Tinkoff-Saxo’s team captain Rafal Majka was back on top on Thursday’s medium mountain stage at La Vuelta after a loss of momentum at the individual time trial on Wednesday. Majka put in and countered a series of accelerations on the final climb of stage 18 and notes after finish that he felt both physically and mentally back on track.  

Speaking to the media after a resolute effort on the final Cat. 1 climb, Rafal Majka underlines that his objective remains a spot on the podium of Vuelta a España.

“I was feeling very down after yesterday’s time trial, but today I was really motivated and I said to myself that I had to try. And I’m mentally much better now than 24 hours ago and this is important and I really hope that I have the same legs on Saturday that I had today. If so, I will go at it – the stage will be really crazy with many attacks but my aim is the podium in Madrid. I tried today, however the riders in the top GC are all quite equal but small differences can mean a lot this late in the race and I’m going to try my best”, says Rafal Majka and adds:

“Today, I followed many of the attacks and I also attacked myself. I managed to get a gap during some of the accelerations but the climb was not hard enough to make a difference between the top riders”.

Pawel Poljanski, a main part of the Tinkoff-Saxo and Rafal Majka’s campaign in the Asturian mountains, took part of the long breakaway of the day, from where Nicolas Roche claimed the win.

“Before the start, we agreed that I should either go in the early break or stay close to Rafal. When the attacks came, we decided that I should go in the break to try to win the stage or stay in front in case Rafal needed me. But on the last climb, where Roche and Zubeldia attacked I didn’t feel good like the other days. I had stomach pain and I wasn’t able to follow in the moment of the attack. But I knew that Rafal was coming from behind and I pulled for him on the descent and the flatter section towards the finish line. I could see that Rafal was feeling good but the GC group was difficult to split up. We need to stay motivated like today and try to gain time Friday and Saturday”, comments Pawel Poljanski.

Stage 18 from Roa to Riaza featured three categorized climbs along the 204km parcours. On the final, 1st category climb of the day, with only a fast downhill section towards the finish remaining, the favorites fired up their engines. According to Tinkoff-Saxo sports director Tristan Hoffman, team leader Majka showed strong initiative, while noting that the team will not play its cards conservatively.

“Today was a good stage for us. Most importantly, because Rafal felt that he had a lot of power and he was motivated. He was disappointed yesterday but his mood and confidence turned today and that is important for the coming stages. We’ve said the entire time that Rafal’s shape would increase during the Vuelta and, although he didn’t perform at his best in the ITT, today we saw that he is very strong. He wanted to make a difference today and that was also our plan this morning, because we aren’t going to sit on our hands waiting for something to happen”, tells Hoffman before finishing:

“Pawel Poljanski was in the break, while the other guys supported and protected Rafal. At the bottom of the climb we told Pawel to try out for the win, but he was not at the exact same level as the previous mountain stages. However, he was out there and ready the entire time if Rafal had been in a situation, where he would have needed help. We will see if the fireworks start tomorrow, but most probably the big fight for the GC podium will come on Saturday”.