Fabio Jakobsen avoided the pitfalls of a chaotic finish to stage two of the Tour de France to deliver an emotional victory in Nyborg, Denmark.
Jakobsen, making his Tour debut less than two years after suffering life-threatening injuries in a crash at the Tour of Poland, stayed clear of late spills at the end of the 202.5km stage from Roskilde to come around Mads Pedersen and beat Wout van Aert – who consoled himself by taking the yellow jersey.
The day had been designed to build up to fireworks on the 18km-long Great Belt Bridge in the finale, but it was after the peloton returned to dry land that the key incidents occurred as a crash blocked the road inside the final three kilometres, leaving a select group of sprinters to contest the honours.
It was a second stage win in as many days for the QuickStep-AlphaVinyl team, and Jakobsen’s win will have silenced those critics who had questioned the decision to select the Dutchman ahead of Mark Cavendish, the winner of four stages and the green jersey in last year’s Tour.
However Yves Lampaert, the winner of Friday’s opening time trial, conceded yellow to Van Aert, who picked up six bonus seconds for his second place to wipe out his five-second deficit from 24 hours earlier.
The Belgian now leads by a single second from compatriot Lampaert while defending champion Tadej Pogacar, held up by the late spill but spared time losses given it happened inside the final three kilometres, is eight seconds down in third.
Several Ineos Grenadiers riders were delayed by the crash as Dani Martinez and Filippo Ganna went down, but Geraint Thomas avoided trouble to cross the line soon after Jakobsen. The Welshman remains 18th, 26 seconds off yellow.
At the end of a nervous day, the broadest smile belonged to Jakobsen, who less than two years ago was placed in an induced coma after suffering a catalogue of injuries including brain trauma following a high-speed crash in Poland.
He returned to racing in April last year and finished the season by taking three stages and the points classification in the Vuelta a Espana, but this was the crowning glory in his comeback.
“Today was ‘incroyable’ (incredible) as we would say in French,” he said. “For me it’s been a long process, step by step, a lot of people have helped me along the way.
“This is to pay them back and to see it was not for nothing. I’m happy I still enjoy riding the bike and racing the bike and I’m lucky I can still win.”
Tour director Christian Prudhomme had gone out of his way to make this stage as nervous as possible for all concerned. Local organisers had suggested a finish line 20km further down the road but Prudhomme wanted the Great Belt Bridge – and the threat of crosswinds – to characterise the approach to the line.
Those crosswinds would not truly materialise with riders instead heading straight into a headwind at the end, but the mere threat had kept tension high throughout the day – with riders just grateful to make it to the finish.
“It was sketchy and stressful but I think we’ve definitely had worse,” Thomas said.
“We knew the wind direction on the bridge wasn’t too dangerous but everyone still wanted to be in front. The boys were really good looking after me, (Adam) Yates and Dani (Martinez).”
Van Aert’s target in this Tour is green, but he was delighted to take the yellow jersey which is the ultimate goal of his teammate Primoz Roglic.
“This is only my fourth Tour de France but this feels like ‘finally’,” the 27-year-old said. “I’ve been hunting this one for a few years already and today is the day so I’m really happy.”
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Canada
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The Limehouse Golem
Director: Juan Carlos Medina
Cast: Olivia Cooke, Bill Nighy, Douglas Booth
Three stars
MATCH INFO
Burnley 1 (Brady 89')
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GIANT REVIEW
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Company%C2%A0profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ELeap%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMarch%202021%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ziad%20Toqan%20and%20Jamil%20Khammu%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPre-seed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Undisclosed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeven%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
What is Genes in Space?
Genes in Space is an annual competition first launched by the UAE Space Agency, The National and Boeing in 2015.
It challenges school pupils to design experiments to be conducted in space and it aims to encourage future talent for the UAE’s fledgling space industry. It is the first of its kind in the UAE and, as well as encouraging talent, it also aims to raise interest and awareness among the general population about space exploration.
The specs: 2019 Haval H6
Price, base: Dh69,900
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 315Nm @ 2,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
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Company name/date started: Seez, set up in September 2015 and the app was released in August 2017
Founder/CEO name(s): Tarek Kabrit, co-founder and chief executive, and Andrew Kabrit, co-founder and chief operating officer
Based in: Dubai, with operations also in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon
Sector: Search engine for car buying, selling and leasing
Size: (employees/revenue): 11; undisclosed
Stage of funding: $1.8 million in seed funding; followed by another $1.5m bridge round - in the process of closing Series A
Investors: Wamda Capital, B&Y and Phoenician Funds
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