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Rafal Majka discussion thread

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Re: Re:

Melo said:
damian13ster said:
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.

How can you say that since they didnt yet get to the final climb? It is possible he could have stayed with them. That is true, although we will never know.
My response was based on the previous stages. He was dropped previously on multiple stages, that's why he was so far back in GC and had no chance for victory anymore. That's why it makes sense that Majka didn't spend his energy to save Contador couple more seconds. Not because of today's stage alone, because of entire Tour.
It is just more of a benefit for a team to use that energy to try and get a stage win tommorow or on friday.
He was completely fine with being a domestique until Contador was way behind in GC.


And I dont understand what happened to him today either. Hard to believe he got dropped so hard, not after performance on stage 11 shown that he is in shape.
Something weird must have happened
 
Czapiewski said:
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.


There we go. Problem solved
 
Apr 17, 2014
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Re:

SeriousSam said:
Climbers better than Majka when on form, preliminary list:

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

I would say Majka is better than Thomas/TJ/Uran/Rodriguez. I don't know whether he is better than Aru/Landa/Pinot. Porte is too inconsistent, but on his day he is better than Majka
 
Apr 17, 2014
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Re:

Melo said:
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 **** of what Majka was doing.

He did ride a couple of times with the GC boys to get KOM and only Nibali was stronger. I don't think he is the 5th best climber either, but I think he was the 2nd strongest (or perhaps 3rd behind Pinot) at last years TDF.
 
Re:

Broccolidwarf said:
- 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.

Seriously Majka has ridden Giros as a leader and was not even a top 5 climber in those races....
 
Re: Re:

Billie said:
Broccolidwarf said:
SeriousSam said:
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.

Nobody but Rodriguez cared about him.

They did on Hautacam stage.

I think
Froome, Quintana, Contador, Nibali are stronger than him. So is Porte in top shape, on a good day (he showed to be stronger than Quintana as well). The jury is still out on others
 
The radio thing is a moot point. When he gets to the bottom of Pra-Loup and has no way to win the stage or getting any KOM points, he should either completely stop or ride as slowly as he can so he can help his captain when he is caught by him. It's cycling 101.
 
Re: Re:

damian13ster said:
Billie said:
Team Majka not keen on helping anybody wearing the same shirt.

Apparently wasn't informed about the accident. Even if then what was the point? So that Contador can preserve his spot in top 5?
Still, weird stage today. Hope he has a serious go on stage 18.

If he was informed then he should have waited. He had no chance to win the stage, and his primary job is as domestique to Contador. The fact you dismiss this fact only reinforces the fact that you have personal issues with Contador, which are on display in virtually every post you make in this thread. If minimizing the potential time loss was of no concern to Contador, he would not have put in such an effort up the final climb. Ultimately we can only take Majka at his word.
 
Re:

Broccolidwarf said:
- 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.

Majka is a top 5 climber? In what grand tour has he displayed this elite level talent? Winning a stage here and there when you are no threat to the real contenders means he is competing for these stages versus less than the best climbers. Let him earn the title the way Quintana has. If there is someone who is over hyped it's Majka not Quintana.
 
Re: Re:

Broccolidwarf said:
SeriousSam said:
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.

I repeat, he was no threat to those with gc aspirations. He had the luxury of coasting on various stages and selecting when to go hard for the stage win while his rival climbers were battling to keep up and minimize their losses or gain time on their rivals.
 
Re: Re:

Angliru said:
Broccolidwarf said:
- 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.

Majka is a top 5 climber? In what grand tour has he displayed this elite level talent? Winning a stage here and there when you are no threat to the real contenders means he is competing for these stages versus less than the best climbers. Let him earn the title the way Quintana has. If there is someone who is over hyped it's Majka not Quintana.


I think it is a first claim that he is a top 5 climber so hardly overrated.
And to your previous response: of course he would have waited if he was notified, he proved that he is a great helper prior to Contador losing chances for the win and especially working for Sagan in Suisse.
I just don't agree it would make sense since at best it is a fight for top 5 in GC which is supposedly worthless for Contador
 
Re: Re:

damian13ster said:
Angliru said:
Broccolidwarf said:
- 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.

