Lipowitz resigned to role change following Evenepoel's victory: 'I can’t say much right now’

Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe sent two riders to the Tour de France with the goal of finishing on the podium in Paris. Florian Lipowitz and Remco Evenepoel were the intended team leaders, but after two weeks, the situation seems to have been settled. The Belgian has built up a substantial lead following his stage victory in stage fifteen. The German knows he may have to change his role.

Evenepoel kept up with Tadej Pogacar’s surge and beat the Slovenian and his teammate Isaac Del Toro in the sprint: it was his first stage victory in the Tour de France. Teammate Lipowitz was dropped and, including time bonuses, lost more than a minute to the victorious Belgian. In the general classification, the gap between the Red Bull team leaders is now 1.50 minutes.

Lipowitz was impressed by his teammate’s climbing performance. “His focus was always on the general classification, but having a stage win under our belt now takes a lot of pressure off the team,” he explained to Cyclism’Actu. “I’m really happy for Remco; he did a great job today. Seeing him compete at the same level as Tadej and Del Toro is impressive.”

With such a big gap, and Evenepoel in second place, Lipowitz is looking ahead to what could be a completely different final week. He may have to ride in support. “We’ll discuss it with the team, but I’m open to anything and will be happy with whatever happens. Especially with Tuesday in mind—it’s his specialty,” he says, referring to the upcoming time trial. “The focus is on the podium in Paris. I can’t say much right now, but I’m happy to help him get there.”

In the battle for the podium, Lipowitz and Evenepoel lost one of their main rivals. Jonas Vingegaard crashed hard at a roundabout during the fifteenth stage. The Dane from Visma | Lease a Bike broke his collarbone in the crash and was forced to withdraw from the Tour de France. At the time, he was in second place in the general classification, not far ahead of the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe riders.

Lipowitz would have loved to take on Vingegaard in the final week. “We weren’t far behind him,” he says. The German climber is disappointed that his rival had to drop out. “It’s a real shame to see one of the top favorites for this Tour have to withdraw like this. I hope he hasn’t suffered any serious injuries and that he recovers quickly. It’s not nice to see.”

The 26-year-old climber was right behind Vingegaard when he slipped. “We weren’t far behind him. You don’t see much during the race, but I think they took that roundabout just a little too fast. We were going really fast on the descent. But it wasn’t nice to see the crash. You hope everyone gets through it without any major crashes, but it was a shame to see.'