Vuelta a Espana 2021: ‘He was p****ed off’ – Wiggins suggests ‘alpha male’ Jakobsen angry with failure as Senechal wins

Eurosport’s Bradley Wiggins suggested that Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Fabio Jakobsen was ‘p****ed off’ to lose to teammate Florian Senechal at the Veulta stage 13.

The 28-year-old Frenchman is the leadout man for Jakobsen – the team’s lead sprinter – but it appeared that the 24-year-old Dutchman simply could not keep pace with his teammate and others in the breakaway.

Senechal claimed the stage win in a chaotic sprint finish for his first win of the Vuelta, while Jakobsen already has two to his name. Jakobsen had regularly struggled to keep pace at the top.

Speaking after the stage on Eurosport’s The Breakaway, Wiggins explained that: “It looked like he was p***ed off because he didn’t have the legs, really.

“He kept losing the wheel through the roundabouts and various corners up to that point. And I think they were just riding such a hard tempo on the front that he simply couldn’t hold the wheel and swung out.

“And I think he was more pissed off at the finish, and kind of felt a bit embarrassed so lashed out at the team, really, because he couldn’t keep up with them.”

At the finish, Jakobsen appeared to tell Senechal, ‘congratulations,’ but then twice told him: ‘If you want to be my leadout man you don’t do that.’

Wiggins commented that: “And we catch these sound[bites] in the immediate aftermath [of a race] when riders are fresh off the bike and things like that. And he’ll probably look at it in hindsight and be embarrassed with himself that he was caught on camera. But those things happen, and that’s the beauty of this sport that we get to see little bits like that.”

Senechal was on hand to come to his teammate’s aid when he had his life- and career-threatening crash at the 2020 Tour de Pologne, and Orla Chennouai pointed out that even their friendship was being tested on Saturday.

“And I found it really interesting because he and Sénéchal are apparently such good friends, and Sénéchal was the first rider to come across Jakobsen when he had that terrible crash at the Tour of Poland,” she began.

“He alerted the medical assistants straight away. His friends and family said Sénéchal saved his life. Obviously, that’s not what you’re thinking about in the moment, but it creates a bond you’re not conscious of. It’s just there.

She then asked: “This is awful to say, but has what happened to Fabio Jakobsen made him untouchable in that way? Do people not want to say anything bad about him?”

Wiggins believed she could be right, replying: “There is maybe that [too], yeah.”