Rafal Majka discussion thread

[Akuryo]

offtopic: Kwiatkowski didnt say much about calendar except that it will be similar to this years. What worries me is that he is starting his season with San Luis. So lots of racing days again :/

He had not too much race days over the whole year. Just too much before the break in May. Until after the Ardennes he was fine. And he regained his form after a period of rest after the Tour. So just no Romandie and he should be fine.

 

[damian13ster]

He had not too much race days over the whole year. Just too much before the break in May. Until after the Ardennes he was fine. And he regained his form after a period of rest after the Tour. So just no Romandie and he should be fine.

True, I just wish he started from Strade or smaller one-day classics, not San Luis. Oh well, I trust that both him and OPQS will learn from mistakes in the past (such as Romandie).

JSpear: Majka jas shown that he can hold his shape for a very long period of time last season. I think that Tour suits him better and I agree that he should ride there as a second weapon. He also doesnt have to spend a lot of energy in 1st week (since there arent many ITT kilometres and he wont be the driving force in TTT). Just dont want him to lose any time except for some at cobble stage. Besides, riding a Tour doesnt mean being weaker at Vuelta (Valverde).

 

[damian13ster]

Interesting points from an interview with Rafal:
- his racing weight is 59.5-60kg
- by mid-november he is max 3-4kg from that weight
- didn't get much rest after the season because of a wedding and Kilimanjaro
- more training camps than usual this season, going to Sicilly and Tenerife after New Years.
- he thinks he will ride 1 GT as a leader
- his confidence is rising after a great year by himself and other Polish riders, is still improving in TTs
- explains that Polish cyclists can shine now because there is no doping in the peleton, says he had 30 controls last season but wouldnt mind even more if thats what it takes for the sport to be cleam.

 

[HelloDolly]

So what is it with this rider ...according to contributors here he was a next GT winner ??

His performances to date are very lack lustre

What happened to him being so powerful it was scary ??

 

[rm7]

Well he's peaking for the ardennes apparently.. He was bad in Paris-Nice, then got sick, and is definetly better here in basque.

To be honest i think everything is going according to the plan, apart from the illness of course. His goals for the season are the ardennes and the Tour-Vuelta.

Noway he can peak for the spring, ardennes, tour AND the Vuelta.

 

[HelloDolly]

Ok...he can't peak fro everything but look at Quintana , Henao , Kwai, Pinot TJVG, , even the Yates brothers .....they are up there ...if you enter these races as leader you must surely have a performance in you

I guess its the turmoil in the team.... and the pressure ...TCS is not getting the results

Majka is a very good climber and has turn of pace ...but not seen today or yet this year

maybe he should ahve rested if ill or exhausted before thsi race

 

[Netserk]

Some riders are simply better suited for the GTs than the spring stage races. Basso and Sastre come to mind.

 

[rm7]

Re:

Ok...he can't peak fro everything but look at Quintana , Henao , Kwai, Pinot TJVG, , even the Yates brothers .....they are up there ...if you enter these races as leader you must surely have a performance in you

I guess its the turmoil in the team.... and the pressure ...TCS is not getting the results

Majka is a very good climber and has turn of pace ...but not seen today or yet this year

maybe he should ahve rested if ill or exhausted before thsi race

Isn't quintana on spring peak, no ardennes and then Tour-Vuelta?

Pinot is spring peak and the Tour, dont know about the vuelta.

Majka is ardenner peak, Tour-Vuelta.

Majka should be better than he is, but i dont think he's ever performed well in the spring. All his results are from the Giro and the tour last year.

He should have peaked this month, and then resten until Dauphine. Dont know what they expect from him in the Ardenner week.

 

[Mr.White]

Re: Re:

Ok...he can't peak fro everything but look at Quintana , Henao , Kwai, Pinot TJVG, , even the Yates brothers .....they are up there ...if you enter these races as leader you must surely have a performance in you

I guess its the turmoil in the team.... and the pressure ...TCS is not getting the results

Majka is a very good climber and has turn of pace ...but not seen today or yet this year

maybe he should ahve rested if ill or exhausted before thsi race

Isn't quintana on spring peak, no ardennes and then Tour-Vuelta?

Pinot is spring peak and the Tour, dont know about the vuelta.

Majka is ardenner peak, Tour-Vuelta.

Majka should be better than he is, but i dont think he's ever performed well in the spring. All his results are from the Giro and the tour last year.

He should have peaked this month, and then resten until Dauphine. Dont know what they expect from him in the Ardenner week.

So are Purito and Valverde...

