Quick-Step Floors' neo-pro finished in the top 10 on a day that saw the breakaway steal the show.
Three stages are done and dusted at the BinckBank Tour and Fabio Jakobsen has a real shot at winning the points jersey, which only two other Dutchmen have conquered since the inception of the race, in 2005. Victorious on the opening day, in Bolsward, when he won a sprint royale following a perfect lead-out of Florian Sénéchal, Fabio finished eighth on stage 3, after the five escapees that animated things from the outset managed to stay clear.
Aalter was the start town of the 173.9km stage, and Quick-Step Floors got a warm welcome from the local fans, which came in big numbers to meet our riders outside the team bus before the start. Soon after the flag was waved, the quintet went clear and put four minutes between them and the peloton, who looked in control of things, only to find themselves two minutes behind the leaders with ten kilometers to go.
Naturally, a cat-and-mouse ensued between the breakaway men and in the end it was Taco van der Hoorn (Roompot) who took advantage of that, thanks to a canny attack inside the final kilometer. The rest of the group arrived a few seconds later, with Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida) taking the leader's jersey for a mere second.
Fabio Jakobsen put in a strong sprint from the bunch and increased his lead in the points rankings, where his closest opponents are 12 points behind. Teammate Maximilian Schachmann continues to be the best placed Quick-Step Floors rider in the general classification, ninth, with four stages to go.
Photo credit: ©Justin Setterfield/ Getty Images
