Rising star Pogacar secures Valencia overall title as Jakobsen pips Groenewegen in final sprint

Updated 09/02/2020 at 16:41 GMT

Fabien Jakobsen timed his sprint to perfect to beat Dylan Groenewegen in Stage 5 of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, while Tadej Pogacar secured his overall victory.

Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia and UAE Team Emirates Yellow Leader Jersey / during the 71st Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 2020, Stage 5 a 97,7km stage from Paterna - Valencia / @VueltaCV / #VCV2020 / on February 09, 2020 in Valencia

Image credit: Getty Images

The General Classification was effectively decided in Saturday’s mountain stage, with Pogacar’s stage win giving him a six second advantage over rivals Jack Haig and Tao Geoghegan Hart.

And Pogacar kept himself out of trouble to secure the title in Sunday’s largely flat final stage.

Watch closing stages as Jakobsen and Groenewegen duke it out in sprint

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Victory for the Slovenian is a further indication that his breakthrough performance in last year’s Vuelta Espana was no fluke, with the 21-year-old targeting the Tour de France as his main race this year.

"This win means a lot to me, especially after all the hard work we did in the winter to prepare," Pogacar said. "To start my first race and win is incredible. My form is really good but not as good as when I was in the Vuelta.

I'll prepare at an altitude training camp and before my race before the Tour will be the Dauphine. I've got the UAE Tour towards the end of the month, then I do Paris-Nice, Basque Country and the Ardennes classics.

The 97.7km final stage was always likely to end in a sprint, but when it came it was Jakobsen who perfected his arrival after a technical approach, holding off Groenewegen to take the win. Second place was enough for Groenewegen to top the points classification for the week.

Cycing video - Jakobsen explains how he we sprint and what his season goals are

Stage 5 Results

1. Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck Quick Step) 2h04’32’’
2. Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo Visma) s.t.
3. John Degenkolb (Lotto Soudal) s.t.
4.Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) s.t.