Following his highly successful Tour de France, Leopold König will be back in action later today when he lines up as NetApp-Endura leader in the USA Pro Challenge. The Czech will target the GC in the mountainous race.
While the sprinter commando of Team NetApp - Endura is being deployed in the far north of Europe in the Arctic Race of Norway, the tour and mountain specialists are traveling to Colorado for the US Pro Challenge. There, Leo König and the others will have to confront extremely high altitudes. This is because, with the exception of the final stage, which finishes in Denver at 1609 meters above sea level, the altimeter hardly ever goes below 2000 meters during the 842-kilometer-long tour with seven stages.
“Our expectations for this race are rather high; particularly with Leo König after his fantastic Tour de France. He fits very well into the US Pro Challenge with its many mountain stages. So we are thus looking for good results for Leo in the overall rankings, of course; this will be our primary objective. In addition, with riders like Tiago, Bartosz and Jose, we have opportunities for stage wins. This will also be an objective,” says Sports Director Alex Sans Vega before the team sets off for Colorado.
The first stage is only 98 kilometers and is held on a quite selective, circuit in Aspen which has to be completed three times. The race circuits will have to take on the first long climbs the day after that. It is above all the last 50 kilometers, with the Kebler Pass and the mountain finish on Mt. Crested Butte, which will sort out the riders. The third stage will be even harder, since they will have to get through the 3447.9-meter-high Monarch Pass to reach the finish line on Monarch Mountain. The fourth stage consists of four circuits on a difficult course: a 113-kilometer section around Colorado Springs. On the Friday after that, the athletes will face the highest point of the tour: the 3517-meter-high Hoosier Pass. A time trial over 16.1 kilometers will then permit some last-minute changes to the apex of the overall rankings. After an initial long ascent, the final stage then takes them almost 90 kilometers over flat terrain to the tour’s finish line.
Line-up:
David de la Cruz, Bartosz Huzarski, Leo König, Patrick Konrad, Tiago Machado, Jose Mendes, Gregor Mühlberger, Michael Schwarzmann
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