Leopold König, of Fuji-sponsored NetApp-Endura, achieved the greatest victory of his young career Saturday, conquering the epic Mount Diablo with a gutsy attack in the final kilometers to take the win on the queen stage of the Tour of California
- America's biggest stage race.
Teammate Daniel Schorn went on to out-sprint Tyler Farrar in the ToC's final stage to claim 2nd in a bunch-sprint photo finish after a fantastic lead-out by teammate Zak Dempster. And to cap off an unbelievable weekend of Fuji victories, Fuji-sponsored triathlete Cam Dye won Columbia Triathlon, and Shelley Olds, of Fuji-sponsored Team TIBCO, won Grand Prix Cycliste Gatineau.It was König's teammate David de la Cruz
that first animated the 146.1 km Stage 7, after joining a 5-man breakaway that included Andy Schleck. He and Stage 1 winner Lieuwe Westra then escaped, valiantly fighting their way up the 18.3 km concluding climb - and soaking up all kinds of Fuji NBC airtime along the way - before being swallowed up with just 3 kilometers to go in the 2013 ToC's most brutal stage.
It was then that König launched his attack, after being safely housed within the chase group by his teammates. He bridged the gap to Stage 2 winner and early GC leader Javier Acevedo, who expectantly attacked with 2.7 km to go. König and Acevedo worked together on the final section, which averaged a 16% grade. And with the finish line nearly in sight, the 25 year-old Czech took off with remarkable force aboard his Altamira and threw his hands in the air triumphantly as he crossed the line seven seconds ahead of Acevedo. See the photos HERE
.
"I felt so strong today and only had the picture in my head crossing the finish line first. With this goal in mind, I attacked and went step by step, faster and faster," said König, who won Stage 6 of the Tour of Britain last year and finished 3rd overall at the 2012 Tour of Utah. "Fighting my way up I remembered an advertisement I just saw here which stated: the only limit that exists is the one in your head. I stopped thinking and just went for the victory." Leo had great confidence heading into Stage 7 - see our interview with Leo after his Stage 6 Top-10 HERE.
"This was an extraordinary performance of the whole team today. If we put in teamwork just like today, we can ride with the big teams and win. All guys implemented our strategy from this morning one-to-one. We completely focused on the stage win and concentrated everyone's effort on this goal. We are very happy about the victory," said Sport Director Alex Sans Vega.
With a stage victory, a second place, and three riders in the GC Top 20 (König, De la Cruz, and Bartosz Huzarski), NetApp had an excellent Tour of California.
Fuji-sponsored Champion System also had a very strong race, with riders in the breakaways of nearly every stage: Kin San Wu in Stage 2, Chad Beyer earning "Most Courageous Rider" in Stage 3
, Matt Brammeiere in Stage 4 - caught in the final km, Kai Chun Feng in Stage 5, and Chris Butler in Stage 7.
In the tri world, Fuji's Cam Dye defended his 2012 Columbia Tri title with a dominant victory in the race's 2013 edition.
1 minute back heading into T1, Cam posted a game-changing 56:17 bike split aboard his Norcom Straight that had him in the lead heading into T2. On his heels, however, were 2-time Columbia Tri Champ Andrew Yoder and 2-time Olympic medalist Bevan Docherty. But Cam's 35:02 run was enough to hold off his pursuers, and he crossed the line with a winning time of 1:51:02 - 1:21 ahead of Docherty. See the photos HERE.
And to round out the Fuji weekend wins, Team TIBCO's Shelley Olds sprinted to victory aboard her Supreme
at the UCI Grand Prix Cycliste Gatineau Saturday after 13 laps on a technical 10.18-kilometer course in Western Quebec.
TIBCO reined in the breakaway with 2 laps to go and with 2.5 kilometers remaining, Claudia Hausler attacked - forcing teams to react. Rushlee Buchanan then emerged at the front, while TIBCO teammate Jo Kiesanowski
put in a hard dig as the final leadout for Olds.
"It was a really big victory today for us as a team," Olds told Peloton Café after the stage. "It came down to having a really good plan and executing it perfectly. Everyone did what they were asked to do, we didn't falter from our plan, and we all contributed in a big way to the win."