 

[Jelantik]

hmm.. I hardly see that Majka is excelling on ardeness classic. I thought he is suitable for stage race. But his form is still mystery for me. Not sure when he should be peaking. Overall, so far TS hasn't been very convincing as far as form. If we look Sky, barring any accident w/ Henao, they managed to win stage races with different rider. (thomas algarve, Richie - catalunya and PN, Henao - possibly Paisco, Froome - Ruta). That's not bad. While TS barely getting the win. Maybe they did slow down the peak for the tour, giro and vuelta. But usually a good showing on the spring, means that comes may, july and august, they are pretty competitive. (I'm not saying is a sure indication)

 

[bajbar]

With the exception of Alberto, the Tinkoff riders havent't performed up to their standards in the last two seasons as well. Their first non-Albeto victory last year was Rogers at the Giro. But last year no one was bothered, since Contador was winning everything he touched. But this year he focused on the grand tours only, so obviously his form curve is different. The last two years the Giro (or maybe the Ardenes the year before) was the turning point for the team, and from there on, they were great till the very end of the season. And since their focus is on the GTs, this may be just the same this year. And I don't mind if they don't smash everyone in this minor races, if they end up the season with pink and yellow.

 

[ray j willings]

I thinks things are fine. Come the Giro Saxo will be Strong. Bertie has been there and done that. He has big ones. He took on "Discovery" Armstrong and co and came out a winner. He's a tough Munter fudger. Other riders would have capitulated like Froome did at Sky with Wiggo.

 

[HelloDolly]

Ok ...So TCS is ridign Giro & Tour to win ...I get that

But surely they could have some riders to compete (other than Contador) in the spring

Kiserloski , Majka, Kreuz, Rogers , ???

Not convinced that these riders can only peak from Ardennes onwards ??

There has to be questions re training , etc

 

[Netserk]

I'm quite sure that by the end of the year the team will be judged by what they did in the Giro and Tour, not what happened in P-N and Itzulia.

 

[Jelantik]

I still believe a win is a win. Whether is a grand tour or not. Yes, GT is the bigger goal, but other races are just important. You can't really say that your season is a failure if you don't win GT even if you won all the stages race. It's still better than not winning anything. Besides, it's an opportunity for other rider to be the leader and deliver some results. Not only for contador and Sagan. I think, right now, Sky has a very balanced team. They won something with pretty much different riders. I don't think by the end of 2015, you can say that their season is a fail, when Froome fails to win GT. Some people are complaining about how point are being awarded to the leader only but the domestique never gets the point. Well, here's your chance. When Contador and Sagan don't line up in a race, that's your time to shine. So far, TS boys hasn't delivered any result from their secondary line up. (Only Boaro recently). I don't know if they are just delaying everyone to peak at the Giro, Tour and Vuelta (seems really odd to me, if that's true) and forget about getting any results during the spring.

 

[Red Rick]

Totally depends on the rider.

Contador's season without a GT win is a massive failure

 

[Dedelou]

Re:

I still believe a win is a win. Whether is a grand tour or not. Yes, GT is the bigger goal, but other races are just important. You can't really say that your season is a failure if you don't win GT even if you won all the stages race. It's still better than not winning anything. Besides, it's an opportunity for other rider to be the leader and deliver some results. Not only for contador and Sagan. I think, right now, Sky has a very balanced team. They won something with pretty much different riders. I don't think by the end of 2015, you can say that their season is a fail, when Froome fails to win GT. Some people are complaining about how point are being awarded to the leader only but the domestique never gets the point. Well, here's your chance. When Contador and Sagan don't line up in a race, that's your time to shine. So far, TS boys hasn't delivered any result from their secondary line up. (Only Boaro recently). I don't know if they are just delaying everyone to peak at the Giro, Tour and Vuelta (seems really odd to me, if that's true) and forget about getting any results during the spring.

I am with you on some points: Secondary line up has not shined this spring although one sense they could have.. There is a "but " somewhere as to why they haven't and perhaps also an explanation why the team is involved in so many many crashes.

 

[danielovichdk2]

I heard a tv-interview on Danish television just now with R. Majka.

He said that he has been doubling his scheduled training effort in January and February and is now burned out.

It might be a marketing stunt ?

Why would a coach say "okay, you go train double numbers son, it'll do you real good come July" ?

 

[mrhender]

Re:

I heard a tv-interview on Danish television just now with R. Majka.

He said that he has been doubling his scheduled training effort in January and February and is now burned out.

It might be a marketing stunt ?

Why would a coach say "okay, you go train double numbers son, it'll do you real good come July" ?

Could be just an excuse for poor form..

However this has been roumored to be an issue on the team this year..

I'am guessing Tinkov pushed the training programmes because he promised domination before the season started...

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

I heard a tv-interview on Danish television just now with R. Majka.

He said that he has been doubling his scheduled training effort in January and February and is now burned out.

It might be a marketing stunt ?

