Rafal Majka discussion thread

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

you guys are a disgrace to the whole cycling community.
Calling him at wheel sucker, these climbs obvious does not suit him, he is the strongest climber in this giro and he will prove this in the mountain ITT and in the last week of the giro.
you should all be ashamed of yourself.

Lol, good day to you too mate.

I agree though, Majka is receiving a lot of flack for attacking the same amount as Kruiswijk, Chaves, Zakarin, and some other in the top 10

Apples and oranges

Majka has done this wheelsucking multiple times in pretty much any GT he races for a GC. He already has an established record in GT's unlike these other guys too.

And Kruiswijk/zakarin actually attacked so it's a really bad example.

I think Majka might be the best climber here, if he's in topshape he prob is but he needs to attack. Wheelsucking won't get him anywhere besides the last 2 stages might be cancelled

And that's a big might.

He's proven so far that he's on par with Nibbes, Valverde, Chaves, and Kruijswijk. If Nibbes has just been hiding his good form then Majka won't beat him in the mountains. Also Kruijswijk could give Majka a hard time in the mountains.

 

[damian13ster]

None but Nibali will drop him in high mountains. I am pretty much sure of that. This is the year in which he joins Pinot, Aru in second tier GC riders, only behind big four

 

[lenric]

Hue hue.

As Miburo noted, nothing wrong with riding passively when you have a huge ITT, but Majka doesn't and almost rides even more conservatively than Leipheimer.... sad.

Im glad you agree that riding passive when you dont have a huge ITT is sad. I assume the same goes for your beloved Quintana aswell or

Vuelta 2015, stage 20. Quintana was the only one who attacked on the last climb but one rider followed. It was Majka who firstly only wanted to neutralize the attack, but Purito who was Majka's direct rival for 2nd place in gc didnt follow so suddenly Majka had more than enough reason to ride together with Quintana. But no, instead of trying to become 2nd in a gt he decided that it's probably too dangerous to get dropped by a rider who was the worse climber in the race, who didnt even want to drop Majka but only wanted to work with him. So he just sucked Quintana's wheel for the whole climb and at the end only got 3rd place.
Of course I mention this race because it fits in the discussion about Majka and Quintana, just because IMO it shows that Quintana is still far more aggressive than the Pole, but this was also the point where I really started to dislike him. I actually liked him when he won the Polka dot jersey 2014, but whenever he rides a gt as a leader he is simply boring. I would like to be proven wrong, but I just don't expect him to attack tomorrow although he seems to be extremely strong

Agreed. Some riders just don't have the instinct to attack. They settle for third places, instead of risking it to achieve something better. Too bad that a rider with Majka's capacity does that.

 

[damian13ster]

Really disappointing today. At least now we will see whether he tries to attack or not

 

[Forever The Best]

He makes Leipheimer look like a Pantani

 

[damian13ster]

That's unfair. He is clearly not strong enough. So now it was obvious why he hasn't attacked

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

He makes Leipheimer look like a Pantani

Fortunately, he found a wheel to suck over the line.
Not fair tho. He didnt have it. Thought he was better.

 

[gunara]

I've never called him a wheelsucker like other did, but there's something about his riiding in this Giro that makes me believe that he tends to play it safe to the extreme, and it's annoying, really.

 

[damian13ster]

Really? That's what you takeaway from this stage? Because for me this means he just isn't strong enough and was bluffing for as long as possible hoping that he gets better as the race goes along. I would call him a wheelsucker if he actually had strength to attack

 

[Brullnux]

Re:

you guys are a disgrace to the whole cycling community.
Calling him at wheel sucker, these climbs obvious does not suit him, he is the strongest climber in this giro and he will prove this in the mountain ITT and in the last week of the giro.
you should all be ashamed of yourself.

Yes I agree, Majka is 100% the best climber of this Giro, and will storm the MTT just as he stormed the Monte Grappa MTT of 2014.

 

[dick the quick]

Re: Re:

you guys are a disgrace to the whole cycling community.
Calling him at wheel sucker, these climbs obvious does not suit him, he is the strongest climber in this giro and he will prove this in the mountain ITT and in the last week of the giro.
you should all be ashamed of yourself.

Yes I agree, Majka is 100% the best climber of this Giro, and will storm the MTT just as he stormed the Monte Grappa MTT of 2014.

Guys, chill please. Today he showed that he is not even close about being "the best climber of Giro" (whatever it means), but still has a chance for being between 3rd-5th place, which illustrates his current strenght and form IMO.

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

you guys are a disgrace to the whole cycling community.
Calling him at wheel sucker, these climbs obvious does not suit him, he is the strongest climber in this giro and he will prove this in the mountain ITT and in the last week of the giro.
you should all be ashamed of yourself.

