Rafal Majka discussion thread

[Miburo]

Damian, you still haven't recovered from yesterday? Now you're gonna to defend this? It doesn't matter for what place Contador is going, it's completely irrelevant from majka's perspective.

His team leader is in trouble so you drop back and help him out. That's what it means to be a dom unless you can go for the stage which clearly wasn't the case.

Damian strikes again.

 

[damian13ster]

Re:

Damian, you still haven't recovered from yesterday? Now you're gonna to defend this? It doesn't matter for what place Contador is going, it's completely irrelevant from majka's perspective.

His team leader is in trouble so you drop back and help him out. That's what it means to be a dom unless you can go for the stage which clearly wasn't the case.

Damian strikes again.

Of course I am going to defend this unless there is official info that he was directed over the radio to come back. (didn't find anything, Tinkov who is fairly vocal said the team did a great race today)
Otherwise how the hell was he supposed to know that pre-race leader (he is not going after GC anymore so why would the team still have a protected rider instead of going for stages) was in trouble?
And even if he knew then maybe team told him not to bother but instead to preserve strength for stage-hunting.
There is lots of assumptions people are making based on absolutely zero information.

 

[Melo]

Re: Re:

Damian, you still haven't recovered from yesterday? Now you're gonna to defend this? It doesn't matter for what place Contador is going, it's completely irrelevant from majka's perspective.

His team leader is in trouble so you drop back and help him out. That's what it means to be a dom unless you can go for the stage which clearly wasn't the case.

Damian strikes again.

Of course I am going to defend this unless there is official info that he was directed over the radio to come back. (didn't find anything, Tinkov who is fairly vocal said the team did a great race today)
Otherwise how the hell was he supposed to know that pre-race leader (he is not going after GC anymore so why would the team still have a protected rider instead of going for stages) was in trouble?
And even if he knew then maybe team told him not to bother but instead to preserve strength for stage-hunting.
There is lots of assumptions people are making based on absolutely zero information.

Stage hunting, really? Like this is what Tinkov wants... Tinkoff already has one stage win and the green jersey in the bag. They came here to help Contador, no matter what, not to win stages. All other GC teams had men in the breakaway: Astana, Movistar, Sky, and all of them helped their leaders, only Majka didn't. And I believe De Jongh's wife is telling the truth, why would she lie?

 

[damian13ster]

Re: Re:

Damian, you still haven't recovered from yesterday? Now you're gonna to defend this? It doesn't matter for what place Contador is going, it's completely irrelevant from majka's perspective.

His team leader is in trouble so you drop back and help him out. That's what it means to be a dom unless you can go for the stage which clearly wasn't the case.

Damian strikes again.

Of course I am going to defend this unless there is official info that he was directed over the radio to come back. (didn't find anything, Tinkov who is fairly vocal said the team did a great race today)
Otherwise how the hell was he supposed to know that pre-race leader (he is not going after GC anymore so why would the team still have a protected rider instead of going for stages) was in trouble?
And even if he knew then maybe team told him not to bother but instead to preserve strength for stage-hunting.
There is lots of assumptions people are making based on absolutely zero information.

Stage hunting, really? Like this is what Tinkov wants... Tinkoff already has one stage win and the green jersey in the bag. They came here to help Contador, no matter what, not to win stages. All other GC teams had men in the breakaway: Astana, Movistar, Sky, and all of them helped their leaders, only Majka didn't. And I believe De Jongh's wife is telling the truth, why would she lie?

Help him do what? Multiple stage wins are much more valuable than anonymous top 5.
Well, I don't find De Jongh's wife more credible than Tinkoff who praised how the team worked today. Sorry for that...

 

[Miburo]

I never said it was big deal but he definitely *** up. Should have waited, that simple

 

[damian13ster]

Re:

I never said it was big deal but he definitely **** up. Should have waited, that simple

Not unless he was told about the situation. Unless you expect him to be a psychic....
Seriously, let it go. There is zero information that you guys are basing your criticism on

 

[SeriousSam]

It has been clear for some time now that Majka is a reluctant domestique. He complained about having to do the Tour last year, and Contador's misfortune allowed him to win two stages and the polka dot jersey. IIRC, he said something like being sad about having to work this Tour as well, before the Tour, and once again, he managed to win a stage, thanks to Contador turning up in hopeless shape.

Whether he was less helpful than he should have been today, in some sense it doesn't really matter because Contador GC bid is over anyway, but it does continue the theme we've seen for some time now. Majka doesn't embrace a domestique role.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I don't see why De Jongh's wife would be biased towards Contador and/or against Majka. Maybe Majka hadn't put in his earpiece or something.

 

[damian13ster]

And he shouldn't. Too talented and too aggressive to drag someone's ass up a mountain to save top 5 spot in GC because he can't keep up with the leaders.
He had no issue working before it turned out that Contador is weak.

 

[damian13ster]

Re:

I don't see why De Jongh's wife would be biased towards Contador and/or against Majka. Maybe Majka hadn't put in his earpiece or something.

