Tinkoff-Saxo met the GC ambitions set by the team before the start of Tour of Oman, as Rafal Majka climbed to 4th place in the overall leadership on the queen stage of the race. Majka finished 4th atop the steep 5.7km climb to Green Mountain behind stage winner Rafael Valls.
 
Tinkoff-Saxo’s GC-captain rides his first race of the season and was pleased with the result after crossing the finish line.
 
“I’m satisfied with the stage and I think it is a good result for my first race of the season. I followed Valls and Van Garderen until 800 meters to the line, where I felt that I was perhaps about to explode and lifted the pace a little. Unfortunately, Valverde caught me with 100m to go, but many big names got dropped today, so I can only be satisfied”, says Rafal Majka, who sends his praises in the direction of his teammates.
 
“I want to thank my teammates, who helped me a lot today. They kept me at the front and shielded me from the wind. I wasn’t exposed to the wind one single time, which shows how big an effort they made. I arrived at the final climb feeling good and I was able to follow the attacks until just before the finish line”.

Stage 4 to Jabal Al Akhdhar, also known as Green Mountain, featured 189km in the heat with a 5.7km finishing climb of 10.5%. The early breakaway was caught just before the riders reached the climb and the pre-stage favorites immediately launched attacks. Sean Yates, Tinkoff-Saxo sport director, explains:
 
“The bunch arrived at the climb in a really high pace, then Nibali attacked, got caught, attacked again and finally he was dropped. Then the front group of favorites just got smaller and smaller, as riders were dropped. Rafal did a great job in his first real test of the season. He followed the attacks by van Garderen really well and was a part of the front trio for much of the climb. He had to let van Garderen and Valls go right at the end, but he showed that he’s on the right track”.
 
“It was a steep climb and the temperature was high. It was a proper head-to-head battle and there’s no hiding on a mountain like this. The team did a good job before the climb and Roman Kreuziger also did well by finishing 11th on the stage”, comments Yates.
 
Rafal Majka finished 4th on the stage 0’22” behind winner Rafael Valls (Lampre-Meride) and sits 4th overall 0’32” with Valls, Van Garderen (BMC) and Valverde (Movistar) in front.
 
“Our goal before the race was to have Rafal in the top-5, when Oman finishes. So right now we’re living up to our own ambitions. I don’t reckon that the GC will change on stage 5 and 6, but we’re hoping for a stage win – especially tomorrow, which is a tough stage, where the sprinters will have a hard time in the final part”, concludes Sean Yates.