Riding for the Czech national team, Leopold König (Sky) took the first win of the season when he emerged as the strongest in the queen stage of the Czech Cycling Tour. He dropped Jan Hirt (CCC) on the final climb and held off a four-rider chase group that included Petr Vakoc (Etixx-QuickStep) who is the new overall leader.

The Czech Cycling Tour has been given a 2.1 status for the 2015 season and apart from Roman Kreuziger, the organizers have managed to attract all the biggest Czech stars. Going into the race, many expected a great battle between Zdenek Stybar, Petr Vakoc, Jan Barta and Leopold König.

Being the best climber, König was probably the man to beat but he paid the price for a lack of team support in yesterday’s windy stage. Riding for the national team, he missed the split in the crosswinds and so was out of GC contention before he started today’s queen stage.

However, he was intent on not leaving his home race empty-handed and with a great solo ride, he turned his fortunes around, taking the first win of his season. With the performance, he shows that the condition is still good after the Giro and the Tour.

"There was nothing else I could do, because after the team time trial we lost the overall standings," he said. "Yesterday, I do not want to say that I saved a bit, but I thought about today because winning a stage is better than being fifth overall.

"With Hirt, we were probably the two strongest so we had to attack When he was dropped, I waited for him for a moment. In the last lap he cracked, so I went by myself. But it was hard, it was not easy to keep the chasers at bay.

"After all, this is not just any competition so I had quite this win and it's great. It came to me, and I thought in the morning it would be good to get some victories. Today was a great opportunity so I'm glad I took advantage of it. I don't get the feeling of raising my arms so often so it was nice."