Lipowitz caps off emphatic Red Bull 1-2 finish on Tour of Slovenia queen stage
The German seized control of the race lead on the queen stage with a positive performance ahead of the looming Tour de France.
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Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) claimed victory on stage 4 of the Tour of Slovenia ahead of Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) as the German team scored a 1-2 finish.
In what was the queen stage, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe controlled the tempo of the peloton and kept the breakaway in check throughout the stage, leading to the decisive climb to Vršič.
The Red Bull train motored up the lower slopes of the Vršič climb, and following Jan Tratnik’s (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) pull, Ben Zwiehoff (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) launched a sharp burst of pace, setting up his teammates Lipowitz and Pellizzari, a move which only the Slovenian Champion Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain-Victorious) could follow.
However, just a few hundred metres later, Pellizzari and Lipowitz pulled clear of Omrzel and, with 20km remaining, bridged across to the final two riders remaining from the breakaway, Fausto Masnada (MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort) and Jon Agirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi).
Lipowitz dispatched his teammate Pellizzari with 17.8km remaining and soloed his way to the top of the climb. The German reached the summit with 14km remaining, holding an advantage of around 30 seconds over Pellizzari, before beginning the descent, which featured cobbled hairpins.
Naturally, with big goals on the horizon in July, Lipowitz didn't take any risks on the descent, and he was rejoined by Pellizzari with 8.5km to go. With over a minute of an advantage on Omrzel, the Red Bull duo had more than enough of an advantage to seal an emphatic team victory with Lipowitz crossing the line first, ahead of Pellizzari, with Omrzel in third at 1:26.
As a result, Lipowitz takes the race leader’s jersey from his teammate Laurence Pithie. Pellizzari sits second in the GC at 4 seconds behind his German teammate.
It’s his fourth professional victory on the road for Lipowitz and first since winning the Sibiu Cycling Tour in July 2024. With one final stage remaining on Sunday, Red Bull and Lipowitz will be looking to seal the GC to seal a perfect preparation race ahead of the start of the Tour in Barcelona on July 4.
Result: Tour of Slovenia stage 4
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