Leopold König

Leopold König (born 15 November 1987) is a Czech former professional road cyclist, who rode professionally between 2006 and 2019 for the , , and teams. Since retiring, he has acted as the race director for the Czech Cycling Tour and the Course de la Paix U23 – Grand Prix Jeseníky.

Career

Early career Born in the small Czech town of Moravská Třebová, east of Prague, König as a child played ice hockey, using his bike solely for fitness until he started road racing at the age of 14.

Team NetApp (2011–2014) König at the 2013 Vuelta a España, where he achieved a stage victory. König was a stage winner in Caerphilly in September 2012 at the Tour of Britain and in May 2013, he won the queen stage of the Tour of California finishing atop Mount Diablo. König detached himself from a small group in the final kilometers and caught Janier Acevedo, dropping him with only to go.

However both these wins were eclipsed in August 2013 when he claimed his team's maiden Grand Tour victory by winning a mountain stage to Alto Peñas Blancas in the Vuelta a España after catching climber Igor Antón in the final 500 metres.

König took part in his first Tour de France in 2014, finishing seventh overall after rising two places from ninth by placing fifth in the final time trial.

Team Sky (2015–2016) König signed for for the 2015 season. König achieved his first podium place for the team, scoring third place at the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana. In the Giro d'Italia, he took over the leadership role as his leader Richie Porte suffered a massive loss of time and ultimately withdrew. On Stage 16 featuring the Mortirolo Pass, König was docked 10 seconds for holding onto cars. König performed well in the final stages but not well enough to secure a top 5 finish, finishing 6th overall.

Bora–Hansgrohe (2017–2019) After two years with , König returned to his former team – now known as – on a three-year contract. In the first half of the 2017 season, König only competed in two races due to injury. Following his injury-related withdrawal from the 2018 Tirreno–Adriatico, Konig did not race again for the team over the remaining 21 months of his contract, and had no interaction with his teammates.

Major results Source:

2005 7th Overall Giro della Lunigiana 2007 9th Overall Okolo Slovenska 2009 6th Grand Prix Kooperativa 9th Grand Prix Boka 2010

1st Stage 1

1st Stage 2 1st Stage 3 Tour of Bulgaria 3rd Time trial, National Road Championships 3rd Prague–Karlovy Vary–Prague 5th Overall Szlakiem Grodów Piastowskich 2011 2nd Road race, National Road Championships 2nd Overall Tour of Austria

3rd Overall Tour de l'Ain 9th Overall Tour of Britain 2012 1st Stage 2b (TTT) Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali 3rd Overall Tour of Utah 6th Grand Prix of Aargau Canton 10th Overall Tour of Britain 1st Stage 6 2013

1st Stage 3 1st Stage 7 Tour of California 6th Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali 9th Overall Vuelta a España 1st Stage 8 2014 4th Overall Bayern–Rundfahrt 7th Overall Tour de France 2015 National Road Championships 2nd Road race 2nd Time trial 3rd Overall Giro del Trentino 3rd Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana 5th Trofeo Andratx-Mirador d'Es Colomer 6th Overall Giro d'Italia 8th Overall Abu Dhabi Tour 10th Overall Czech Cycling Tour 1st Stage 3 2016

1st Stage 1 (TTT) Vuelta a España 9th Trofeo Pollenca-Port de Andratx 10th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish