Leopold König
![]() König at the 2014 Tour of Britain | |
Personal information | |
---|---|
Full name | Leopold König |
Born | Moravská Třebová, Czechoslovakia | 15 November 1987
Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) |
Weight | 62 kg (137 lb) |
Team information | |
Discipline | Road |
Role | Rider |
Rider type | All-rounder |
Professional teams | |
2006–2010 | PSK Whirlpool–Hradec Krlove |
2011–2014 | Team NetApp |
2015–2016 | Team Sky |
2017–2019 | Bora–Hansgrohe |
Major wins | |
Grand Tours |
Leopold König (born 15 November 1987) is a Czech professional road cyclist, who last rode for UCI WorldTeam Bora–Hansgrohe.[1]
Career[]
Early career[]
Born in the small Czech town of Moravská Třebová, 100 miles (160 kilometres) 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.[2]
Team NetApp (2011–2014)[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/Vuelta_a_Espa%C3%B1a_2013-L._Konning_y_F._Nibali%28maillot_rojo%29_%28cropped%29.jpg/170px-Vuelta_a_Espa%C3%B1a_2013-L._Konning_y_F._Nibali%28maillot_rojo%29_%28cropped%29.jpg)
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 300 m (980 ft) to go.[3]
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 Team Sky for the 2015 season.[4] König achieved his first podium place for the team, scoring third place at the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana.[5] 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.[6] On Stage 16 featuring the Mortirolo Pass, König was docked 10 seconds for holding onto cars.[7] 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 Team Sky, König returned to his former team – now known as Bora–Hansgrohe – on a three-year contract.[8] In the first half of the 2017 season, König only competed in two races due to injury.[9]
Major results[]
- 2005
- 7th Overall Giro della Lunigiana
- 2007
- 9th Overall Okolo Slovenska
- 2009
- 6th Grand Prix Kooperativa
- 9th Grand Prix Boka
- 2010
- 1st
Overall Oberösterreich Rundfahrt
- 1st Stage 1
- 1st
Overall Czech Cycling Tour
- 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
- 1st
Young rider classification
- 1st
- 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 Overall Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
- 10th Overall Tour of Britain
- 1st Stage 6
- 2013
- 1st
Overall Czech Cycling Tour
- 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
Time trial, National Road Championships
- 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[]
Grand Tour | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() |
— | — | 6 | — |
![]() |
— | 7 | 70 | — |
![]() |
9 | — | — | 29 |
— | Did not compete |
---|---|
DNF | Did not finish |
References[]
- ^ "With Christoph Pfingsten, BORA – hansgrohe completes its roster for 2019". Bora–Hansgrohe. Denk Pro Cycling GmbH & Co. KG. 12 October 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
- ^ Cycling Weekly, Introducing Leopold Konig, Thursday September 5, 2013
- ^ Jones, Steve (18 May 2013). "Tour of California: NetApp's König climbs to stage seven victory, van Garderen stays strong in yellow". VeloNation. VeloNation LLC. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
- ^ Willoughby, Ian (30 September 2014). "Czech cyclist König signs for Team Sky after coming seventh in Tour de France". Radio Prague. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
- ^ "Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana 2015: Results". 31 January 2015.
- ^ Farrand, Stephen (24 May 2015). "Giro d'Italia: König takes over leadership at Sky as Porte loses 27 minutes". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
- ^ Windsor, Richard (27 May 2015). "Team Sky's König among riders sanctioned after stage 16 of the Giro d'Italia". Cycling Weekly. IPC Media Sports & Leisure network. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
- ^ Wynn, Nigel (20 September 2016). "Leopold König moves from Team Sky to Bora-Hansgrohe". Cycling Weekly. Time Inc. UK. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
- ^ Fletcher, Patrick (1 June 2017). "10 riders to watch at the Criterium du Dauphine". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
External links[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leopold König. |
- Leopold König at Cycling Archives
- Leopold König at ProCyclingStats
- 1987 births
- Living people
- Czech male cyclists
- Czech Vuelta a España stage winners
- People from Moravská Třebová
- Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
- Olympic cyclists of the Czech Republic