"I stopped working from the moment I knew he had been dropped" - Lipowitz gives up stage win chance for Evenepoel
CyclingWednesday, 15 July 2026 at 01:00
Last week, we've heard a clear voice of disagreement coming from the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe team bus after Remco Evenepoel did not find the desired support from his co-leader Florian Lipowitz in the finale of stage 6. Today, we have seen a different face of the German team's duo.
Soon isolated from their domestiques, the two men cooperated well through the final parts of the stage with Lipowitz even helping set up Evenepoel's sprint for a second place in the last kilometer.
But the stage was far gone at that point. When Tadej Pogacar opened with 15 kilometers to go, there was no rider able to respond to the yellow jersey. Within just a moment, the Slovenian built a 30-second lead he kept until the finish line. For Red Bull, a 2nd and 4th places were left on offer.
"We thought about closing the gap on Pogacar, we hoped to still ride for the win. But then at a certain point I got the information that Remco was on a small gap. At that moment I was on Jonas Vingegaard's wheel and knew that Remco would come back on the descent. We raced for second place and we have to be happy with that," Lipowitz told Sporza afterwards.
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Even though he was aware that Evenepoel had lost contact with the group on Col de Pertus, Lipowitz continued to play his card, although he still kept his teammate's ambition in mind, and thus sabotaged the chase a little bit to allow Evenepoel's return.
"Waiting for Remco? That wasn't an option. I stopped working from the moment I knew he had been dropped. I couldn't do much else but hope he would come back, and we are happy about that. Because that did happen."
Remco Evenepoel was much happier about teamwork after stage 10
Regarding his own impression, the German rider confides he felt very strong on the course of tenth stage. "My legs were the best of the entire race so far. The rest day was quite good and this is a good start to the second week. However, we won't really be able to play the game with Remco anymore, because Pogacar is already four minutes ahead. It is quite open for second place though, and if we work together, I hope we can race for it."
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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