Rafal Majka was unable to drop Tejay van Garderen in yesterday's final mountain stage of the USA Pro Challenge and goes into the mountain time trial with a 20-second deficit. Not feeling as strong as he did in the Tour de Pologne, the Pole doesn't think that he is capable of winning the race.

With two stage wins in the Tour de France and an overall victory and two stage wins in the Tour de Pologne, Rafal Majka has had an outstaning summer. However, he is now starting to feel the fatigue and even though he sits in second behind Tejay van Garderen in the USA Pro Challenge, he is not too confident that he will be able to take back that time in the mountain time trial.

Today he tried to drop van Garderen on the final climb in stage 5 but the American stayed glued to his wheel and the pair finished in the same time.

“I don’t feel so good, because it was so, so cold,” Majka told Velonews. “It was like [5 degrees] at the top. It was really difficult for me. My team was working on the front for me, helping me when I wasn’t feeling good, and when Tejay attacked, I was able to follow. I tried to take some time in the last few hundred meters, but he was on my wheel. I think I’ll finish this race second, or third. Tejay is so strong, and I’m a bit tired after the Tour, and after Poland.

“When it’s a hard time trial, for me, it’s okay. The first five or six kilometers are flat, and then it climbs to almost 3,000 meters. For me that’s okay, but I think it’s difficult to win this race. I don’t have the same condition as before Poland and after the Tour. I was stronger then, and it’s difficult to hold the condition. When I woke up this morning, I could feel my legs, they were tired."

“It was pouring down half of the stage and in this altitude the rain made everyone freeze," sports director Lars Michaelsen said. "We focused on the finale where we wanted to gain time on the leader’s jersey. Rasmus (Guldhammer) took good care of Rafal before the final and Rogers pulled hard up the final climb to give Rafal a solid setoff for an attack but Tejay was simply too strong and we couldn’t create the gap needed. Tomorrow, we take on a 16.1 kilometer long mountain TT climbing from 2500 to 2950 meters."