“The better I feel, the better it is for him”

About five months after his horrific crash on the Tour of Poland, Dutch professional cyclist Fabio Jakobsen is still not ready for a personal encounter with Dylan Groenewegen, who caused the accident.

“I can understand that this matter weighs heavily on his soul and that he wants to end it. But I’m not ready for that, “said Jakobsen, 24, in an interview published for Christmas in the Dutch daily” AD. “

“This is a sport, not a war”

Groenewegen pushed his compatriot Jakobsen against a barrier on August 5 on the first stage of the Tour of Poland in a downhill sprint to the finish in Katowice at over 80 kilometers per hour. Jakobsen was temporarily in an artificial coma and had to undergo another operation in October to reconstruct his jaw and teeth. After the fall, Jakobsen only had one tooth and had to sew 130 stitches on his face. First of all, I would like to know more about how my healing process is progressing. The better I feel, the better it is for him, ”continued the Deceuninck QuickStep pro.

Groenewegen, 27, was closed for nine months after the maneuver and is no longer allowed to run until May 7, 2021. “I should have considered the consequences. We are human beings, not animals. This is a sport, not a war, where there are no limits, ”said Jakobsen. “We have to finish the kamikaze-style sprint independently of the other drivers. This incident should serve as a precedent ”, demanded the former Dutch teacher.