Dutchman Fabio Jakobsen sprints to European road race title in Munich

Jakobsen was always the leader for the Dutch and was led out to perfection by Danny van Poppel, who finished fourth in the race to the line. 

In what was likely to be a sprint on a flat course in Germany, Italy took to the front with two kilometres to go for their fast man, Elia Viviani, but the Belgian squad, with Bert van Lerberghe, were able to out-drag them, putting Merlier in pole position for the sprint.

The Dutch held back and as Merlier opened up his sprint from 300 metres to go, Jakobsen was able to use his slipstream to good effect, coming from behind him with 50 metres to go to take home the title. 

It caps off a year off firsts for Jakobsen, who won his first Tour de France stage in Denmark on stage two and also one of the prime sprinter's classics, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne for his trade team, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl. All in all, he has 12 wins in 2022.

After the race, Jakobsen lauded his teammates for their hard work, including van Poppel.

“We don’t race together much as teammates but we made a good plan and everybody did his work and put in a huge effort to put me in position,” he explained.

“Danny van Poppel did an incredible job putting me with speed at the wheel of Merlier and i could come from his slipstream and pass."

The women's European road race takes place next Sunday with both time trials happening during the week.