Lipowitz ready to offer his services to Evenepoel in final Tour week
Florian Lipowitz says he is ready to support Remco Evenepoel during the final week of the Tour, after the Belgian delivered a major statement with victory at Plateau de Solaison.
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Evenepoel stayed with Tadej Pogačar and Isaac del Toro on the final climb before beating the Slovenian at the finish. The result gave Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe one of its biggest victories in the Tour de France and strengthened Evenepoel’s position as the team’s best placed rider in the general classification.
Lipowitz acknowledged that the performance could lead to a change in responsibilities within the team.
“We will certainly speak about it within the team,” he said to media including Sporza. “I am open to everything. Remco showed today that he can compete right at the front.”
The German also pointed towards Tuesday’s time trial, a discipline in which Evenepoel is expected to be among the leading contenders.
“Tuesday is also his speciality,” Lipowitz said. “We will make a plan for the final week, and I will be happy to help him.”
Red Bull is not yet officially moving away from its dual leadership strategy, but Lipowitz’s comments suggest he is prepared to ride in support of Evenepoel if the race situation requires it.
Sports director Zak Dempster confirmed that the team still intends to protect both riders for the time being.
“Remco is better placed, but we want to keep both riders close,” Dempster told Sporza.
Earlier in the race, Lipowitz had narrowly avoided the crash that ended Jonas Vingegaard’s Tour. With around 20 kilometres remaining, the German was riding only a short distance behind when Vingegaard went down heavily and was forced to abandon.
“We were not that far behind,” Lipowitz said. “I think they underestimated the roundabout a little, and then things can happen very quickly.”
Lipowitz said Red Bull’s riders were relieved to avoid the incident, although the team’s immediate thoughts were with Vingegaard.
“We were obviously relieved that we had been spared, but it is never nice to see one of the big favourites leave the race in that way.”
Once the race had settled again, Red Bull returned its focus to the final climb, where the plan was to keep the effort controlled and preserve both leaders for the decisive moves.
“The plan was to ride the climb from the bottom at our own pace,” Lipowitz explained. “In the end, I think it simply came down to the legs.”
Evenepoel had the strongest legs among the Red Bull riders and was able to follow when the race’s biggest names increased the pace. He first stayed with Pogačar and Del Toro, then produced the fastest finish to take the stage.
“It was good to see that Remco could follow Tadej [Pogačar] and Del Toro and then even win the stage,” Lipowitz said. “For the whole team, it is a huge success.”
The victory also eased some of the pressure that had been building around Red Bull’s Tour campaign.
“It definitely takes some pressure away,” Lipowitz concluded. “I would say it was a successful day for our team.”
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