via Susan Westemeyer on Twitter:
"Patrick Lefevere no longer wants Groenewegen to go to jail, but still plans to go to court against him in Poland. "
View: https://twitter.com/WestemeyerSusan/status/1294180789400281088
Patrick Lefevere vloog er vorige week met gestrekt been in na de harde crash in de Ronde van Polen, waarbij Fabio Jakobsen door toedoen van Dylan Groenewegen een val maakte die voor geschokte…
www.telegraaf.nl
Google translated
Patrick Lefevere flew in with a straight leg last week after the hard crash in the Tour of Poland, in which Fabio Jakobsen made a fall at the hands of Dylan Groenewegen that caused shocked reactions. The Deceuninck – Quick-Step foreman tweeted about an assassination attempt and thought that the Jumbo-Visma rider should go to jail. Now that tempers have calmed down, the 65-year-old Belgian takes back his words.
“Of course I have seen Dylan Groenewegen's apologies. I am not inhuman, I realize that he is also very moved and that he did not want Fabio's serious crash ”, Lefevere says in his column in Het Nieuwblad. “That does not alter the fact that he has made a mistake and that he has to bear the consequences. I take back that they should put him in jail - that was the emotion of the moment - but we continue our lawsuit against him. We know which steps to take to achieve this and we have also hired a Polish lawyer. ”
Jakobsen seems to have weathered last Wednesday's nasty crash relatively well. Last Wednesday, the 23-year-old top sprinter returned to the Netherlands. He will continue to work on his recovery at LUMC Leiden. “All things considered, everything is going well with Fabio Jakobsen. I've been in touch with him for the past few days via text message, the only way he can communicate at the moment. Talking works a little bit, but the cannula in his windpipe makes that very difficult. He's been talking to his dad for a while by covering the hole in his throat with a finger, whatever he wants to try. That's what Fabio is. ”
The fierce crash in the picture.
The outcome of the crash at extremely high speed could have been a lot worse for Jakobsen. Lefevere does say that the way back is long for the fast rider from Heukelum, who won two stages in the Tour of Spain in 2019. “Everyone is happy that Fabio is doing well, there is great belief that he will be a cyclist again, because they are no longer made harder than Fabio. But let's not pretend it is all of a sudden just positive. His face has to recover, his speech has to recover, Fabio is facing a long rehabilitation anyway. Sportingly, the damage is great: nobody will contradict me when I say that Fabio was on his way to become one of the best and perhaps the very best sprinter in the world. This rapid progression has now come to a halt. ”
Lefevere would like to see Jakobsen himself take action against Groenewegen. “Personally, I wouldn't think it was a bad idea that Fabio should also file a complaint against Groenewegen in the Netherlands, in his own name. That would make our position legally stronger, but it must be one hundred percent his own decision. Not mine, but certainly not those of his estate agents, who are involved on both sides of the fence. ”