Sprint specialist Fabio Jakobsen of the Quick-Step team has withdrawn from the Tour de France ahead of stage 12 on Thursday, struggling to shake off the after-effects of a hard fall.

The current European road race champion, who made a miracle recovery from a horror fall three years ago, was one of many fallers in a high speed sprint on the tight corners at the Nogaro motorbike circuit a week ago.

"It’s better for me to stop my Tour de France journey here. At this point it seems impossible for me to get to Paris," said Jakobsen, who also cut a sorry figure in the searing heat of stage 10.

"I had big goals for this race and wanted to be at my best with the team. I will now take some time to recover and clear my head," said the powerfully built Dutchman, 26.

"I am not recovering and my body is not healing from the crash."

Jakobsen knows a thing or two about recovery, having enacted a miracle comeback after a near-fatal fall on the Tour of Poland in 2020.

Winner of a stage at the Tour de France in Denmark last July Jakobsen said he was now living a second life after losing all his teeth and undergoing several bouts of reconstructive surgery to his face after the crash in Poland.

Last August he won a hotly-contested sprint for the line at the European road race championships.

The race featured most of the World Tour elite with only Wout van Aert missing from the line up.

The Quick Step rider was selected for the 2022 Tour last June ahead of British great Mark Cavendish, who then left the team.

dmc/lp