Rafal Majka
Nationality: Polish
Date of birth: September 12, 1989
Height: 173cm
Weight: 62kg
Team: Bora-Hansgrohe
Twitter: @majkaformal (opens in new tab)
One of a fine crop of young Polish riders along with the likes of Michal Kwiatkowski, Rafal Majka has already made his name as a competitive climber and GC contender in some of the world's toughest races.
Majka boasts a palmarès that most riders would be satisfied with at the end of their careers. Two stage wins and the mountains classification at the 2014 Tour de France marked a stand-out year for him, but he soon added to that with another impressive breakaway stage win in the 2015 edition before going on to take third place overall at the Vuelta a España.
While that Grand Tour podium finish was a breakthrough for the then Tinkoff rider in the three-week races, he's also shown prowess in the shorter stage races, with an overall win at his home race the Tour of Poland, as well as in one-day races, with podium finishes at Milan-Torino and the Il Lombardia.
Though the Tinkoff team stopped racing, two key members of that squad remained together in Rafal Majka and Peter Sagan but under a new name in Bora-Hansgrohe with Majka coming to the fore in carrying the team's GC hopes. Especially after former teammate Alberto Contador moved on to Trek-Segafredo.
In the 2016 tour Majka finished 5th overall, the best result he has had at the Tour so far. He also won his National Champs jersey for the first time.
Since then he has won a smattering of one week races and several podiums on stages at la Vuelta. Whilst he clearly is one of the best climbers in the world, there has always been something missing that has prevented him from rising to the top spot at a grand tour.
Major results: Tour de France - 3x stage wins | Tour de France 2014 mountains classification | Tour of Poland 2014 overall | Vuelta a España 2015 3rd overall
Latest
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Chris Froome fends off attacks as Rafal Majka wins Vuelta a España stage 14 summit finish
Majka took victory from the day's breakaway as Froome concedes just four seconds to second place Vincenzo Nibali on Vuelta a España stage 14
By Richard Windsor • Published
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Rafal Majka abandons Tour de France 2017 after stage nine crash
Rafal Majka crashed badly on the descent of the Col de la Biche on stage nine of the Tour de France and has chosen not to continue
By Richard Windsor • Published
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Peter Sagan aims for sixth green jersey as Bora-Hansgrohe confirm final Tour de France team
Peter Sagan and Rafal Majka are named as the team's co-leaders for the Tour de France 2017
By Craig Cunningham • Published
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Rafal Majka takes overall lead of Tour of California after winning thrilling stage two
Rafal Majka beat George Bennett to the line for the stage honours as a breakaway made it to the finish of stage two of the Tour of California
By Richard Windsor • Published
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Peter Sagan shows off new Bora-Hansgrohe world champ's kit
Bora-Hansgrohe revealed the new kit for the world and national champions of the team first time since being given WorldTour status
By Richard Windsor • Published
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Rafal Majka to join Peter Sagan at Bora-Hansgrohe team in 2017
Tour de France King of the Mountains Rafal Majka will follow Peter Sagan from Tinkoff to German squad Bora-Hansgrohe for the 2017 season
By Nigel Wynn • Published
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Chris Froome takes first post-Tour de France criterium; wins big hat
Tour de France winner Chris Froome finished ahead of Greg Van Avermaet and Rafal Majka in the Aalst Criterium on Monday
By Richard Windsor • Published
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Peter Sagan: Plenty of opportunities for Tinkoff despite Contador exit
Tinkoff will continue to fight on three fronts in the Tour de France, despite Alberto Contador abandoning the race
By Stuart Clarke • Published
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Rafal Majka the latest name linked with proposed Bahrain team as more details emerge
Lampre-Merida manager Brent Copeland will move to the Bahrain team next season, with riders like Rafal Majka, Valerio Agnoli and Alessandro Vanotti also linked with the team
By Gregor Brown • Published