Jakob Diemer Fuglsang (born 22 March 1985) is a Danish former professional road racing cyclist. Before turning professional for , he was a mountain biker racing for Team Cannondale–Vredestein, winning the Under-23 World Cup and Under-23 World Championships. He retired in June 2025 at the end of the Giro d'Italia.
Fuglsang has finished 7th overall at the Tour de France and 6th at the Giro d'Italia, his best result at a Grand Tour. His best career results are his win in the 2019 Liège–Bastogne–Liège, the 2020 Il Lombardia and his overall wins in both the 2017 and 2019 editions of the Critérium du Dauphiné stage race, in the former of which he won two stages. He has also won several other stage races during his career including Danmark Rundt 3 times in a row from 2008 to 2010, Tour de Luxembourg and Tour of Austria in 2012, and Tour of Slovenia in 2009.
Career
Early years (2006–2008) For the 2006 season Fuglsang rode his first year as a professional mountain biker for Cannondale-Vredestein.
In 2007 Fuglsang moved to Italy in order to focus on riding his bike. It was a hard year for Fuglsang as he had no friends in the area and had no visits from his family. Despite being alone it allowed him to focus on his mountain bike career. The biggest event of his 2007 season came in September where he would ride the Under-23 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. His biggest rival at the event was Swiss rider Nino Schurter. They had competed in GP Tell just weeks before the event where Fuglsang finished 3rd and Schurter 8th. However, when they approached the final of the race Schurter was in the lead but Fuglsang was closing in on the Swiss and overtook him on the final lap on an uphill section. Fuglsang could cross the line as Under-23 World Champion. After the event Fuglsang got tattooed the rainbow stripes on his right arm.
The following year Fuglsang decided to focus more on road racing, however he would still ride mountain bikes races. After having finished 2nd overall with teammate Roal Paulissen in Cape Epic in 2007, he came back with Paulissen again the following year and claimed the overall win. He was leading the 2008 edition of Danmark Rundt heading into the last stage. He had been in contact with , and the deal was finally signed the day before he won Danmark Rundt. Despite having signed the contract, Fuglsang's manager wanted him to wait as his market value could inflate if he won Danmark Rundt which he did the following day.
Team Saxo Bank (2009–2010)
Fuglsang rode his first World Tour season in 2009, riding for which was led by Bjarne Riis. He had a great first year with finishing 6th overall in the Volta a Catalunya and Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré. Fuglsang won his second Danmark Rundt in August and had also won Tour of Slovenia one and a half months previous. He rode his first Grand Tour in August and September when he started in the Vuelta a España. He crashed in the first couple stages when he rode into the back of a tanker due to limiting road control. Later in the season he finished 2nd in the Italian classic Giro dell'Emilia.
The following year would be a controversial year for . It was uncertain whether the team would continue in 2011 due to a lack of sponsorship interest. Fuglsang wanted to stay at the team but got a great offer from which was enough to persuade him. In June Fuglsang finished 3rd overall in the Tour de Suisse and won the Danish National Time Trial Championships for the first time in his career. In July 2010, Fuglsang started his first ever Tour de France. Despite most of the team set to leave in the 2011 season, Riis managed the team well and Andy Schleck would end up winning the race due to Alberto Contador's Clenbuterol case. Following the Tour de France, Fuglsang won his third Danmark Rundt in a row. In his last race for , Fuglsang finished 4th in Giro di Lombardia after beating Vincenzo Nibali in a sprint.
Leopard Trek (2011–2012)
2011: Grand Tour leaders jersey In the 2011 season, Fuglsang was riding for the new Luxembourgish team funded by Flavio Becca. Fuglsang had a mixed start to his season with finishing 11th at Tour of Oman before abandoning at Paris-Nice. He finished 3rd on the Time trial at Critérium International and 4th on the Time trial at Tour of the Basque Country. He had to wait until the middle of April to get his first top result of the season. Fuglsang rode Amstel Gold Race where an attack on Cauberg saw Philippe Gilbert take the victory. Fuglsang could not quite follow the pace but managed to finish 4th just 5 seconds behind Gilbert. It was decided from the start of the season that Fuglsang would ride the Tour de France as a domestique for the Schleck brothers, and he showcased great form in his final stage race before the Tour. Delivering yet another great Time trial, Fuglsang finished 4th overall in the Tour de Suisse. In June he also finished 2nd in the Danish National Time Trial Championships. Arriving at the 2011 Tour de France, was one of the favorites to take the win. After the first 8 stages, Fränk Schleck was 3rd, Fuglsang 5th and Andy Schleck 6th. Later in the race Fuglsang dropped out of the top 10 but the Tour was still a success with Andy Schleck taking a stage win and 2nd overall, and Fränk Schleck taking 3rd overall. Fuglsang participated in the Vuelta a España where won the Opening Team Time Trial with Fuglsang crossing the line in first position. This meant that Fuglsang would wear the Red Leaders jersey on the following stage. Fuglsang was just the second Danish rider to wear the jersey, which was previously worn by Lars Michaelsen. His teammate Daniele Bennati took over the lead on stage 2. Fuglsang put in another great Time trial on stage 10 and finished 6th which moved him up to 2nd overall. However, later in the race he would drop to 11th overall.
