By winning two stages and the mountains jersey, Rafal Majka salvaged what could have been a disastrous Tour de France for Tinkoff-Saxo. The Pole is already looking ahead to future challenges that includes one day contending for the overall win in the French race.

Rafal Majka becomes the first Pole to win the polka dot jersey. Tinkoff-Saxo’s Rafal Majka is undoubtedly one of the big revelations of this year’s Tour de France. He crossed the finish line on Champs-Élysées as the king of the mountains and two-times stage winner – one in the Alps on Risoul and another in the Pyrenees on the final summit of Plat d’Adet.

“I’m extremely happy and a bit surprised about my performance during this Tour. It’s my first Tour de France and I came here to support Alberto. But we’ve shown that even without our captain, we’re a very strong team. We had no plan B, but we created a new plan A – and we’re all very proud”, says Rafal Majka.

The 24-year old Pole has ridden the Giro twice and the Vuelta once with two top-10 results in the GC – both in Giro d’Italia. Majka came to the Tour after 21 hard stages in Italy, but has performed excellently during the second half of Tour de France.

“I was obviously tired after the Giro, so together with the sport directors we decided that I should take it slow for the first 10 days to build my shape. It has worked really well and I’ve been among the strongest riders in the second half of the race”, Rafal Majka tells.

After the final lap in Paris, Rafal goes to the podium to receive the last and most important mountain jersey of this year’s Tour.

“To be standing here in Paris with the polka dots on my jersey is a dream come true. I want to continue improving and, in time, to aim for the overall win. But this is a perfect place to start and I’ve proven to myself that I’m capable of competing in the Tour. I look forward to returning”, says Rafal Majka.

“It’s really beyond anything that I could imagine before starting this Tour and I have to thank the whole team for giving me the chance and for supporting and believing in me. For sure, I hope to be back next year to support Alberto and to show what I can do at that time. Now, it’s time to celebrate and then time to recover and relax."

“As every other year, this was the bunch sprints of all bunch sprints where we supported Benna in the finale but Kittel and Kristoff were in a league of their own today," sports director Philippe Mauduit said. "To conclude the race,  it was a sad day for everyone on the team but for the race as well when Alberto crashed. We were all devastated and in despair.

"But we couldn’t just withdraw from the Tour. We had a strong team and now they had the opportunity to go chasing stage wins and I have to say, they did an absolutely stunning job. In total, Tinkoff-Saxo won three stages and took home the mountain jersey as a plan B after Alberto’s unfortunate crash. And the performance simply underlines the strength and determination of this team so of course, I’m happy about the results and proud of our performance in this year’s Tour de France."