Yes I agree, Majka is 100% the best climber of this Giro, and will storm the MTT just as he stormed the Monte Grappa MTT of 2014.

Guys, chill please. Today he showed that he is not even close about being "the best climber of Giro" (whatever it means), but still has a chance for being between 3rd-5th place, which illustrates his current strenght and form IMO.

I was being sarcastic, and I agree that a top 5 for him would be good.

 

[Forever The Best]

Re:

That's unfair. He is clearly not strong enough. So now it was obvious why he hasn't attacked

He is very passive when figthing for GC generally

 

[Miburo]

I think this is on Contador. Him riding the tour means Majka was forced to ride the giro which clearly doesn't suit him.

 

[HelloDolly]

He is a good climber but a boring rider to watch for a bystander.... He just is missing something still

 

[gunara]

Re:

Really? That's what you takeaway from this stage? Because for me this means he just isn't strong enough and was bluffing for as long as possible hoping that he gets better as the race goes along. I would call him a wheelsucker if he actually had strength to attack

I didn't mean attack, but he tends to be the among the last to take initiative in closing a gap when someone attack, pushing tempo, etc., when he never really look to be among the weakest among the attacked ones.

And I still can't say I dislike him, I used to be excited with his progress as a young rider, even when he started to gain that reputation as a passive rider, I still waited for him to prove something different, and I doubt it will ever happen.

 

[rm7]

Chill, the guy's still only 26. I'm not sure he'll get a lot better than this level, but not all riders are as good as Quintana at this age. He's a guy that generally challenge for 3rd-7th spot in the GC. Needs to step it up a level, if he wants to be favorite for the podiums or wins.

And I agree that the Giro's cold weather doesn't really suit him. He's a guy for the Tour, but the competition is too strong for him there to make the podium there for now.

He should also try to target the Vuelta more, when he's not riding with Contador anymore.

 

[Jakub]

I think/hope that he has had a bad day today. He has imho no chance for podium, but can be 4th if he shakes Valverde.

Rafal's biggest disadvantage is that he seems to suffer more than others after going to red. Therefore his wheelsucking is the best he can do and he should stick to it, actually even more strictly.

 

[Red Rick]

Would like to look at some climbing times. Level doesn't seem a lot worse than at the Vuelta.

 

[dick the quick]

A couple of years ago, my favourite football club had a manager who - on a press conference after every match that his team had lost - was saying the same: "A pity, but the league should be more interesting from now on". He was sacked finally, as the league was quite interesting indeed, but the team (expected to win the league, as per pre-season odds) finished third.

Now, I have to say the same after the yesterday MTT and Majka's performance: "The race should be more interesting from now on". If he is still thinking about the podium, he must show that he deserves it (well, with all the sympathy I have for him, he did not really demonstrate this so far).

So either he will switch into a kind of berserk mode - something that would be quite new to him - and he will start to race aggressively without looking around too much on the others (especially taking into account that there should be a plenty of opportunities to do so in a third week to come), or he will finish the entire race somewhere around 5th-7th place. This would be a nice result in general, but not for someone who was clearly targeting the Giro as his major goal for the whole season.

 

[damian13ster]

I give up. In an interview he said that he will do suicide attacks, go into a large breaks if there are any, and try to follow every single move but.......
All sounds great, he is not satisfied with top 5 but...... He says he wont do it on stage 16 because everyone will be too fresh after rest day :/

 

[movingtarget]

He should try for a stage win.

 

[damian13ster]

He will try for the stage win but by attacking from the favorites group, not by dropping 30 minutes. I just don't think he is strong enough to do that. I see all the mountain stages looking like the one yesterday.

Majka is just really bad after rest day. Said so himself in an interview after time trial. Was hoping that the pace will be lower, but it was hardest day on a bike in his life. Couldn't breathe on a first climb and thought he will crack there (after following group of favorites and getting dropped), but managed to hold a wheel and then even give some turns. Is really surprised he lost only 50s because of the way he felt entire stage, it could have easily been 5 minutes. Says will still try to attack in last 2 mountain stages. Really dissapointed in his team. Other than first 50km of each stage, there are MIA. Only Poljanski is fighting but he is seriously sick so can't contribute as much as he would have liked

 

[lenric]

Yeah, Tinkoff, I don't remember seeing other Tinkoff rider than Majka. What a crappy team.

 

[Publicus]

Watching Majka, he seems really insecure about his abilities/doesn't trust his form. He's content to stay with the group of favorites as long as possible, but never sticks his nose into the wind. I don't if it is a lack of form, or if he really only knows how to shine when the pressure is off (i.e., he's not considered a contender). I think the moment (leading the team) was too much for him psychologically. Better he stick to being a super domestique. It's easier and doesn't put as much pressure to deliver in the key moments as being the leader.