2012: Excluded from World Tour races In 2012, Fuglsang remained with the Schleck brothers, as the team became . He was slated to be his team's leader in the 2012 Giro d'Italia, but had to withdraw due to knee problems and was replaced with Fränk Schleck. Fuglsang later won the Tour de Luxembourg, taking the overall classification jersey in the queen stage to Differdange and then defending his lead with the help of his team for the fourth and final stage in Luxembourg City. The last stage had to be shortened by by the organizers due to heavy rain. He was then excluded from the Tour de France by the team management after he had criticized them. He stated that he wanted to race for another squad in the next season since he was not happy with the way things were going within the team. In his book released in collaboration with Rasmus Staghøj in 2018, Fuglsang wrote that there was no real structure around the team. was the result of a merger between the two teams: and . During races and training camps the team was often split and racing as two teams, not one. Having phoned the general manager Johan Bruyneel, it was confirmed that Fuglsang was not riding any more World Tour races in 2012. As Fuglsang had just won the Danish National Time Trial Championships for the second time in his career, he went to Austria to ride the Tour of Austria. Fuglsang won stage 4 and the overall race ahead of Steve Morabito of who finished one minute and 24 seconds behind the Dane.
Astana (2013–2021)
2013: 7th overall at the Tour de France Fuglsang left at the end of the 2012 season, and joined on an initial three-year contract from the 2013 season onwards. In the 2013 Tour de France, Fuglsang was the team leader of Astana. As Dan Martin attacked on stage 9, Fuglsang saw it as a perfect opportunity to gain time on the other contenders, and attacked with Martin. They got a gap straight away, and started to work together. Inside the final kilometers it was clear to see that the bunch could not catch them. Fuglsang led out the sprint from the front, and as Martin attacked, he could not follow and had to settle with 2nd place. It was not until stage 13 that Fuglsang again was on the offence, when attacked during sections of crosswinds. Fuglsang was the only rider from Astana in the break and finished 4th on the stage, advancing to 6th overall. His efforts on that stage gained praise from his team-mates and staff. From then on, Fuglsang battled with Dutch rider Bauke Mollema for the 6th place. Eventually he ended up finishing 7th overall, after a good performance in the mountains and the time trials. Later that year he helped team-mate Vincenzo Nibali to the Italian's second place at the Vuelta a España.
2014: Helping Vincenzo Nibali win the Tour de France
Throughout the spring of the 2014 season, Fuglsang showed he had consistent form at the major World Tour stage races. He was set to help Vincenzo Nibali win the 2014 Tour de France. However the Italian rider showed no results before the Critérium du Dauphiné. On the final stage of the one-week stage race, Nibali attacked but was later dropped due to his efforts. Fuglsang was then ordered to pace Nibali up the final climb, but when the pace kept getting slower, Fuglsang was then finally ordered to ride his own chance. This sparked a lot of controversy at Astana since the leader for the Tour de France, was weaker than his domestique.
On stage 2 of Tour de France, Fuglsang attacked a few times until Nibali managed to get away and win the stage in the end. Just a few days later, Fuglsang and Nibali were riding together on the cobblestone stage and dropped all the other contenders. However, on the final sector of cobblestones, Nibali was once again having problems, and could not close the gap to Lars Boom who rode away in the distance and won the stage. Fuglsang had to slow down his pace in order to get Nibali to the finish line, and once again Fuglsang finished second on a Tour de France stage. After the stage, Nibali was first overall and Fuglsang second overall. However, on the first climbing stage, Fuglsang showed weakness and dropped to fourth overall. On the following stages he dropped out of the top 10, and lost even more time on stage 13 when he hit a bottle on the downhill to the final climb. The remainder of the race became a challenge for Fuglsang who finished 36th overall.
2015: Hunting a Tour de France stage win Having finished 7th overall at both the Tour of Oman and Paris-Nice, Fuglsang also cracked the top ten in two of the three Ardennes Classics, finishing eighth at La Flèche Wallonne and ninth at Liège–Bastogne–Liège. His main goal of the season was to help Vincenzo Nibali defend his 2014 Tour de France title. However already on the first mountain stage, Nibali looked vulnerable and Fuglsang was awarded his own chance by the Astana team. Fuglsang did a great final climb but only finished 13th because of acting as domestique to Nibali. The Astana team then said they were going to focus on Fuglsang for the remainder of the race. However, on the following day Fuglsang lost a lot of time, with Nibali only losing a minute. The final day in the Pyrenees saw the race heading up Plateau de Beille, and Fuglsang was in a 22-man breakaway. As the group was heading up the final climb, more riders were dropped from the group and Joaquim Rodríguez attacked with no one able to match the Spaniard's pace. Rodríguez won the stage with 1:12 down to Jakob Fuglsang who arrived at the soaking wet finish line in 2nd place. In probably his last chance for a stage win, Fuglsang went all in on stage 18 of the race. He was once again a part of a huge group which became smaller as it approached the Col du Glandon. It was clear that Fuglsang had a shot at winning the stage, but he was taken down by a motorbike which was about to pass the group. This ended his chances of a stage win and the driver of the motorbike was later ejected from the race.
2016: Olympic Silver medal