Florian Lipowitz taken to hospital afer Tour de France time trial crash

Red Bull laughs, Red Bull cries: that’s how we headlined our report on the time trial in the Tour de France. The German-American team won the time trial thanks to a dominant performance by Remco Evenepoel, but saw Florian Lipowitz withdraw from the Tour after a hard crash. Team director Patxi Vila analyzed the day as a whole afterward, providing an initial update on the German rider.

First, let’s talk about the exciting part, where Evenepoel managed to win thanks to an amazing time trial. “He was fast—really, really fast. It’s great to see someone who’s a true specialist on a time trial bike. He rode so smoothly. I think it was a perfect race on his part, and the result was fantastic too. A truly impressive performance,” Vila said in his post-race analysis on Eurosport.

Because, as Vila also knows: “Toward the end, the rider is often already feeling the excitement, so from the car you try to keep him as calm as possible. You just give him the information he needs.” That worked, as Evenepoel left everyone in the dust and stormed to his second consecutive victory in the Tour with an impressive time trial.

But there was also the emotional part, because of Lipowitz’s crash. “It’s a bit of a strange feeling. On the one hand, you’re happy, but on the other hand, you’re also sad because Florian crashed. He crashed in that right-hand turn. Of course, that’s not fun,” the Red Bull team principal said.

Followed by an initial update: “He’s on his way to the hospital. We’ll see what the actual situation is. We hope he can return to good health soon.” All of this because of a slide in a bend that didn’t seem particularly difficult. “It was a bit technical, but nothing to… I think it was just a bend,” Vila said.

"Sometimes you just miss one when you're going full throttle," the team director continued. "I don't think many riders crashed there. It was just a turn. Sometimes you underestimate your speed or whatever, and then you crash." Evenepoel was partially briefed on the situation during the time trial. “You don’t tell him that someone crashed there, but you do tell him he needs to be extra careful. You try to protect him from that by giving him the information about that turn.”