Already a triple stage winner at the Tour de France, Tinkoff’s Polish climbing talent Rafal Majka is looking to build on his leadership performance at last year’s Vuelta a España where he finished on the podium. Having finished sixth at the 2014 Giro d’Italia, Majka is vying for another podium performance at this year’s race.
Joining Majka at the three-week is a mix of climbers and all round riders able to support the team leader over the varied terrains of the race. The experience of Matteo Tosatto, Evgeny Petrov and Pavel Brutt, starting their 13th, 11th and 7th Giro d’Italia respectively, will be valuable.
They will race alongside Jesús Hernández and Pawel Poljanski who will play a role in the mountains, along with Jay McCarthy, Ivan Rovny and Manuele Boaro.
Talking about Tinkoff’s line-up for the Grand Tour, Directeur Sportif Tristan Hoffman said: “Rafal Majka is the absolute leader here – if you look to the parcours, his history, how he has been riding in Romandie – so he will be our main card and our protected leader. We have a strong team around him including Pavel Brutt, who after his injury rode a good classics campaign, and will be a strong guy who can pull hard on the flats and go in the breakaways.
“We have Jay McCarthy who proved himself again at the Vuelta last year, and he has got results from the breakaway at the Giro before. Evgeny Petrov and Matteo Tosatto have a lot of experience and perform well at the Giro. We have guys who can pull hard on the flats and others who can hopefully stay with Rafal in the mountain stages, like Pawel Poljanski. Everyone has had a good preparation and is excited to be racing here.”
“I really look forward to tackling the Giro now, after months of preparation towards one of my biggest goals of the year,” Rafal Majka confirmed when looking ahead to the race.
“As a team, we had a good winter, training and getting ready for the season and we have had strong results since starting racing which has built a good momentum. Now we are ready for the first Grand Tour and I’m excited to be leading the team in Italy. I want to do my best for myself, Tinkoff and all my fans.
“We’ve got a strong line-up for the race and it’s really good to be able to draw on the experience at this race from the guys like Tosatto, Petrov and Brutt, and to race alongside Poljanski. I think this is an important strength to have in the team. We have guys that can help me on all the various stages that the race has and then it’s up to me to be there when it matters.
“I’ve seen in Romandie that my form is where it needs to be after a solid period of altitude training in Cyprus with the team and ahead of the Giro. I’m happy with how I’m climbing and I think this is where the real differences will be made.
#Danger man!