Florian Lipowitz: Germany’s Rising Biathlon Star

In mid -June, up on the top plateau of combloux in the French Alps, Florian Lipowitz is confronted with his sporting past. He has just conquered the white jersey of the best young professional in the heavy and very well occupied critérium du Dauphiné. Well, a few minutes later, he stands behind the stage on which the podium is located, and speaks to the Frenchman Éric Perrot, who is what Lipowitz was once: a biathlete. A rather successful, Perrot is the current single world champion. Perrot hooks Lipowitz on the left shoulder several times. Later the Frenchman says: “What Florian is doing is incredible and unique. For me it cannot be grasped. Being world class in a completely different sport is surreal for me.”

What the 24 -year -old Florian Lipowitz is doing is indeed astonishing the experts – in cycling. At the Dauphiné he not only won the white jersey, in front of him in the overall ranking there were only the currently world’s best tour drivers Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, which are dividing the last five tours with each other. The 24-year-old Lipowitz had been left behind, among other things, the double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel, who finished third last year on the tour. And suddenly Germany has a cyclist again, a good placement at the Tour de France is to be trusted. Maybe even a topp.

Lipowitz had started his sports career as a biathlete. With his parents and brother Philipp, he once moved from Laichingen on the Swabian Alb to Stams in Tyrol so that the brothers could go to the ski gymnastics. Florian Lipowitz became a German junior champion and seemed on the best way to the German World Cup team. Philipp Lipowitz even became a junior world champion in 2021. While he is now regularly starting for Germany in the IBU Cup, the second biathlon league, the biathlon career of Florian Lipowitz stalled.

A growth joint in one knee had ignited, when he was 16. Soon afterwards he also tore himself a cruciate ligament, cross -country skiing and dropping when you fall out when he was lying down was increasingly difficult for him. But cycling, the classic training of the biathletes in summer, worked. And how. At 18, Lipowitz won the Engadine and the Imster cycling marathon – and had made the cycling scene aware of itself.

The 150 kilometers for the interview he came by bike

After these successes in winter 2019, Lipowitz reported to Ralph Denk, the team leader of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. Lipowitz said on the phone that he wanted to be a cycling professional and asked what he had to do for it. Denk was amazed, at the same time this research impressed him. Because Dan Lorang, head coach of the team, was also impressed by Lipowitz ‘performance data, Denk invited the former biathletes to his office in Raubling, Bavarian, near Rosenheim.

Lipowitz traveled from Stams by bike, 150 kilometers over mountains and through valleys. “I was flat there,” says Denk. “That showed me that this guy is really serious. He gave me the impression of a hunting dog who absolutely wants to hunt. That is a good prerequisite.” When asked how he came home after lunch together, Lipowitz replied: the way I came, by bike. “I was flat again.”

Denk and Lorang provided Lipowitz for three years with the second -class team Tirol KTM, then a kind of training team from Bora. “We have already seen there: someone is growing up very well,” says Denk. In 2023, Lipowitz moved into the Bora squad, was now part of the first division of cycling and immediately convinced.

Lipowitz won smaller races and was particularly noticeable there as a strong mountaineer. He confirmed this status during his journeyman’s examination last late summer at the KnüppelArt Vuelta a España with many heavy mountain ratings. Thanks to his help, Primož Roglič, the captain of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, also won the overall ranking. Lipowitz, although used as a helper, became seventh.

“A little pressure was created with me,” says Lipowitz. “One thing is to show a strong performance. The other is to confirm it.” But he also succeeded. This year he rose to the top drivers. He finished second on the prestigious Paris-Nizza tour in March and won the young talent. In addition, there were fourth place on the heavy Basque Country Tour in April, although he was previously unable to train properly because of a flu infection. This was followed by the Dauphiné, Lipowitz ‘temporary masterpiece: convincing time trial, outstanding performance in three consecutive Alpine stages, third place in the overall ranking, best young professional. “It’s really a lot at once, I would never have expected that,” he said afterwards.