After a slow start to Tour de Romandie, Tinkoff-Saxo bounced back and sent captain Rafal Majka up the GC during the course of the race. Majka finished off by delivering a fast TT, which put him into a final 7th place overall behind Ilnur Zakarin.  

Rafal Majka finished as best Tinkoff-Saxo rider on the 17.3km ITT 28 seconds behind stage winner Tony Martin and explains his result with a recent increase in shape.

“I had a good day and I think my form is building up. It was a tough stage and the rain made it even more difficult. Overall, the final days of the Tour de Romandie went well, considering the fact we made up most of the time we lost in the first day's team time-trial. It wasn't easy to come up from a 55-second deficit in the first stage and finish seventh overall. I'd like to thank the rest of the team for the great effort they put into this. The team was always there, we were in the front and especially yesterday, they showed their form. We were nearly all of us at the front on the last, difficult, climb and that is a good sign for the future”, comments Rafal Majka, who adds about his next goals:

“I will now rest for a week and then start preparing for the Tour de Suisse, where I really want to achieve a good result. After that, the big focus, not only for myself but for the entire team, will be the Tour de France. I have to be in great shape in order to be able to help Alberto as much as I can on the tough climbs”.

Asked about his evaluation of Tour de Romandie and the final day, Tinkoff-Saxo’s sports director Bruno Cenghialta puts focus on the effort made to move into the top ten overall.

"Rafal had a very good time-trial today. He was focused and keen on achieving a good result. He raced very well and this was reflected in his result. He is happy and so are we, of course, as the whole team has made a dedicated effort to support him. His form is constantly improving as well as his morale. We had a setback with the result of the first day's team time-trial, something that could have allowed him to finish further up in the GC”, asserts Bruno Cenghialta and adds:

“Rafal showed today that he was very strong and I'm confident about the near future. I'm sure he will reach the Tour de Suisse in excellent shape and the Tour de France in near-perfect form. The main bulk of our season starts next week at the Giro and it's important to have Rafal in tip-top shape, both physically and psychologically”.