It's way too early to talk about a confirmed change of spirit inside Ineos Grenadiers in 2025, and Michal Kwiatkowski's victory in the Clásica Jaén was at least partly overshadowed by the concern for teammate Egan Bernal following his bad late crash. But as the 34-year-old Polish racer said, too - being able to triumph alone after a 60-kilometre breakaway and with rivals snapping at his heels all the way to the line, remains a very special moment all the same.
Furthermore, Kwiatkowski said, right now in Ineos Grenadiers - present in numbers throughout the race on the front, and with new teammate Axel Laurance underlining their success with a fifth place at the finish in Jaén - "riders are greedy to win."
"The team was supermotivated today, everybody was working hard, each rider and team member," Kwiatkowski said. "I think if it wasn't me today, someone else from our team would have taken the victory, they were all really motivated.
"I saw everybody was greedy to get the win, the staff were helping me out on the radio as well. So this win is for all of them as well."
Kwiatkowski was repeatedly asked about Bernal after the Colombian's dramatic late crash, but post-race winner's ceremonies and interviews meant he could initially add little beyond expressing concern for his teammate and wishing him a speedy recovery.
He also pointed out that Bernal had been in top condition during the race, too, before his untimely exit some 12 kilometres from the line.
Ineos Grenadiers later confirmed that Bernal sustained a broken collarbone in the crash and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
"I don't have any updates on him, I just saw that he was flying today," Kwiatkowski told reporters.
"From sector two [of gravel] onwards he was trying to explode the race, so I just went one time but he was keen and ready to go as well. Now - I just hope he is all right."
Kwiatkowski himself had some bad luck, puncturing twice early on. But the inherent risks in any off-road race, he said, were also part of his motivation to try and go clear from distance.
"I did the recon on Sunday and I could see that it was so sketchy, it was much easier to be away early on. I knew I didn't want to be in a big peloton in sector three, in particular, because there was the possibility of crashing.
"Together with Brandon" - McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), with whom he broke away early on, only for the American to puncture in the finale - "we took the risks together and we had a common goal.
"It was better to be away early on, so you could pace yourself more, go harder and then ease back a little more when the road allowed. But I know Egan crashed pretty hard, too, so it was one of those races where you never know what can happen."
Kwiatkowski had the potentially unlucky race number 13, something he said had almost certainly never happened in his career, which began as a road pro way back in 2010 with Caja Rural in Spain. "I said to myself this wasn't a race where I wanted to have bad luck, but maybe those two punctures early on were when I got my bad luck out of the way."
There were also moments where fortune appeared to be on his side when McNulty punctured late on. But as Kwiatkowski pointed out, it was difficult to know what that turn of events really meant in terms of his own chances, although he certainly knew that it would mean a much more insistent chase by UAE.
That heightened pursuit, certainly materialised, in the shape of a rampaging Isaac del Toro who came within less than a minute of the Pole by the finish. But on this occasion, Kwiatkowski, a former winner of Strade Bianche in 2017 and in 2014, had the form and racecraft to stay out front.
"I knew they had the numbers with [UAE racer] Tim Wellens too, to start chasing and that made me more scared than I had been about having to beat McNulty in a sprint," Kwiatkowski said.
"It's bad luck, sometimes that happens. From the look of it, McNulty didn't know the corners as well as I did, either. But in any case, that's racing for you."
For Kwiatkowski in any case, after 18 months without a win and a 2024 season that was poleaxed mid-way through because of a back injury, claiming his first victory since a stage of the 2023 Tour de France was too good an opportunity to miss.
"These days I'm not winning so often," Kwiatkowski - a former World Champion who has triumphed in Milan-San Remo and Amstel Gold (twice) in his time - pointed out.
"To get this victory I had to work hard for a very long time after my injury," he added.
"In the last two months, I've been in Australia training and racing and I was supposed to be with my family, there. But my daughter was sick, so instead I was missing them and they were missing me.
"So there have been a lot of sacrifices, too, and I'm sure my family were getting emotional as well at home when I won."
At the same time, in terms of his squad, after a lacklustre 2024 and plenty of speculation the team was finding it difficult to repeat previous success, some early triumphs in 2025 are more than welcome for Ineos as well.
But as Kwiatkowski put it, "You can see they [his teammates] are hungry to win races. And you have to be patient, not look at the future or past and sooner or later it pays off.
"You just have to try different training, different approaches, sometimes it works, sometimes not, but it's a long process and this victory is a confirmation that we are going well. We missed out on a victory in Australia but now - we just have to keep going."
