Fabio Jakobsen stood in the finish area of ​​Molina de Aragon with wet eyes, overwhelmed by the feeling of sheer happiness.

The happiness of being a survivor turned into a returner who is now a champion again.

377 days after his life almost ended on Polish asphalt and a brutal period of suffering began, the Dutch professional cyclist won the fourth stage of the Vuelta.

In one of those mass sprints in which he almost died.

It is nothing short of a miracle.

“That was the best victory of my career, it's all like a dream,” said the 24-year-old: “Now it feels like a circle has come full circle.

As if my comeback was complete after everything that happened last year.

It was a long journey.

And to be here as the winner of a Grand Tour makes me incredibly happy. "

Of course, Jakobsen was incredibly happy that he got away with his life on August 5th, 2020.

At that time, the Quick-Step professional was rammed into the bars by compatriot Dylan Groenewegen in the finish sprint during the Tour of Poland, was in a coma, with severe head injuries, a disfigured face, only a single tooth in his mouth.

"In this dark phase I was afraid I would not survive," said Jakobsen.

Even today, after a myriad of plastic operations, the consequences of the fall are visible.

His face, which was patched with 130 stitches, seems a touch unnatural, the language is a little unclear after his vocal cords were paralyzed as a result of an accident.

The new jaw, modeled from Jakobsen's pelvic bones, still contains temporary artificial teeth.

Jakobsen could have been content to have raced past the coffin or at least a wheelchair as close as possible.

It wasn't him.

Less than six months after the crash, he returned to training, contested his first race in April at the Tour of Turkey, and won the Tour de Wallonie for the first time in July.

And has been one of the world's best sprinters again since the third Vuelta stage victory in his career.

The fact that Jakobsen is mentally able to get involved in the tough job of the mass sprint, which almost took his life and in which every retreat costs the chance of victory, is perhaps the most astonishing. “The final was of course hectic,” he said after his Vuelta triumph, shrugging his shoulders, “but that's always the way it is in the mass sprints”.