"I certainly expect that he will be able to speak again. The muscles around his mouth and lips were badly damaged, but that will be fine again."
In addition to a fracture to his upper and lower jaw, Jakobsen also fractured a thumb, but there was no damage to his legs, sinuses, or eye sockets and he had no brain injury.
"The greatest damage has been done to his teeth, which he has lost. But plastic surgery has progressed so much in recent years that I suspect that the traces of that fall will barely be visible later on."
Jakobsen can also remember everything until the last few hundred metres of the race and is well aware that he can consider himself fortunate to be relatively well off.
"As with any trauma, it is logical that there will be some confrontation between that realization and reality," says Vanmol. "That will lead to difficult moments, but the realization that this is more than a proverbial half-miracle dominates."
Vanmol said he is confident that Jakobsen will race again. "I'm not going to make any statements about deadlines. But if you ask me whether Jakobsen will become a rider again, I have very few doubts about that and more hope."
Kirjanmerkit