Why would a coach say "okay, you go train double numbers son, it'll do you real good come July" ?

Could be just an excuse for poor form..

However this has been roumored to be an issue on the team this year..

I'am guessing Tinkov pushed the training programmes because he promised domination before the season started...

r
Nico Roche today in his piece in the Irish independent said he over trained last year before the Giro with TCS..It seems it is a major problem for some. Basso has been reported to over train and not be in top at races in the past
Yet if reports are to believed Valverde trains very hard and just gets better & better

It must be a very fine line

 

[Jelantik]

Re: Re:

I heard a tv-interview on Danish television just now with R. Majka.

He said that he has been doubling his scheduled training effort in January and February and is now burned out.

It might be a marketing stunt ?

Why would a coach say "okay, you go train double numbers son, it'll do you real good come July" ?

Could be just an excuse for poor form..

interesting piece. Overtrain is just as bad as undertrain. But I was wondering is it just the riders that's not following their programme based on what their coach lines up for them? (case of over achiever) or is it the coach who lines up the wrong workload to the rider? It's true that every rider responds differently to the same workload. Probably it's a very delicate balance, after all we aren't dealing with machine.

However this has been roumored to be an issue on the team this year..

I'am guessing Tinkov pushed the training programmes because he promised domination before the season started...

r
Nico Roche today in his piece in the Irish independent said he over trained last year before the Giro with TCS..It seems it is a major problem for some. Basso has been reported to over train and not be in top at races in the past
Yet if reports are to believed Valverde trains very hard and just gets better & better

It must be a very fine line

 

[Dedelou]

Re: Re:

I heard a tv-interview on Danish television just now with R. Majka.

He said that he has been doubling his scheduled training effort in January and February and is now burned out.

It might be a marketing stunt ?

Why would a coach say "okay, you go train double numbers son, it'll do you real good come July" ?

Could be just an excuse for poor form..

interesting piece. Overtrain is just as bad as undertrain. But I was wondering is it just the riders that's not following their programme based on what their coach lines up for them? (case of over achiever) or is it the coach who lines up the wrong workload to the rider? It's true that every rider responds differently to the same workload. Probably it's a very delicate balance, after all we aren't dealing with machine.

However this has been roumored to be an issue on the team this year..

I'am guessing Tinkov pushed the training programmes because he promised domination before the season started...

r
Nico Roche today in his piece in the Irish independent said he over trained last year before the Giro with TCS..It seems it is a major problem for some. Basso has been reported to over train and not be in top at races in the past
Yet if reports are to believed Valverde trains very hard and just gets better & better

It must be a very fine line

I guess the fine line is " over" versus " hard" and that where a rider has to know himself and his coaches have to know his limits.

 

[HelloDolly]

Well Majka got new coaches this year ...so maybe that line wasn't known...

I find the form stuff very fascinating and enegmatic in cycling....its so different for different riders

Majka last year rode a hard Giro (after spring races) and was very tired starting the Tour (according to his comments)...He rode around at the back of the Tour for first 10 days and then came out as a dynamo ...won everything for another 8 weeks

Dan martin reports that in training camps he is behind his teammates and get whipped and yet he can come out a few weeks later and win monuments....

Its what makes cycling so unpredictable .....

But somehow Valverde is wining from February to October while Nibali has concentrated in a very short period from Tour to Worlds

 

[damian13ster]

It looks like he finally rode himself into shape (or based on his interviews-rested). It is really too bad that he doesn't ride a Giro as a leader. Looks like he is getting into a very good shape just in time, and one more week could have had him peaking at the right time.

Majka admitted that after last season he wanted to get even better, plus got new coaches and ended up overtraining, he is only catching some freshness now.
Yesterday he really looked like on a leisure ride. Very comfortable among the best climbers in the world. Went in the wrong time after Bardet, then didn't counter. Probably not so sure about his own strength after poor start to the season.
So the question is: is his current level (from yesterday) close to his max and he just mistimed his peak, or is he going to be even better at Tour de France? If its the latter then I think he will be riding not to lose time in first week of TdF, and if he manages to do that and Contador starts fading, he will be Tinkoff's plan B. This is why they have gotten all the other superdoms before this season. I am really excited. Feel like top 10 at TdF is a huge possibility with top 5 not being a wishful thinking, depending on how he gets through the cobbled stage.

Today is a huge day. Hope he doesnt lose more than 90 seconds to Froome/Spilak/Zakarin and comfortable beats Quintana and Pinot in TT.

 

[Kokoso]

It looks like he finally rode himself into shape (or based on his interviews-rested). It is really too bad that he doesn't ride a Giro as a leader.

There will be Contador at the Giro and Kreuziger as a backup, both of them prepared for Giro better than Majka. No shame at all.