Rafał Majka
.jpg) Majka at the 2012 Japan Cup | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Rafał Majka |
| Born |
12 September 1989 Zegartowice, Poland |
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) |
| Weight | 62 kg (137 lb) |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Tinkoff |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Climber |
| Amateur team(s) | |
| 2008–2009 | Gragnano S.C. |
| 2009 | Miche–Silver Cross–Selle Italia (stagiaire) |
| 2010 | Petroli Firenze |
| Professional team(s) | |
| 2011– | Saxo Bank–SunGard |
| Major wins | |
| |
|
Infobox last updated on 15 July 2015 | |
Rafał Majka (born 12 September 1989) is a Polish professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam Tinkoff.[1] He is known as a strong climber, and rose to prominence at the 2013 Giro d'Italia, where he finished 7th overall, and 6th one year later. Other major achievemets are three mountainous stage wins in the Tour de France as well as the Mountains classification in the 2014 edition and two stages and the overall victory at the 2014 Tour de Pologne. He achieved his first Grand Tour podium finish at th 2015 Vuelta a España, where he finished third.
Career
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In 2013, he competed in the Giro d'Italia for the first time, where he had a long battle with Carlos Betancur over the lead in the Young riders classification, which eventually fell to the Colombian in the penultimate stage. In the final classification, he ended up 7th, eight minutes behind winner Vincenzo Nibali.
A year later, he improved on his Giro d'Italia result from 2013 by finishing 6th overall.
Majka was a last-minute inclusion in Tinkoff-Saxo's 2014 Tour de France squad, after Roman Kreuziger was temporarily suspended from racing due to irregular biological passport values. On Stage 14, he earned his first professional victory after going solo on the final climb to Risoul.[2] 4 days later he claimed another victory on Stage 17, soloing to mountaintop finish atop Pla d'Adet.[3] These successes, as well as some other strong performances in mountain stages, earned Majka the polkadot jersey. Thus he became the first Pole to win a jersey in the Tour de France. A couple of weeks after the Tour de France he won stages 5 & 6 of the 2014 Tour de Pologne which were mountainous as well as the general classification.[4] Majka is the first Pole who won Tour de Pologne since the race is part of UCI World Tour.
In contrast to the previous two years, Majka did not ride the Giro d'Italia in 2015 where Alberto Contador made the first step in trying to do a Giro-Tour double but started in the Tour de France. He achieved top ten finishes at the Tour of Oman, the Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Suisse in preparation for the Tour. Majka won the 11th stage of the Tour de France to Cauterets from a breakaway to take his third Tour stage victory. Majka then prepared to race his season target, the 2015 Vuelta a España, attempting to gain a top 5 or podium finish in the GC. He performed well throughout the entire race, being able to stay at the top of the general classification with Nairo Quintana and Fabio Aru. On the penultimate stage, stage 20, Majka managed to advance himself from fourth place to third place, finishing the Vuelta in third, achieving his goal of being on the podium of a Grand Tour.
Palmarès
- 2008
- 1st Trofeo Enzo Sacchi
- 3rd GP Città di Monsummano
- 4th Trofeo S.C. Corsanico
- 2009
- 1st Firenze–Viareggio
- 3rd Bologna–Raticosa
- 4th Gran Premio Città di Empoli
- 5th Trofeo Nesti & Nelli
- 8th GP Capodarco
- 8th Trofeo Pedalata Elettrica
- 9th Trofeo S.C. Corsanico
- 9th Coppa Caduti
- 2010
- 2nd GP Chianti Colline d'Elsa
- 3rd Overall Giro delle Pesche Nettarine
- 3rd Bologna–Raticosa
- 3rd Trofeo Città di Lastra a Signa
- 5th Coppa Sportivi Malvesi
- 7th GP Brogio
- 9th GP Palio del Recioto
- 9th Firenze–Viareggio
- 10th Overall Karpacki Wyścig Kurierów
- 1st Stage 2 (ITT)
- 10th Trofeo Matteotti
- 2012
- 3rd Japan Cup
- 7th Overall Tour of Beijing
- 1st
Young rider classification
- 1st
- 2013
- 2nd Milano–Torino
- 3rd Giro di Lombardia
- 4th Overall Tour de Pologne
- 1st
Points classification
- 1st
- 7th Overall Giro d'Italia
- Held after Stages 7, 10–14, 18–19
- Held
- 2014
- Tour de France
- 1st Stages 14 & 17
- 1st
Mountains classification
- 1st
Overall Tour de Pologne
- 1st Stages 5 & 6
- 4th Overall USA Pro Cycling Challenge
- 4th Overall Critérium International
- 1st Young rider classification
- 1st
- 6th Overall Giro d'Italia
- Held after Stages 8–15
- Held
- 2015
- 1st Stage 11 Tour de France
- 2nd Milano–Torino
- 3rd Overall Vuelta a España
- 4th Overall Tour of Oman[5]
- 7th Overall Tour de Romandie
- 10th Overall Tour de Suisse
- 2016
- 5th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía
- 7th Overall Tour de San Luis
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
| Grand Tour | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Giro |
— | — | 7 | 6 | — |
| Tour |
— | — | — | 44 | 28 |
 Vuelta |
WD | 32 | 19 | — | 3 |
WD = Withdrew; In Progress = IP
References
- ↑ Stokes, Shane (13 September 2012). "Majka renews contract with Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank". VeloNation (VeloNation LLC). Retrieved 12 January 2013.
- ↑ "Tour de France: Majka wins in Risoul". Cyclingnews.com. 19 July 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ↑ "Tour de France: Majka victorious on Pla d'Adet". Cyclingnews.com. 23 July 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
- ↑ "Majka crowned Tour of Poland winner as Vandewalle wins stage 7 time trial". VeloNews (Competitor Group, Inc.). 9 August 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
- ↑ O'Shea, Sadhbh (22 February 2015). "Brändle wins final stage of Tour of Oman". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rafał Majka. |
- Rafal Majka profile at Saxo Bank-SunGard
- Rafał Majka profile at Cycling Archives
- Rafal Majka cycling stats at Pro Cycling Stats
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