Fabio Jacobsen abandoned on stage 3 of the season-ending Tour of Guangxi.

Jacobsen, a Dutch sprinter, failed to make it past stage 12 in both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France. Jacobsen has retired eight times in the 2024 race, and today's retirement in Guangxi is his third in the past six days.

DSM-Filmenig Post NL did not specify why Jacobsen withdrew from the last race of the season, but the Dutchman struggled in the first two stages, finishing 48th and 123rd, respectively.

“The team had intended to use Fabio Jacobsen in the finale. However, during the stage, Jacobsen informed the cars that he was not feeling very well, so the team switched roles and protected Casper van Uden as sprint finisher.

Jacobsen joined DSM-Filmenig Post NL from Soudal-Quick Step for the 2024 season, but the partnership between the Dutch fastman and the Dutch team was not as successful as it could have been, with the lead-out train not working and the sprinters not performing etc., and has not been as successful as expected.

The 28-year-old has two more years on his contract at DSM-Firmenich PostNL through 2026.

“Everything came together. In top-level sports, if you make a mistake, even just a few percent, it's very painful. I think everything can be solved. But first you have to know what it is. I myself know most of it, but of course I don't know it completely yet,” Jacobsen told Wielerfritz early in the season about the 2024 problem.

“Then I have to work with people who know what it is, and also my own senses and insights, to get it right for next year. After all, you can only sprint as well as the pros. But I want to win that sprint again. I have to work on everything to achieve that.”

Jacobsen has the lowest number of wins in a season since turning pro with Quick Step in 2018, with his only win coming in April on the 2. Pro Tour of Turkey; he has two runner-up finishes in 2024, and his best result on the WorldTour was a fourth-place finish on stage 1 of the UAE Tour.

In 2021, a life-threatening crash at the 2020 Tour de Pollogne nearly ended his career, but Jacobsen regained his form and miraculously won six races, including three at the Vuelta a España.

With six-time Grand Tour stage winner Jacobsen still unable to approach top form, DSM has yet to finish in the top 14 in a Tour of the Broad West stage and will likely finish with the lowest number of WorldTour wins since the WT began in 2011.