Florian Lipowitz silently disappeared into the team bus, his bosses tried to appease.
“It is as it is,” said Ralph Denk, team boss of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, after the messed up start at the 112nd Tour de France: “It is not optimal, but also not the end of the world.”
The German hopeful Lipowitz, his captain Primoz Roglic and Co. lost 39 seconds on the first stage on Saturday – and that on a flat stage. 17 kilometers before the finish in Lille, a wind edge tore apart the peloton. Defending champion Tadej Pogacar as well as the later day winner Jasper Philipsen and other drivers drove away that the German Red Bull team was closed.
“You have to imagine it like this: everyone should be at the forefront, that is the instruction of all teams,” said Denk, “and not everyone can do it.” However, the situation is “not hopeless. There are only a few seconds”.
These will “not decide the tour,” said sporting director Rolf Aldag. But: “A severe fall would decide the tour.” And the racing team from the Bavarian Raubling wanted to “prevent” at all costs, both with Florian and Roglic. We are always accused of falling. This time we prevented it, so we saved it quite well, “added Aldag.
Before the main field was shared, there was a “critical situation” (Aldag) around Lipowitz. The 24-year-old Ulmer had to drop on the team truck with a flat tire. The tour debut did not receive help from a teammate on the way back.
“It was a closed convoy. So we said that he uses the slipstream from the car with eight bicycles,” Aldag explained the decision and calmed down: “Florian has not invested too much.”