'I just want to race' - Florian Lipowitz vows not to change racing style after debut Tour de France podium

At the start of the Tour de France, an unidentified ‘secret pro’ wrote for Escape Collective that Florian Lipowitz races “atrociously bad.” The 24-year-old German, according to the unnamed peloton insider, is a rider “who is clueless but riding really strong.” They added of his ride at the Critérium du Dauphiné where he finished third: “I was watching him attack and then dangle five seconds in front of the peloton that was riding tempo, thus exposing himself to the wind and wasting incredible amount of energy… he was just constantly doing the opposite of what he should be doing. He’s clearly an insane talent, but he races horribly.”

At the end of the Tour de France, Lipowitz, that unstylish and at times suicidal bike rider, has won the white jersey for the best young rider and finished third overall, behind winner Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard. Remove those two epoch-defining superstars from the picture, and Lipowitz, riding his first Tour, has been the best bike rider. Third, despite concerted pressure from Oscar Onley, is deservedly his.

But even he can’t shirk those aforementioned accusations. “I started racing UCI races just five-and-a-half years ago,” he says, a nod to him only switching to cycling from biathlon at the age of 18, “so it would also be strange if I was doing everything perfectly. It’s also in my nature. As a GC racer, you always have to be patient, to be calm, to be saving energy, but I just want to race. Maybe sometimes it’s stupid, and the DSs are not really happy with me sometimes, but that’s why we are here: we want to race.”

He’s right: his sports directors are not always happy. Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe’s DS Enrico Gasparotto admitted after the Alps that the young German was naive, cursing Lipowitz’s valley attack on stage 18 that ultimately led to him losing significant time. “Yesterday was a good f**k up,” Gasparotto said. “The attack of Lipo was never planned. That was all the discussion this morning, trying to explain to him what happens in Grand Tours in the third week.” Lipowitz is a listener; he’s taken on board those comments. “For sure, I can still improve a lot,” he says.

For Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, that’s a tantalising proposition. They went into the race with two co-leaders, but in reality most of those hopes were pinned on the veteran Primož Roglič. This is not the article to discuss the Slovenian’s laissez faire, peculiar approach to the race, but it is the article to debate if Lipowitz – the first German to finish on the podium of the Tour since Andreas Klöden in 2006 – will get the chance to lead a German team at the Tour in 2026. Because, if you haven’t heard already, Remco Evenepoel is primed to join Red Bull from Soudal Quick-Step.

“So far it’s only a rumour,” Lipowitz says of the Evenepoel transfer talk, “and we have to see in the next year who really comes. But if he comes I’ll also be happy with that. I think we can also achieve something good together.”

The future is for another day; today is for celebrating. Third in his first Tour, just six years after he was skiing through forests and shooting at targets. That sort of stuff is not meant to happen. But Lipowitz – equal part shy, equal part composed and confident – is no ordinary athlete. He’s blessed, as the ‘secret pro’ said, with “insane talent.”

“I think I need, for sure, one or two days to realise what happened in the last three weeks,” he adds. “I am super happy being on the podium of the Tour. It was always a dream but I thought it would maybe never happen. It being my first Tour and being on the podium is something really special.”

He might be innocent and raw in his racing, but he’s not blind to reality. If he’s going to one day win yellow, he’s going to have to dislodge Pogačar and Vingegaard. “You also saw Pogi and Jonas… they’re on a different level,” he says. “The last three years went pretty well for me, and it won’t always go that way for me and there will be some setbacks. It’s why I want to enjoy the moment now.”

Back in his home country of Germany, they’re getting excited about the skier-cum-cyclist. Talk of a heir to Jan Ullrich is no longer premature but justified. Lipowitz has not reached a level of fame yet where he’ll be recognised in most city centre streets, but he’s aware that Lipo Fever is now a thing. “To be honest, the last three weeks I’ve lived in a bubble,and I didn’t realise what’s going on outside of the cycling world. But I will realise it in the next few days.”

That “clueless” bike rider, it appears, is rather bloody good. If he refines his scattergun tactics, the top step in Paris could be his one day. “I haven’t even thought yet about the next goals or the next years. For now I don’t think about the future too much.”