Germany’s large cycling hope is called Florian Lipowitz. During the Dauphiné tour, the 24-year-old suddenly drives alongside the absolute top stars of his sport-namely Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel. In doing so, he amazes outsiders, opponents and himself. He could become Germany’s tour joker.
Tadej Pogacar drives a lonely race at the front, the rest of the field is distant, the Slovenian world champion once again showed in the Alps on Friday how irresistible he is in the mountains. On the evening of a hot day, the series winner of cycling at the sixth stage of the Critérium Dauphiné had landed the double strike that is typical of him: day victory and takeover of the yellow jersey. So far as normal.
It was also normal that his first pursuer was called Jonas Vingegaard. The duel of the Danes with Pogacar will certainly also shape the Tour de France, which begins on July 5 in Lille.
However, it was abnormal on Friday that the young German Florian Lipowitz (24) pushed in third place in the daily and overall ranking. The reward for the very courageous appearance of the increasingly strong classification driver from the Swabian Alb is the takeover of the white jersey that the best young professional can wear.
Lipowitz drives in Illustrer round
Lipowitz continued his amazing journey on this Dauphiné in the Savoy Alps. In the most important preparatory race on the tour of France, he convinced from day one. Last Tuesday, he even made it into an outlier group and took 44 seconds at the target of the small town of Charantonnay.
The next day, only the big three of the cycling and Matteo Jorgensson were faster when Saint-Péray was tired than Lipowitz, who pretended to be fifth in the overall ranking. Thanks to an outstanding victory in the fight against the Belgian Remco Evenepoel, she had taken over.
Stronger on the mountain than Evenepoel
On Friday, the participants of the Dauphiné turned into the mountains for the first time, on Saturday and Sunday, the last day of the racing, it goes again to many Alpine passes. Then it will be shown how far Lipowitz is already in its development as a classification driver. So far, he surprised the experts because he has mastered all the varieties of his sport: he can anticipate races and make it into an outlier group. He is strong in the time trials. And irresistible in the mountains.
He has long since developed the respect of his opponents. Evenepoel, Vingegaard’s team boss Grischa Niermann and Pogacar’s important helpers Nils Politt described the young Germans as unanimous “Very, very good driver with great potential”.
Lipowitz is increasingly surprising about his currently good legs. “I can’t keep up with Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel. To believe that would be presumptuous”he said on Friday before the start of the sixth stage.
But on the way to the daily destination in Combloux, he was unable to follow Pogacar and Vingegaard, but Evenepoel had left behind in the final climb and distanced at the finish line by almost 20 seconds. “I didn’t think I could do it”said Lipowitz in the evening. In the overall classification, he separated him from Pogacar and Elf of Vingegaard for 54 seconds.
Biathlon hope Becomes cycling professional
The history of Florian Lipowitz is that of a side entrant who has already had an athlete career. Lipowitz started his career as a biathlete, he once won a German championship title for the juniors and was considered a great German hope. Because of the better training conditions, his family even moved to Stams in Tyrol. There Florian Lipowitz attended the well -known ski gymnasium and also took off his Abitur. Back then, cycling was only part of the summer training.
But Lipowitz had to stop as a biathlete, injuries came in between. An inflamed growth joint in the knee made cross -country skiing training impossible, because Lipowitz was 16 years old. On a surf vacation, he soon tore a cruciate ligament, the unstable knees hindered him from now on in the trail and at the shooting range so much that he had to end his winter sports activities. On the bike, which he always used for his summer training, Lipowitz proved to be a natural talent. In 2019, at 18, he won the very demanding marginal marathons in the Engadine and in Imst.
No Starting difficulties
These services did not remain undetected. Dan Lorang, the Perfoma Manager of Bora Hansgrohe, became aware of these miraculous bike novices, met with him, checked his data and recommended that he gave him a chance. He received them from Tirol KTM as early as 2020, a kind of Bora Hansgrohe. Lipowitz did what he is now doing on the saddle: he convinced, in 2023 rose to Ralph Denk, which was now renamed Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, and won the first small races in the Czech Republic and Romania.
The Dauphiné is the great test for Lipowitz. In France’s southeast he starts in a free role, he is the captain of a young selection and is supposed to see how far it can go forward in the overall ranking. If this trial run succeeds, he waves a start on the tour of France, the largest bike race in the world. According to the previous services, Lipowitz should be a place in the eighth field of his tour delegation.
As a joker on the tour?
“We can no longer overlook Florian”says his sporting director Bernhard Eisel, who finds: “Florian shows here at the Dauphiné World Cash services”.
He showed this as early as late summer in 2024 on the tour of Spain as a noble helper from Primoz Roglic. Lipowitz chauffeured his Slovenian captain to the overall victory and finished seventh in the overall ranking. This spring, Lipowitz continued the series of remarkable results in tours: second place at Paris-Nice in March, fourth place on the Basque Country Tour in April.
Lipowitz is also supposed to support Roglic on the tour. But it recently noticed mainly through frequent falls and racing tasks, and he is already 35 years old. It is to be expected that Lipowitz will receive a joker role during the tour of the France: attack, see what is possible, continue to amaze the experts. It would be the continuation of his appearance at the heavy Dauphiné.