Rafal Majka was expected to be Tejay van Garderen's closest challenger in the USA Pro Cycling Challenge mountain time trial but the Pole could only manage fourth. As a conseqeuence he lost his spot on the podium and is now only fourth overall.

Today’s sixth and penultimate stage of US Pro Challenge was the last chance for the GC riders to create severe changes in the overall classification. Even though the individual time trial was only covering 16 kilometers, the course just turned steeper and steeper the further the riders went up the slope. Tinkoff-Saxo Dane, Jesper Hansen made a good impression by crossing the finish line in 5th position – so far. Ultimately, Tinkoff-Saxo had four riders in top-13.

Teammate Michael Rogers rocketed his way up the slope to set a new fastest time more than a minute ahead of second best so far. Later on, Tinkoff-Saxo’s Rafal Majka did even better but the leading rider, Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) was simply in a league of his own and won the stage 36 seconds ahead of Tom Danielson (Garmin-Sharp).

Tinkoff-Saxo’s Rafal Majka finished fourth and teammate Michael Rogers finished 5th while Pawel Poljanski and Bruno Pires finished 11th and 13th on the stage. Unfortunately, Majka dropped down to fourth overall as well and out of the podium while Bruno Pires made his way into the top-10 overall.

DS Lars Michaelsen says:

“The stage was roughly divided in two parts. The first part of the riders on the course were fortunate enough to have dry roads while the final riders out there were having wet and cold weather. Majka pulled a strong time trial in the rain but it wasn’t strong enough to maintain a spot on the podium but he’s only 4 seconds away from third place overall. Tomorrow, we start in Boulder to take on the final stage of the race, which is most likely to be decided in a bunch sprint”.

The race ends tomorrow.