Rafal Majka did not believe that Tinkoff-Saxo’s Tour de France campaign should end with the enforced retirement of team leader, Alberto Contador. 

With the multiple Grand Tour champion focussed on a heroic return at the Vuelta a Espana after a horrific crash ended his challenge in France, Majka accomplished what Contador would have hoped to by winning the queen stage.

The 24-year-old Pole rode clear of a day-long breakaway on the ascent to the summit finish in Risoul, and crossed the line too exhausted to celebrate, far less to zip up his jersey for the sponsor.

It’s unlikely that team owner, Oleg Tinkoff, cared that Majka’s chest received the international coverage his bank might have garnered. The Russian, rarely lost for words, was said to have been reduced to tears by Majka’s first stage victory.

Official UCI WorldTour photographer, Stefano Sirotti, kept a clear eye and a steady hand to bring you these images of stage 14 of the 2014 Tour de France.