Maybe because De Jongh was criticized for not telling Majka to wait? So his wife is biased towards her husband..
I will take Tinkov's and Majka's words over some wife's word

 

[Miburo]

Re: Re:

I never said it was big deal but he definitely **** up. Should have waited, that simple

Not unless he was told about the situation. Unless you expect him to be a psychic....
Seriously, let it go. There is zero information that you guys are basing your criticism on

I don't need info, when i'm a dom and i can't win. I will wait for my leader.

Doesn't matter what situation he's in. I can always be of some use to him, that's the basis principle you fail to understand like usual

 

[djpbaltimore]

Theoretically, her claim would be more to cover for her husband who would get the majority of criticism for not calling Majka back. I don't know what happened, but if Majka disobeyed orders I would try to keep this within the team. I'm more surprised that Majka didn't have a better showing on the climb. I thought he was on the same level as Talansky and Frank.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

And he shouldn't. Too talented and too aggressive to drag someone's ass up a mountain to save top 5 spot in GC because he can't keep up with the leaders.
He had no issue working before it turned out that Contador is weak.

Contador crashed

At least now we know why Damian seems to have such a thing against Contador

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I'm more surprised that Majka didn't have a better showing on the climb. I thought he was on the same level as Talansky and Frank.

Yeah I was surprised too, I expected more from him

 

[SeriousSam]

Re:

And he shouldn't. Too talented and too aggressive to drag someone's ass up a mountain to save top 5 spot in GC because he can't keep up with the leaders.
He had no issue working before it turned out that Contador is weak.

Is Majka actually that talented? I continue to have doubts. More talented, stronger and older riders than him are more willing to slave away for their leader without complaining, at Sky. At least their leader delivers though, so it wasn't all in vain.

Personally, I think there is little excuse for Majka's reluctance. He hasn't shown enough potential that it would be wasteful to have him be a domestique.

 

[Melo]

Re:

And he shouldn't. Too talented and too aggressive to drag someone's ass up a mountain to save top 5 spot in GC because he can't keep up with the leaders.
He had no issue working before it turned out that Contador is weak.

Well, today he could've keep up with the leaders if he didn't crash. So that's why Majka should've waited for him so he can limit the damage. If he's too talented and he doesn't want to do the work a domestique does, he should go, Tinkov should release him next year. You treat Majka like he's some kind of an unreal talent that cycling didn't have until now and Tinkoff will be demolished if he goes. Landa, who's a better climber than Majka any day, helped Aru in Giro. Now imagine Majka to be the 2nd man and help Kreuziger in Giro or Vuelta. He would never do that.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Seems Majka WAS told to stop, but ignored it:

https://twitter.com/reneemeijer02/status/623877032611594240

 

[Broccolidwarf]

- as for his climbing abilities, he is a top 5 climber in the world, when he has not spent an 4/5 of a tour as a dom.... Comparing him to Landa and saying Landa is better makes no sense, until they ride under the same conditions.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

- as for his climbing abilities, he is a top 5 climber in the world, when he has not spent an 4/5 of a tour as a dom.... Comparing him to Landa and saying Landa is better makes no sense, until they ride under the same conditions.

Top 5?
Froome, Contador, Nibali, Quintana,....................... Majka? Wouldn't say so.

 

[Melo]

Re:

- as for his climbing abilities, he is a top 5 climber in the world, when he has not spent an 4/5 of a tour as a dom.... Comparing him to Landa and saying Landa is better makes no sense, until they ride under the same conditions.

Uhh... they're riding under the same conidtions. They're both domestiques. Majka TOP 5 climber? What are you smoking?

 

[SeriousSam]

Climbers better than Majka when on form, preliminary list:

Froome
Quintana
Contador
Nibali
Valverde
Aru
Landa
Porte
Thomas
Pinot
TJ
Rodriguez
Uran

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re: Re:

- as for his climbing abilities, he is a top 5 climber in the world, when he has not spent an 4/5 of a tour as a dom.... Comparing him to Landa and saying Landa is better makes no sense, until they ride under the same conditions.

Uhh... they're riding under the same conidtions. They're both domestiques. Majka TOP 5 climber? What are you smoking?

No they are not. The Tour is a far harder race, with much stiffer competition in the climbs, and Contador (and the team) is far more demanding of his doms than Aru.... wait a year, and let's see what Landa can do in the Tour

Time will prove me right

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re:

Climbers better than Majka when on form, preliminary list:

Froome
Quintana
Contador
Nibali
Valverde
Aru
Landa
Porte
Thomas
Pinot
TJ
Rodriguez
Uran

ROFL - except for the fact he blew most of the out of the water at last years Tour, when he did not have to ride as a dom.

 

[Melo]

He finished 44 last year. Please stop, you're making a fool of yourself. He won those two stages from breakaway. Those names on that list didn't give two flying fucks of what Majka was doing.

 

[Czapiewski]

Majka told clearly he had broken radio and no information about Contador's crash. He sometimes looks in fact like someone not realy fascinated by being domestique, but this year in TdS did wonderful job for Sagan. Still, what would be the point of this rebellion? At the time of Contador's crash Majka had no chance of getting good result, he was riding at rather slow pace.