Tour de Romandie: Pogacar impressed by Lipowitz

These are those rare cycling moments in which the course of things briefly falters. When at the top, where Slovenian Tadej Pogacar usually rides alone, someone suddenly appears who refuses to back down. In western Switzerland, it was Florian Lipowitz from Ulm who pushed the dominator of cycling out of his comfort zone. 42 seconds separated the two at the finish of the Tour de Romandie. More than the blink of an eye after a prologue and five stages. But perhaps an overture to cycling’s biggest stage this summer in France.

What remains is more than second place. Lipowitz’s week in French-speaking Switzerland was also a triumph of perseverance. After third places in Catalonia and the Basque Country, he was on the podium again in Switzerland – for the third time in a row. The 25-year-old from the German team Red Bull‑Bora‑Hansgrohe was the only one in the field who seriously stood up to Pogacar. Lenny Martinez from France came third, 2:44 minutes behind. Slowed down by an infection early in the year, Lipowitz once again found the ease in the mountains that he had hinted at during the last Tour de France: alert, attacking, ready to take risks.

In the final stage up to Leysin, Lipowitz appeared unusually aggressive – and repeatedly tried to shake off the Slovenian. He stuck to the rear wheel and only sprinted past in the final on the way to his fourth stage victory in French-speaking Switzerland. The day before, on the most difficult part of the tour, the two had fought a duel in the decisive phase. It was only shortly before the summit of the Jaun Pass that Pogacar pulled away and laid the foundation for his eventual overall victory. Pogacar called Lipowitz’s second attack on the final stage “pretty impressive.” A little bow.

He feels “better than last year,” says Lipowitz

Not all the cards are on the table, of course not, two months before the start of the Tour de France in Barcelona. “I have taken a step forward compared to last year,” says Lipowitz. Anyone who has ever seen how Pogacar grimaces when the German appears behind him may be excited for the main act in France. The enormous distance between Pogacar and the rest of the world is no longer a law of nature.

The two’s paths soon cross again. In the Alps they visit the same sections of the upcoming tour, drive the same passes, breathe the same thin air. Lipowitz then moves to the Sierra Nevada for altitude training, with a few days at home in between, then the Tour of Slovenia, and what everything is aiming for begins in Barcelona at the beginning of July.

The Dane Jonas Vingegaard, second on the tour last year, will be involved again. The two-time winner of the Tour of France will first take part in the Giro d’Italia, unlike Pogacar and Lipowitz. The Frenchman Paul Seixas, who is only 19 years old, will also be one to watch when the Frenchman makes his tour debut as his team recently announced. Seixas has long been considered an exceptional talent and has rapidly developed into a mountain specialist.

The story of the cyclist Lipowitz began much later. Also because the cyclist Liopwitz was not a cyclist in his early phase, but a ski hunter. Retrained from a biathlete to a cyclist, Lipowitz received his first professional contract in 2023; it was supposed to be the start of a career in what is currently the only German racing team with international ambitions. Will he start the Tour de France as captain, or in a kind of dual leadership with Remco Evenepoel? The Belgian is considered the stronger time trialist, while Lipowitz has shown significantly more lasting impressions on the mountain in the recent past.

The 113th edition of the Tour de France involves a team time trial, a short individual time trial and a total of five mountain finishes, spread over eight designated mountain stages. Lipowitz said he felt “better than last year.” If you caught Pogacar gasping, you might think this sentence a little bigger.