23-year-old Fabio Jacobsen (Deceuninck-Quickstep) took an impressive second win at the Vuelta a España on Sunday evening, winning the final stage and giving the Belgian team a total of five Spanish Grand Tour wins.

Deceuninck-Quick Step, which had already won the fourth stage of the Vuelta a España, took two wins with Philippe Gilbert and one with Remi Cabaña. Jacobsen then returned to contention with the team's 64th win of 2019 in Madrid.

After Astana temporarily moved into the lead in the last kilometer of the short final stage, Trek-Segafredo and Sunweb made their best efforts to provide a leadout for Edward Theuns and Nikias Arndt, respectively. However, a long drive by Max Richeze allowed Jacobsen to get some much-needed daylight between him and his rivals.

Despite being surrounded, two-time Vuelta stage winner Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) tried to go toe-to-toe with his Dutch rival and was neck-and-neck with Jacobsen until the finish.

In the end, however, the Dutch national champion outpaced his Irish rival, winning by half a lap.

Asked if he realized that he was now one of cycling's top sprinters, Jacobsen took the victory in a personal as well as a broader sense.

"To be honest, I never thought I would make it to Madrid. It was my first Grand Tour and it was very hard. I'm not a climber and I suffered.

"But if I win the final stage in Madrid, I think I can say I'm one of the top 10 sprinters in the world.

Comparing the first and second stages, Jacobsen said he was relieved on the first stage. Because it was more or less within his expectations, given that he already knew he could have a good week of racing, had a strong team backing him up, and was putting pressure on himself to win. But this win was underwhelming."

When asked about how he came up with his second win, Jacobsen described a textbook path to victory, beginning with his teammates Tim DeClercq and Eros Capecchi as the race entered the Madrid circuit for the final 10 laps, with Diego Rubio (Burgos-BH) and Daniel Martinez (EF Education First) were holding off the break, he said.

Cavagna, Zdenek Stival, and Gilbert then kept Richeze and Jacobsen in front, and the battle for position intensified on a small climb around 3 km to go.

Jacobsen explained the details of the finale, "Stybar was in front there and I was behind Max. I waited until the other team passed, and that was Trek. [I waited behind Max to start the sprint, and with 700 meters to go I looked to see who was behind me, and it was Sam Bennett. I didn't want to go too fast because everyone already knows that Sam Bennett's kick is world class. And with 150, 125 meters to go, I did everything I could to get to the line.

"I'm very proud," Dečuninck-Quick Step team manager Patrick Lefebvre told Cycling News when asked what he thought of his team's great run in the Vuelta a España. 'I almost forgot, if Jumbo's team car hadn't interfered in the TTT, we would have had six stage victories instead of five.'

"But I'm not complaining. I'm a little sad for James (Knox). His teammates Stival and Gilbert saved him, but a few more seconds [lost] and he would still be in ninth place. But overall it was a great Vuelta."