After his bad day on stage 17, Leopold König bounced back with a great ride in today's final mountain stage of the Tour de France. The young Czech is still 9th overall and even hopes to move up in the final time trial.

After a difficult day yesterday, Leo König demonstrated once again today his abilities as a climber. The captain of Team NetApp – Endura held on to his ninth-place spot with ease while making the final climb up to Hautacam. After 145.5 kilometers, König placed eighth for the stage. The win of the day was claimed by the overall leader, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), finishing as a solo rider. He attacked early on during the climb up to Hautacam, and no one was able to catch him. Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) won the sprint for second place, beating out yesterday’s stage winner, Rafal Majka (Saxo - Tinkoff), who joined the other two on the podium. Outstanding performances were also delivered today by Tiago Machado and Bartosz Huzarski, both of whom represented Team NetApp – Endura in the group of the day.

“Today, right from the beginning, everything went just as we had imagined. Tiago and Bartosz managed to join the group, which was very important. The others stayed with Leo, supporting him. Jose [Mendes] had a very strong ride today on Tourmalet. Leo recovered very well from yesterday and, simply put, had a very good race. An eighth-place spot with such a difficult finish is a brilliant accomplishment. And now, there’s even a chance of moving up during the time trial,” said Enrico Poitschke, Sport Director of Team NetApp – Endura.

Tomorrow, Friday, there will be a 208.5-kilometer transfer stage from the Pyrenees northward. Along the way from Maubourget to the site of the subsequent time trial, Bergerac, the riders will encounter flat terrain without any major difficulties. Therefore, all expectations are for a sprint finish, before the time trial on Saturday delivers a decision in terms of the general classification at the 101st Tour de France.