Fabio Jakobsen to sign for dsm-firmenich until 2026

In news broken by GCN on Thursday afternoon, Fabio Jakobsen will leave Soudal-Quick Step at the end of the season and join the Dutch outfit, dsm-firmenich. Widely regarded as one of the greatest sprinters in the peloton, dsm-firmenich will be delighted to have secured Jakobsen’s services on a three-year contract.

Whilst the news cannot be officially confirmed until August, sources have confirmed to GCN that Jakobsen’s departure from Soudal-Quick Step can be considered a done deal, with the Belgian squad losing a rider that they have nurtured since he joined as a 21-year-old in 2018.

Having left SEG Racing Academy to make the step up to the WorldTour with what was then known as Quick-Step Floors, Jakobsen did not wait long before making his mark on Patrick Lefevere’s team, winning the one-day Danilith Nokere Koerse semi-classic in March of that year.

Since then, Jakobsen has seen off competition from Fernando Gaviria, Elia Viviani and Mark Cavendish to become Quick Step’s bonafide sprinter.

It is perhaps no surprise that his departure will come at the end of Tim Merlier’s first season with the Soudal-Quick Step squad, with the former Belgian national champion looking the most likely man to step up and become the team’s pre-eminent sprinter. As for dsm-firmenich, they have been looking to acquire a top-tier sprinter for a number of months, with news leaking that the promising Sam Welsford is to join Bora-Hansgrohe in the winter.

Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Fabio Jakobsen sports the colours of the European champion this season following his victory last August

Joining up with a Dutch squad that has long been associated with aggressive racing and stage hunting in the Grand Tours, Jakobsen might have seen the writing on the wall at Soudal-Quick Step given the rise of Remco Evenepoel. The Belgian Vuelta a España champion looks set to become the hegemonic figure at Soudal-Quick Step and Jakobsen will have seen his opportunities at Grand Tours take a backseat to Evenepoel’s ambitions.

With dsm-firmenich, Jakobsen can be assured a place at whatever Grand Tour he so wishes, and be guaranteed an effective lead-out that has seen Welsford achieve a number of notable victories this season.

Currently riding the Tour de France, Jakobsen has gone up against the Aussie sprinter but found little luck so far, finishing fourth on stage 3 and being taken down by a crash on stage 4. It was after stage 3 that Jakobsen bemoaned the safety of sprint finishes at this year’s race, a topic that Jakobsen has been vocal about since his horrific crash at the 2020 Tour of Poland.

Jakobsen has continued riding at this year’s Tour and will find his next opportunity on stage 7 to Bordeaux on Friday 7 July. You can watch live and ad-free coverage of every stage of this year’s Tour de France on GCN+. Tune in to see if Jakobsen can grab a stage victory in his last Tour de France for the Soudal-Quick Step team.