Tinkoff-Saxo captain Rafal Majka demonstrated that he has carried on his shape from La Vuelta with a 2nd place finish in Milano-Torino, the undulating prelude to the final monument of the season Giro di Lombardia. Although unable to catch winner Diego Rosa, Majka deployed a series of accelerations on the final 5km climb of Superga to shake off the remaining rivals.

After a determined climb to Basilica di Superga, Rafal Majka tells that he didn’t have the best sensations just two days after his return from the Worlds but chose to push on.

“Today I didn’t feel so much comfort. I’ve been home from USA for just two days and I could feel that the body clock wasn’t adjusted fully. But I’m satisfied both with my second place and in the end also with my shape. Today was an important test ahead of Lombardia and I think that my legs will respond better on Sunday. The condition is there and that’s probably why I was able to push on and attack”, says Rafal Majka, who notes that he chose to attack early on, while receiving valuable support from his teammates:

“I was unsure about how competitive I would be on the final climb so I decided to attack early on, nearly at the bottom of the climb to try to open up the legs. My teammates supported me the entire day and Poljanski and Chris Anker were very important on the way to the final climb, where they positioned me, and also on the climb where Chris did a lot of work at the front. I could see that they were fighting for me – that was a boost. Normally I want to win in a situation like this, but I’m satisfied today. Diego Rosa was very strong, he attacked at a good moment and it wasn’t possible for me to catch him before the finish line after I had attacked the last time”.

The 96th edition of Milano-Torino offered 186km in mainly flat terrain before the road kicked up within the final 20km, as the favorites had to settle the race by climbing the 5km Superga climb twice. According to Bruno Cenghialta, Tinkoff-Saxo sports director, the team can draw a favorable conclusion after the Italia autumn race.

“Today was super even though we didn’t get the win. Astana and Diego Rosa were very strong but at the end it was a fine outcome for us. Rafal was not super, super and he took the decision to attack on the first part of Superga to get the legs going. Chris Anker was very strong and he did a lot of loyal work together with Poljanski. Rafal told me that he wasn’t at his best and that he wanted to test himself, the outcome was good and I think he will be better for Sunday and Lombardia”, comments Bruno Cenghialta before finishing:

“The race evolved in a traditional fashion for Milano-Torino with a fast flat part until the last two climbs. It was better to wait for the last climb and from there it was very disorganized and Rafal followed some accelerations and also attacked on his own. In the end, he was among the strongest and we take that with us to Lombardia. Now we turn our focus on Gran Piemonte tomorrow, where Bennati will be our captain”.