The time of speculation is over Leopold König has confirmed that the Giro d’Italia will be his first grand tour for Sky as he is set to make his debut in the Italian race. Alongside Richie Porte, he will be riding as a second leader in the race. “The second grand tour is still up for discussion. I am sure I have a chance to go to the Tour,” he tells Supercycling.cz.

“I will start with two one-day races in Mallorca, then I plan to ride in Oman, Tirreno-Adriatico and Catalonia. After that I will train at altitude on Mount Teide in Tirreno. The I expect to do Trentino and the Giro. I look forward to the races. Tirreno, Catalonia and the Giro will be a big challenge. I have planned to do Tirreno twice but both times I lost my place due to injury,” the Czech says.

“Basically, we made the decision in November. From the beginning, we planned that I would do two grand tours: one as a leader and the other as domestique. It was my idea and the team basically agreed.”

At NetApp, König was the clear leader but he doesn’t expect things to change too much at Sky.

“It’s almost the same and that’s also what I expected. Here the riders are given great freedom, the team respects them and wants to do everything to satisfy their needs. I can point to a specific situation. On Tuesday, I did a lot of hard training which I had planned with Radek (his former coach at NetApp, ed.) It was just short sections of high intensity. I told Tim Kerrison (Sky coach, ed.) and he allowed me to give it a try. It just shows that Sky is a completely different team wo what it often claimed in the media or by people who don’t know it from the inside,” he says.

“It is totally great. Now we are almost all together but some are already at the races. But arund the team, there are so many knowledgeable people.”

In 2015, König will also be riding in support of Chris Froome at certain races.

“He is a totally cool guy. Very nice. Off the bike, he is incredibly calm. On the bike, he behaves a little differently. You can see that he thinks a lot and gives it everything. In races, he can be a bit tough as a leader which is sometimes necessary.”

In the Giro, König will share the leadership with Richie Porte.

“We have exactly the same position as everything can happen. I think it's perfect but there is no guarantee that we can’t both finish near the top, perhaps like Wiggins and Froome in the 2012 Tour. I am very pleased as Porte is very experience and will take a lot of pressure. I think the tactic of having two leaders in the grand tours, can work. This year Sky has changed a lot because in addition to the Tour where we will build a team around Chris, we will go to the other grand tours with two leaders.”

Later in the season, König will do either the Tour or the Vuelta.

“We'll see. The selection for the Tour will be made at the last moment. I'll have a short time to recover after the Giro and then I will start to race again. If I could choose, I would do the Tour, but it's not up to me. If I skip the Tour, I will go to the Vuelta. I have been promised that I will do two grand tours.”