Florian Lipowitz passed his exam at the Critérium du Dauphiné With top marks and third place in the overall ranking. At the Tour de France his team officially relies on Primoz Roglic, but also unofficially on the German discovery of the Swabian Alb.
Up on the Plateau du Mont-Cenisright next to a blue shimmering reservoir and surrounded by high, snow -covered mountains, a young man sneaks through the white jersey Backstage-Area. Again Florian Lipowitz previously convinced at the Critérium du Dauphiné, this time at the final stage with a demanding mountain rating. At the end he seventh after two third places in the Alps on the two previous days. But now he’s just tired: “I’m looking forward to at home, a few days of peace, switch off, because this was great stress for me.”
Overall three took Lipowitz, 24, finally behind the tour favorites Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, but clearly ahead of Remco Evenepoel, the Belgian co-favorite of the France tour. Evenepoel left Lipowitz behind in the evaluation of the best young professional, he takes the white jersey home as a jersey. What a week.
Lipowitz (right) with Vingegaard and Pogacar on the podium of the Dauphiné tour
Master piece at the Dauphiné
Lipowitz, a former biathlete who switched to cycling at the age of 18, had finally made the international breakthrough at the top-occupied Dauphiné. The winter sports career stopped injuries, but as a cycling professional he was able to convince immediately. At the Dauphiné, his team with the three names Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe on Lipowitz as captain and admitted a free role. The strong time and mountaineer Lipowitz passed this ripening exam with top marks in mid-June.
His rather reserved sporting director Rolf Aldag was very impressed with the Dauphiné, which was rather reserved with the potential in Lipowitz: “He keeps calm, it is very important so as not to lose your head.” But above all “He can ride with the best in the world. He not only scratched the top of the world, but he arrived there.”
The competition raves
Lipowitz had indicated for some time that he was a tour driver with great quality. Seventh seventh on the three-week tour of Spain in late summer 2024 as a helper for the later winner Primoz Roglic was already a successful journeyman’s examination. In the spring of 2025, he still had second place at Paris-Nizza and fourth place on the heavy Basque Country tour, although he was previously only able to train to a limited extent due to an infection. Third place at the Dauphiné, his driving style and his class in the mountains were his previous masterpiece and finally drew attention to the top stars of the scene to this career changer from the Swabian Jura.
Evenepoel describes Lipowitz as “Very, very strong driver”. Vingegaard said: “Florian is someone we have to pay attention to.” And Pogacar finds: “Lipowitz drives very impressive. And he’s close.” Nils Politt, on the other hand,, Pogacar’s helper at the UAE team Emirates, still sees an increase potential: “Florian drives super strongly. If he turns on his head a bit, he can drive even more.” Even stronger, that might also be a place on the podium of the tour. But Red Bull blocks: “That was the Dauphiné, not the tour”can be heard from the team’s surroundings.
Strong in time trial, convincing in the mountains
Politt, in turn, referred to an action on the first Alpentag when Lipowitz attacked on the penultimate mountain, even though he had no helper at his side and the departure and a wind -susceptible flat piece had to be mastered before the final climb. At this moment, Lipowitz hung Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel at short notice, quite possible that this action was a kind of announcement: boys, here I am. And now you are on.
Lipowitz was soon placed, but only left on the last mountain by Pogacar and Vingegaard. Before that, on day three of the Dauphiné, Lipowitz amazed as a passenger in an outlier group. In the end, it became fourth, including a time gain compared to the favorites. He finished the fourth stage as fifth of a 17.2 kilometer time driving. In the meantime, Lipowitz had moved to second place in the overall ranking. Lipowitz had previously worked in a special environment at his position on the bike and the interaction with the material for the fight against the clock – in a disused English railway tunnel, located 50 kilometers southeast of Birmingham.
Runn Lipowitz on the Dauphiné tour
Training in the tunnel
The almost three kilometer -long tube was specially converted for the improvement of time trial qualities and equipped with flawlessly smooth asphalt. The route leads strictly, the climatic conditions are constant and there is complete windless. Lipowitz was the first athlete ever to use this new trial for time drivers. “That certainly helped me find my ideal position and improve me”says Lipowitz in an interview with the sports show.
This unit has done Lipowitz better, team boss Aldag believes, above all the team conveyed something to him: “The whole process served to build trust. Florian no longer has to doubt if he is on the starting ramp of a time drive. He knows that we support him in his job, that calms him mentally.”
The second half of the tour is likely to be Lipowitz
Red Bull goes on the tour with Roglic as the official number one, but behind the now 35-year-old Slovenen are some question marks. Most recently, he noticed with a series of falls, also at the Giro d’Italia in May, which he wanted to win, he had to give up with the street after several contacts. Aldag therefore does not issue a strategy clearly set to Roglic: “We have to look where we stand, above all it has to be shown how Primoz Roglic has digested his falls. Do the consequences are still problems?” In addition, Alexander Wlassow has an alternative with the Russian.
And with the team internal discovery of Lipowitz, Red Bull has a driver who should give the team a free role after the last impressions won. Especially in the second half of the tour. Then the participants reach an environment in which Lipowitz is getting better. There are excursions into the high mountains on the route plan with tests in the Pyrenees, on the pass height of the Mont Ventoux And in the Alps.