"I thought I would try something too" - Florian Lipowitz inspired by the best attacks from far out in Dauphiné stage 6

It's becoming increasingly difficult to really call Florian Lipowitz's great performances surprising. On the sixth stage of Criterium du Dauphiné, the 24-year-old once again impressed with an offensive approach to racing. First by attacking the group of favourites on the penultimate climb, and later by leaving Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel far behind on the slopes to Combloux as he cruised towards a third place on the day.

"When they first attacked on the second last climb I just followed and then I thought I would try something too," Lipowitz explains his surprising attack with 40 kilometers to go. "Eventually they caught me, but I was confident about doing that."

While his first acceleration was countered, the leader of Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe was eager to give it his all again on the final ascent. "Afterwards, I was looking for the last climb [Combloux] to try to recover as well as I could and then I gave my best to the line."

And his best was good enough to arrive just behind the two overwhelming favourites to win the Tour - Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. "I'm super happy with the performance," he said with a smile. "I went all out from the bottom and I just tried to pace myself together with Remco."

But the Olympic champion was not at his best level after his crash day earlier. And the German quickly realized this was an opportunity to go for a podium result on the stage as well as make a big step towards finishing on the overall podium. "I gave it a shot and I saw I opened the gap and then I just went all out to the finish."

The Belgian is also Lipowitz's main challenger for overall podium and the white jersey for best young rider. In third spot overall, the German rider is 11 seconds behind Jonas Vingegaard and holds a 28-second advantage over Remco Evenepoel.