Leopold König returned to form after a solid Tour de France when he finished in the top 10 in the Tour of Britain queen stage. The Czech now aims at a top result in the overall standings.

Leo König, the captain of Team NetApp-Endura, completed today’s first mountain finish in the Tour of Britain in tenth place. The 26-year-old Czech rider reached the finish line at nearly the exact same time as a nine-man pursuit group, which included all of the favorites for the overall win. Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani – CSF) clinched the stage win on “The Tumble” with a solo ride to claim the lead in the general classification as well. Now eighth in the general classification with a 26-second deficit, König still has all of his options open.

“As expected, today brought about a preliminary decision in the general classification. Sam [Bennett] and Scott [Thwaites] got our guys into a good position before the mountain. Everyone pushed themselves to their limits and rode as fast as they could. The mountain was challenging. Leo gave a good effort, but the middle was a bit too steep for Jan [Barta] to stay up in front. Over the next few days we will have to see how we can vary our strategy to move up a few spots in the general classification. In addition to the classification, we still have the primary goal of getting a stage win here,” Enrico Poitschke, Sport Director of Team NetApp-Endura, said after the pinnacle stage of the Tour of Britain.