Leopold Konig has coped well in the last few stages of the Giro d’Italia after being promoted from luxury domestique to Team Sky leader following Richie Porte’s crash and fall out of GC contention.

“I’m gutted for him, he been great this year, he’s been constant during the season, and if you look at my results, I was a pretty s**t rider and maybe Dave [Brailsford] thought it wasn’t the best signing!” König said when he arrived at the summit finish of stage 15.

“I’m sorry for him because we’ve seen that those guys in Sky who won races from the beginning won Grand Tours, as well. With Richie that wasn’t the case. He really deserved the leadership, deserved to be up there.”

Konig revealed to the press that he had been told a few days in advance that he may have to prepare himself to lead Team Sky in the event Porte should falter as a result of crashing or losing more time.

“The team mentioned that I should be prepared. It’s like, ‘Leo, you have the full responsibility of team Sky, but no pressure!’ ha ha!” König said.

“The situation is how you can see, my priority is different now, we will try to go for the GC with myself, try to win the red points GC [with Elia Viviani] and win stages.”

Konig lost two minutes in the crash on stage 13 in Jesolo and he says that he is still aiming for a podium and hopes those two minutes don’t cost him dearly.

“I could be on the podium maybe or fourth. I just hope those two stupid minutes won’t make a difference in Milan."

“I was born a three-week rider, I’m used to it. I have opportunities, I’m quite consistent. After the rest day, I’ll recover a bit. I’m looking forward to the last week.”