Kamikaze Roglic possibly takes a big chunk out of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe's prize money: "At least I was on TV"

Roglic attacked on the first climb of the day, putting his good position in the GC at risk. “It was all or nothing, and in the end, it was almost nothing. But I gave it my all and enjoyed it. At least I was on TV. If not at the end, then at least after the start,” he laughed on TVSLO. When asked if he would change anything about his tactics, he replied: “I wouldn't.”

Sports director Bernhard Eisel recounted the events to Eurosport. “Roglic would have liked to win the stage, but in the end it didn't work out.” Ultimately, the Slovenian lost more than twelve minutes and thus his fifth place, which makes quite a difference. The number five in Paris receives €50,000 to share among teammates and staff, while the number eight receives only €7,600.

“For us as colleagues, it would have been nice if Roglic had finished fourth or fifth, but we know his track record and we have to respect that. He fought hard,” said Eisel. “The Tour still has two days to go, and we are in a good position.”

The highlight of the day was Lipowitz once again getting ahead of Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) in the battle for third place. “Behind him, we focused on Florian all day. He sometimes doesn't know how strong he is, and then doubt creeps in, but he fought very hard and really deserves it.”

Roglic's kamikaze attack meant he was no longer able to be ready for the German. “I don't think it was a risk to leave him alone on the final climb. The difference was only 20 seconds, so that it wouldn't have helped much. We had hoped that Roglic could still follow, but with the extremely high pace, that was no longer possible. In the end, Lipo did very well.”

Lipowitz, wearing the white jersey and in third place, had his say at the finish. "I knew after yesterday that Oscar is very strong and I had to stay on his wheel. I think I did pretty well today. Of course, I spent a lot of time thinking on the last climb. You never know how your legs will feel in the end, but I felt pretty good, and when I saw him break away, I gave it everything I had. I'm super happy with today.“

He doesn't want to get ahead of himself just yet. ”It's incredible, but I expect another tough day tomorrow, with a lot of ups and downs. Everyone will try to keep up, so we have to stay focused. Today was amazing. It was incredible to see so many fans cheering me on, to see my name painted on the road. I'd never seen that before. I got goosebumps during the stage," said the ecstatic German.