Leopold König is riding himself back into form for the Tour de France after a knee injury and today he showed progress when he finished 11th in the opening time trial of the Criterium du Dauphiné. His NetApp-Endura team is pleased with the start and is confident ahead of tomorrow's first mountain stage.

The 66th edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné started today with an individual time trial over 10.4 kilometers. Chris Froome (Sky), winner of last year's Tour de France, came out on top ahead of Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Bob Jungels (Trek). Which meant that Froome, favorite for the overall tour win, took possession of the yellow jersey on the first day already.

Once again Jan Barta of Team NetApp – Endura demonstrated his abilities in this discipline, riding into eleventh place against strong competition, just 13 seconds behind the leader.

"The course included a climb of 700 meters followed by a really technical descent. Then at the end there was a little wind. So the time trial was not very long overall, but it was demanding. Bartosz [Huzarski], Jan and Leo rode well. We let Leo start early to avoid the wind. With his time he put himself in a very good position in relation to the other classification contenders. It is clear that he is on an upward trend, so we are very happy with the day," said Enrico Poitschke, Sport Director of Team NetApp – Endura, summing up after the opening time trial.

Tomorrow's second stage covers 156 kilometers from Tarare to the Col du Béal. The climbing specialists face no less than five rated climbs before the section ends with an "hors categorie" summit finish. The final climb is 13.6 kilometers long, with an average gradient of 6.6%.

"The last climb is very difficult and relatively long at 13 kilometers. We will see once again where we stand with our preparations. The favorites showed today that they are all in very good condition so it will be an exciting race tomorrow," says Poitschke, looking forward to tomorrow.