Leopold Konig wins 7th stage, Tejay van Garderen retains lead

The peloton leaves Livermore at the start of Stage 7 from Livermore to Mt. Diablo.

Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

Leopold Konig of the Czech Republic won the seventh stage of the Tour of California in a mountaintop finish Saturday, and American Tejay van Garderen finished third to keep the overall lead for the third straight day.

Koenig, riding for the German team NetApp-Endura team, quickly moved ahead of Janier Acevedo of Colombia with about 400 yards left and completed the 91.4-mile stage from Livermore to Mount Diablo in 3 hours, 54 minutes, 18 seconds. Acevedo, the Jamis-Hagens Berman rider who won the second stage, finished second in the stage that closed with an 11.4-mile climb, 6 seconds behind.

Van Garderen, the 24-year-old BMC rider from Bozeman, Mont., was 12 seconds back. He took the overall lead with a 10th place finish in the fifth stage and won the sixth stage.

Australia's Michael Rogers of Saxo-Tinkoff finished fourth in the stage in the same time as van Garderen and remained second overall, 1:47 behind.

The eight-day, 727-mile event concludes Sunday with an 80.7-mile morning road race from San Francisco to Santa Rosa.