Cycling: The Czech Grand Tour specialist Leopold König is changing from Sky to the German team BORA-hansgrohe for the coming season. He was already on the road for the team from Upper Bavaria in 2013 and 2014 (at that time still under the name NetApp-Endura) and after two years with Sky, 'the prodigal son' is now returning to his old sporting homeland as a Grand Tour leader.
[blog style=”def” cols=”2″ display=”specific” specific=”53419″ posts_per_page=”0″ offset=”0″ pagination=”no” ad_id=”0″ ad_count=”3″ ad_repeat=”yes”]The BORA-hansgrohe team for 2017 is taking on more and more concrete features. After the two top commitments of road world champion Peter Sagan and the Polish climbing specialist Rafal Majka, Leopold König will also join the team from Raubling from 2017. The 28-year-old signed a three-year contract and is coming back to the German team after a two-year interlude at Sky, where he developed into a top 2013 tour driver in 2014 and 10. At BORA, people believe in the qualities of the Czech and announce straight away that König will be the captain of the 2017 Tour de France - quite surprising, as many probably expected that the team would bet on Rafal Majka.
The votes for commitment:
Leopold Koenig: “I owe a lot to Enrico Poitschke and Ralph Denk. They were the ones who got me out of a Continental team and gave me the chance to compete in the biggest races and develop as a driver. That's why I immediately had a good feeling when they told me about the team's new ambitions for 2017. For me it feels like coming home to where it all began. I've learned a lot in the last two years at Sky and I'm very grateful for this experience. Now I feel ready to give everything for our big goals in the next few years.”
Ralph Denk (Team Manager): "I'm really happy that Leo is coming back to our BORA - hansgrohe team. I also see it as an honor and a vote of confidence that he is taking this step from Sky to us. While Leo didn't have his best season, he is certainly one of the few riders with the potential to be on the podium in a Grand Tour. It was us who took him from amateur to Tour de France top ten rider, now we look forward to learning from his experience over the past few years.”
Willi Bruckbauer (Managing Director BORA): "Two years ago we tried to get Leo, but unfortunately we couldn't keep him. I was a bit disappointed. Today I know that we could never have won poker. I was all the happier when Ralph informed me that Leo had agreed to come back to us in the years to come.”