Time trial training on the menu for Majka

Tinkoff-Saxo’s Rafal Majka had a breakthrough season in 2014 but the Polish climber knows he needs to improve his time trialling if he is to win the biggest races.

The 25 year old won two mountain stage and the polka dot jersey in Tour de France, claimed the overall victory in Tour de Pologne and finished sixth at the Giro d'Italia.

"I'm really satisfied with my season" said Majka.

"In the previous years, I've done well, worked hard for the team and gotten some good personal results. But now I've started winning, which was the one thing missing in the past years. The team has supported me and I was able to step up."

After a demanding race program starting with Volta ao Algarve in February, Majka concluded his season in late August.

"Since USA Pro Challenge, I haven't done any races. But I had a very hard schedule in the first half of the season with two Grand Tours. So for me to improve even more, I had to rest and recover. I've been training two to three hours a day to maintain my strength, and when the entire team gathers on Gran Canaria, I'll start preparing for 2015.

"I still have to work on some key areas, if I want to become even stronger in the big stage races. During the winter, I will focus on my time trial. Both the team and I know that there's still quite a lot of seconds to gain here.

"I'm really motivated and I share the same big ambitions as the team. We want to deliver results in the races of 2015 and perhaps I will also look into doing some of the classics in the future."