Michal Kwiatkowski, together with the team, decided not to start the 4th stage of Tour de Romandie on Saturday.
"I came into this race with good expectations," Kwiatkowski said. "I had immediately the leader's jersey after winning the prologue. So, after that the team worked for me for the GC and I said 'why not, let's try to do something good here.' As each stage passed, however, I understood I was really tired after a long period of racing at a high level. I've been racing since Trofeo Mallorca. Now it's really the time to stop and recharge my batteries. I have to thank the team for letting me take these two extra days of recovery. I will spend them at home, so it's really worth it as I've only been home for five days since January. In any case, this first part of the season will be something I remember for a long time. I've had several career milestones, including my victory at Strade Bianche, my performances at the Ardennes Classics, and my first UCI WorldTour victory at Tour de Romandie. The feeling was always good, as if my performances were happening easily even if they were actually far from it. I had great support from the team and my teammates. I always felt the confidence around me which was really nice. I started a few races as captain, which was completely new for me. We can say that in this first part of the season I learned a lot, and I enjoyed my time, but now it is really the perfect moment to back off, recover and spend time with my family at home before I start focusing on the next races."