Majka is a top 5 climber? In what grand tour has he displayed this elite level talent? Winning a stage here and there when you are no threat to the real contenders means he is competing for these stages versus less than the best climbers. Let him earn the title the way Quintana has. If there is someone who is over hyped it's Majka not Quintana.


I think it is a first claim that he is a top 5 climber so hardly overrated.
And to your previous response: of course he would have waited if he was notified, he proved that he is a great helper prior to Contador losing chances for the win and especially working for Sagan in Suisse.
I just don't agree it would make sense since at best it is a fight for top 5 in GC which is supposedly worthless for Contador

When Majka finally actually makes the podium in a grand tour then he will be equal to the hype that some here create for him, based on a period of performances in 2014, that boosted his confidence but also created the misbegotten belief that he was suddenly one of the elite in terms of grand tour contenders.
 
Re: Re:

Angliru said:
damian13ster said:
Angliru said:
Broccolidwarf said:
- 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.

Majka is a top 5 climber? In what grand tour has he displayed this elite level talent? Winning a stage here and there when you are no threat to the real contenders means he is competing for these stages versus less than the best climbers. Let him earn the title the way Quintana has. If there is someone who is over hyped it's Majka not Quintana.

I think it is a first claim that he is a top 5 climber so hardly overrated.
And to your previous response: of course he would have waited if he was notified, he proved that he is a great helper prior to Contador losing chances for the win and especially working for Sagan in Suisse.
I just don't agree it would make sense since at best it is a fight for top 5 in GC which is supposedly worthless for Contador

When Majka finally actually makes the podium in a grand tour then he will be equal to the hype that some here create for him, based on a period of performances in 2014, that boosted his confidence but also created the misbegotten belief that he was suddenly one of the elite in terms of grand tour contenders.

I would advise you to look up the times, bottom to top, on the big climbs last year, and you will see that he routinely outclassed the big GC contenders, including Nibali....... and that was AFTER riding the Giro full on, which everyone is now using as the excuse for AC, and after being forced by Bjarne Riis, kicking and screaming, to ride the Tour against his own wishes, which isn't exactly motivating, and after being ordered to drop time in the first week of the Tour, so he could go away in breaks, in preparation for ACs expected attacks.

I predict Majka (25) is going to be one of the big contender of the future (once Froome retires), together with Quintana (25), Aru (25), Bardet (24) and Landa (25).... while Pinot will become the new Virenque and go for the polka dots.... once he realize, like Virenque did, that he has too many off days to be a real GC contender.

Flame away - time will prove me right :)
 
I think that Majka, Aru and Pinot are pretty close in terms of climbing ability. Majka seems really good when he's on his highest level. Of course his performances last year are hard to compare with those of Pinot and Aru because Majka could focus on a few select stages and relax on all other stages.
 
lol, people laughed at me when I suggested " the bee" as a nickname for Majka.

Seems it caught on

CKsIrAyUkAAO-AM.jpg
 
Aug 9, 2009
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Re:

staubsauger said:
Aru stronger than Majka ain't no given. Just like Quintana stronger than Aru ain't no given as well.
Crazier words have never been spoken :eek:

BTW: Majka finally acting like part of the team. Never thought I'd see the day.
 
Re: Re:

SergeDeM said:
staubsauger said:
Aru stronger than Majka ain't no given. Just like Quintana stronger than Aru ain't no given as well.
Crazier words have never been spoken :eek:

BTW: Majka finally acting like part of the team. Never thought I'd see the day.
Just look up by what margin Quintana did beat Aru at last years Giro without the Stilfser Joch stage.

And that was the first time Aru got team leadership.

We haven't seen them against each other on equal levels regarding shape, development etc so far. That said: Quintana still would be the favorite so far.

But it ain't no given.

Maybe Majka joins the Giro party next year again. That would produce a valid result between Aru and Majka and be an indicator whether Aru could be able to take on Quintana in future.
 

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