Florian Lipowitz prepared for the Tour de France away from the spotlight: 'I'm in good shape'

What a build up to the Tour de France Florian Lipowitz has had. Relatively far from the spotlight of the Tour de Suisse and the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the German rider from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe rode to overall victory in the Tour of Slovenia. He showed he was ready for the Tour de France with two stage wins, and his victory in the fifth stage was particularly impressive.

Lipowitz had already won the fourth 'queen stage', where he crossed the finish line alongside Giulio Pellizzari. The final stage didn’t seem to suit the climber at all, but he managed to break away in the final stretch, building up his lead with gusto. It’s something we haven’t seen yet from the 25-year-old team leader of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe.

"It was a pretty tough day," he sais afterwards in the flash interview. "Very hot. We raced really well as a team; the guys did a great job. On the final climb, we went all out. The plan was to go for Laurence, but I also wanted to grab the mountain points. At the top, I’d opened up a gap, so I just went for it. The gap kept growing, and I’m over the moon that I made it to the finish.”

Lipowitz’s second victory also marked Red Bull’s fourth win in five stages. Laurence Pithie had previously won stages one and three, and also finished second behind Lipowitz in the final stage. “We’ve wrapped up an impressive week. We can be proud, and I’m very happy to have secured my second victory.”

Bahrain Victorious tried to put pressure on the overall leader, but it backfired. “It was great for us, because we’d been at the front all day. The guys were a little tired, so it was nice to have some support. We already thought they’d go for the stage win—they did a good job. But I’m glad I won, and that Laurence finished second.”

Lipowitz finished third in the 2025 Tour de France, and will once again be one of the top contenders for a podium finish this year. In any case, he has shown that he is more than ready. “We still have two weeks to go. I’m going to take some time off to recover a bit. Then we’ll see. The Tour is always special. I’m in good shape, but we’ll see how things go in three weeks.”