close to the riders when they are sprinting!#VueltaSJ23 pic.twitter.com/SYv9DDvydv
— Maid (@Servant___) January 29, 2023
“I think everyone thought about it (at the Tour of Poland, editor’s note), confided Jakobsen a few minutes after the incident, relays the Belgian press. It was partly my fault, there was room to pass, but I hadn’t seen the hand. I have a cut on my nose and my eye is a little swollen, but it could have been much more serious.”
Bouhanni on the ground as soon as he resumed
Nacer Bouhanni was less lucky. The French sprinter has also been the victim of a very serious fall in recent years. It was last year, on the Tour of Turkey, and the rider from the Arkéa-Samsic team had hit a pedestrian who was on the road. Result: a fractured vertebra, and long months of downtime.
For his return to competition, Bouhanni was once again hit by bad luck. The Vosgien was caught in the fall during the Trofeu Palma sprint on Sunday. He suffered a new head trauma, the third in a few months. Even if the exams passed on Monday are rather reassuring, it is confirmation, unfortunately, that danger is still an integral part of cycling.
After passing an X-ray following his fall yesterday in Palma de Mallorca, the exams are reassuring for Nacer Bouhanni:
– no broken ribs
– hematoma on the right chest wall
– headache pic.twitter.com/MPRN4JdfbR— Team Arkéa Samsic (@Arkea_Samsic) January 30, 2023
