After 14 years as a GC racer, a top climber in his own right and finally a key mountain support rider, when soon-to-retire Polish pro Rafal Majka is asked about which leader has been the best to work for, he barely hesitates before saying 'Tadej Pogačar.'
Majka is currently in his last season as a pro, and the UAE Team Emirates-XRG climber will retire at the end of 2025, with his final race set to be Il Lombardia - riding alongside Pogačar, who'll be looking for a record-equalling fifth victory in the Race of the Falling Leaves - for one last time.
Before that, though, Majka will spend this week on home roads in the Tour de Pologne, a race he won back in 2014 and finished second in 2017, picking up three stage wins along the way.
The Pole's own career spans 23 Grand Tours, many of them riding for multiple different leaders in the mountains, including Pogačar in three Tours de France from 2021 through to 2023, as well as in Pogačar's knock-out triumph in the Giro d'Italia in 2024. All of which has given Majka time to reach the conclusion that, quite apart from being the top rider in the world, Pogačar is also - in his opinion - the best leader he's had to work for as well.
"He's like a normal person and also I spend a lot of time with him in the hotel rooms and it's a normal guy, but when he's on the bike, he's like a killer," Majka, 35, explained as he waited to go on stage for the Tour de Pologne team presentation on Sunday evening in Wroclaw - and where he easily drew the biggest cheers from the crowds.
"So finishing with Lombardia with him will be really nice."
As for his own decision to retire, that had come in January but was only announced earlier this week, Majka said, because he "wanted to stop when still at a top level."
"I was still thinking after the Giro that I could maybe do one more year, but you know, it's also important to be with the family after a lot of years living out of a suitcase.
"I want to finish when I'm wearing the Polish National Champion's jersey, too, so I'm really happy to be racing here in the Tour de Pologne right now."
Apart from taking the Polish National's for a second time in his career this June, Majka's list of triumphs in his own right includes three stages in the Tour de France as well as the mountains classification in 2014. He also took third place in the Vuelta a España in 2015 and was a bronze medallist in the 2016 Olympic road race in Rio.
Gradually moving into a team role as the years rolled by, even this May, his support work for Isaac del Toro and Juan Ayuso in the Giro d'Italia remained equally notable. But as Majka, even though he could feel he was performing well, it was always better to go out on a high note.
"I just did the Tour of Austria and finished third overall there" - and this despite working for overall leader and outright winner Del Toro - "but then you see the kids are growing up and you are never home.
"This is my decision because I want to enjoy things more and ride my bike without having to work."
Majka will continue after Pologne through to Il Lombardia, he said, but Pologne will also be a very special race for him given he will be racing on home roads and will - as the big roar from the fans confirmed - be getting the best kind of send-off one last time in Poland.
While his own personal successes, including those top three results in the Olympics and at the Vuelta, were undoubted high points, Majka said that the moment he signed for UAE in 2021 for the last five years of his career, "It felt like I was coming into a family."
"I have more domestique work but it's nice to work for the best rider in the world like Tadej Pogačar.
"It's easier for my head, and I've been enjoying these last five years more. When you are a team leader, of course, I enjoyed that, but when you are older, you tell yourself - yeah, maybe it's better to be a domestique."
Knowing when to stop, though, is as important as knowing when to open up the throttle, and with the privileged view of his team leaders that he has had over the years, Majka says he believes it is wiser for Pogačar to ease back a little after the Tour this year and not go on to the Vuelta.
"I think it was the smart thing to do, especially when the Tour was so hard. The average speed was very high, and it's better to ease back and wait for next season, because he can win a lot more races."
Regarding his own last participation in Pologne, it's true that Majka has shone there in the past, with his previous victory to this year's Nationals coming when he memorably outpowered Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) in the summit finish at Duszninki in 2023.
However, Majka says the team effort will largely centre around seeing how far up-and-coming Swiss racer Jan Christen, recently second in the Clásica San Sebastian, and the USA's Brandon McNulty, back after a long break following the Giro d'Italia, can perform.
"Obviously I will try, but we know the last day is a time trial" - usually his weak spot - "so I will look to see what I can do in the stages, some of which are good for me. Pologne is always like seven days of Classics racing, though. Really, anything can happen."
