On his bike, Florian Lipowitz thrilled the crowds in Germany with his podium finish at the Tour de France. He gets the chance to repeat his coup. Aside from the sports equipment, there are also doubts mixed into the steep career path.
Things had become quieter around Florian Lipowitz in the past few months. The new German cycling star even needed to get away from his sports equipment. Last fall, Lipowitz hardly sat on his bike for six weeks. The season that was supposed to be his breakthrough took a lot of energy. “To be honest, I hoped that I would recover better after the Tour de France and be able to compete in the races in Italy. But you can’t always choose. I think we found the best way,” Lipowitz told WELT am SONNTAG, looking back on his early end to the season.
At the beginning of October, the 25-year-old announced that he would bring his off-season forward three weeks and, among other things, forego the Tour of Lombardy, the last monument in the annual cycling calendar. At the time, Lipowitz described the decision as “liberating.” “I can now do the things that I don’t have time for during the season,” he added. The tax return, for example, was left behind, as were the bills, and there was hardly any time for activities with friends. The hardships of a sports climber.
His achievements have catapulted Lipowitz from zero to one hundred into the limelight in the last year. On the podium of the Tour de France, an achievement that, from a German perspective, was last achieved by Andreas Klöden 19 years ago. Defeated only by two-time Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard and the Slovenian high-flyer Tadej Pogacar.
He also won the white jersey for the best young professional. Winner in the junior classification at Paris-Nice, third overall at the Critérium du Dauphiné, the dress rehearsal before the Tour of France. The list of successes is long. Lipowitz has put cycling in Germany back on the map.
On the Germany tour at the end of August, Lipowitz was suddenly the most sought-after man and had to sign autographs en masse. He actually doesn’t like the attention at all. Nor were the many superlatives and nicknames – from “summit striker” to “talent of the century” to “Lipoblitz” – everything could be read in the relevant media. “After the tour, I couldn’t help but read the headlines. On the one hand, I’m happy to hear so many positive things. But it was a big adjustment to deal with all the attention. I’m trying to ignore it and carry on like I’ve been doing for the last two or three years,” says Lipowitz.
“Then you start thinking about whether the training was enough.”
The driver of the Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe team often seems withdrawn and wants to be left alone. Lipowitz admits that he thinks a lot. And although the cycling career of the formerly ambitious biathlete has actually only progressed upwards like the graph of a linear function, there are also doubts mixed in. After the start of the tour, for example, when he lost almost 40 seconds on the first stage. Due to a defect, he initially had to chase after the field alone, caught up again, only to have to let go again on a wind edge. “I didn’t start the tour that well, I had a bit of doubt,” he later said on ARD.
“I’m someone who needs reassurance in the race that I’m in good shape and can ride. In the days before the race you don’t sit on the bike so much and you don’t have the time. Then you start thinking about whether the training was enough, whether the form is really there. That’s normal, it actually affects every rider. You then have to see how you deal with it,” says Lipowitz, who has extended his contract with Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe long-term.
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He gives the answer to doubts on his bike. When Lipowitz gets on his sports equipment to compete with the best, his different face emerges. The reserved boy from Laichingen in Swabia then becomes a sporty entertainer.
“There are drivers like Jonas Vingegaard who want to hide all the time, wasting as little energy as possible. And then there are those like Tadej Pogacar. He drives more aggressively and offensively. I think that’s what people want to see too,” compares Lipowitz. “I see myself there, prefer to take risks and give away energy sometimes, but then I can at least say that I tried something.”
Lipowitz’s driving style doesn’t come from the textbook
Lipowitz isn’t someone who obsessively follows the wattage on his bike computer. He also relies on his intuition, sometimes attacks unorthodoxly or simply breaks out at the front of the peloton thanks to his time trial skills. His driving style doesn’t come from the textbook. “Lipowitz drives terribly badly,” said an unnamed insider from the field of riders in the cycling news portal “Escape Collective” during the Tour de France. Lipowitz is someone who “has no idea, but drives really hard.” The German would waste too much energy.
“When I sit on the bike and start, I also want to race,” Lipowitz defends himself: “There were one or two situations where you could perhaps say from the outside that I could have saved energy. But it’s fun when you have the chance to help shape the race. I’ll try to maintain that.” How much this tactic takes into account the fact that it can sometimes go wrong was shown on the 18th stage of this year’s tour in the finale to the 2,304 meter high Col de la Loze.
Lipowitz had already attacked in the valley well before the final climb and wasted so many grains that he could no longer keep up with the top riders on the mountain. He lost 1:39 minutes to the Scot Oscar Onley, his biggest competitor for third place in the overall standings – and thus made the race for the podium even more exciting. “The last two kilometers were hell,” was Lipowitz’s conclusion.
It was all the more impressive that he had arrived back in seventh heaven less than 24 hours after going through hell. He had another answer in his legs and managed to stay on the rear wheel of Pogacar and Vingegaard on the next Alpine stage until shortly before the end. Onley was the weaker again this time, losing 41 seconds to Lipowitz. It was the preliminary decision in the fight for the podium.
The 2026 Tour de France could suit Lipowitz
Lipowitz can of course prove himself again at the Tour de France 2026, as his team announced in mid-December. If ARD cycling expert Fabian Wegmann, himself a former professional, has his way, Lipowitz could be the course this year. As a spectacle, two days in a row go up to the legendary winter sports resort of Alpe d’Huez. It was “exactly the right tour” for Lipowitz, says Wegmann.
“It’s going to be an exciting tour again,” says Lipowitz himself: “Unlike this year, where there were flatter stages with a few short climbs at the beginning, this time it goes relatively quickly into the real mountains. You’ll probably see a rough standing after just three or four days. It’ll become clear pretty quickly where everyone stands.”
Next summer he will now have to confirm what Emanuel Buchmann failed to do. He was the last German to date who was predicted to have a great career as a tour driver. However, his fourth place at the Tour de France 2019 should remain a one-hit wonder.
It remains to be seen what effect the personnel planning will have on Lipowitz’s team. With Remco Evenepoel, double Olympic champion in Paris and Vuelta winner in 2022, the next superstar is under contract with Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe. He is also expected to take part in the Tour de France and will also have aspirations for the captain’s role. So there could be points of friction. In any case, Lipowitz will not act as sole leader again. Last year he was actually scheduled to help the Slovenian Primoz Roglic, but turned out to be a better driver.
Evenepoel had to give up completely exhausted on the 14th stage, at which point he was in third place in the overall ranking. Now the Lipowitz/Evenepoel duo should make Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe “tactically more unpredictable” at the Tour de France, as the team said in a statement. One day the team will have to decide on a captain. Will it be Lipowitz again?
Luca Wiecek is sports editor for WELT. When it’s the Tour de France, he indulges in the cycling hype for three weeks.