5/16/2013
- America's biggest stage race.
Teammate Daniel Schorn went on to out-sprint Tyler Farrar in the ToC's final stage to claim 2nd in a bunch-sprint photo finish after a fantastic lead-out by teammate Zak Dempster. And to cap off an unbelievable weekend of Fuji victories, Fuji-sponsored triathlete Cam Dye won Columbia Triathlon, and Shelley Olds, of Fuji-sponsored Team TIBCO, won Grand Prix Cycliste Gatineau.It was König's teammate David de la Cruz
that first animated the 146.1 km Stage 7, after joining a 5-man breakaway that included Andy Schleck. He and Stage 1 winner Lieuwe Westra then escaped, valiantly fighting their way up the 18.3 km concluding climb - and soaking up all kinds of Fuji NBC airtime along the way - before being swallowed up with just 3 kilometers to go in the 2013 ToC's most brutal stage.
It was then that König launched his attack, after being safely housed within the chase group by his teammates. He bridged the gap to Stage 2 winner and early GC leader Javier Acevedo, who expectantly attacked with 2.7 km to go. König and Acevedo worked together on the final section, which averaged a 16% grade. And with the finish line nearly in sight, the 25 year-old Czech took off with remarkable force aboard his Altamira and threw his hands in the air triumphantly as he crossed the line seven seconds ahead of Acevedo. See the photos HERE
.
"I felt so strong today and only had the picture in my head crossing the finish line first. With this goal in mind, I attacked and went step by step, faster and faster," said König, who won Stage 6 of the Tour of Britain last year and finished 3rd overall at the 2012 Tour of Utah. "Fighting my way up I remembered an advertisement I just saw here which stated: the only limit that exists is the one in your head. I stopped thinking and just went for the victory." Leo had great confidence heading into Stage 7 - see our interview with Leo after his Stage 6 Top-10 HERE.
"This was an extraordinary performance of the whole team today. If we put in teamwork just like today, we can ride with the big teams and win. All guys implemented our strategy from this morning one-to-one. We completely focused on the stage win and concentrated everyone's effort on this goal. We are very happy about the victory," said Sport Director Alex Sans Vega.
With a stage victory, a second place, and three riders in the GC Top 20 (König, De la Cruz, and Bartosz Huzarski), NetApp had an excellent Tour of California.
Fuji-sponsored Champion System also had a very strong race, with riders in the breakaways of nearly every stage: Kin San Wu in Stage 2, Chad Beyer earning "Most Courageous Rider" in Stage 3
, Matt Brammeiere in Stage 4 - caught in the final km, Kai Chun Feng in Stage 5, and Chris Butler in Stage 7.
In the tri world, Fuji's Cam Dye defended his 2012 Columbia Tri title with a dominant victory in the race's 2013 edition.
1 minute back heading into T1, Cam posted a game-changing 56:17 bike split aboard his Norcom Straight that had him in the lead heading into T2. On his heels, however, were 2-time Columbia Tri Champ Andrew Yoder and 2-time Olympic medalist Bevan Docherty. But Cam's 35:02 run was enough to hold off his pursuers, and he crossed the line with a winning time of 1:51:02 - 1:21 ahead of Docherty. See the photos HERE.
And to round out the Fuji weekend wins, Team TIBCO's Shelley Olds sprinted to victory aboard her Supreme
at the UCI Grand Prix Cycliste Gatineau Saturday after 13 laps on a technical 10.18-kilometer course in Western Quebec.
TIBCO reined in the breakaway with 2 laps to go and with 2.5 kilometers remaining, Claudia Hausler attacked - forcing teams to react. Rushlee Buchanan then emerged at the front, while TIBCO teammate Jo Kiesanowski
put in a hard dig as the final leadout for Olds.
"It was a really big victory today for us as a team," Olds told Peloton Café after the stage. "It came down to having a really good plan and executing it perfectly. Everyone did what they were asked to do, we didn't falter from our plan, and we all contributed in a big way to the win."
5/16/2013
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