"Remco is still the team leader and Florian Lipowitz is a bit of the second man" - Red Bull - BORA Hansgrohe boss sets Tour de France pecking order straight

Red Bull - BORA Hansgrohe team boss Ralph Denk issued the team's Tour de France leadership strategy, including which rider will be the outright leader in the event of the team needing to prioritise one over the other.

The German team have definitively addressed the question of Tour leadership after Remco Evenepoel joined from Soudal-Quickstep over winter - pairing with 2025 podium finisher Florian Lipowitz to form a two-pronged attack at the Grand Boucle.

For Lipowitz, he sealed his first general classification win at last week's Tour of Slovenia in style with two stage victories. Meanwhile, Evenepoel finished third-placed at the 2024 Tour de France and has already picked up seven wins for his new team - raising questions about the hierarchy of the team.

Reigning world time trial champion and two-time Paris 2024 Olympic champion Evenepoel will be their main man, and while Lipowitz will also be a leader, Denk is 'convinced' that the strategy can work.

"The season for Lipowitz and the entire team has gone phenomenally so far," Denk told the Belgian press, praising the German's season so far.

He added: "Remco is still the team leader and Florian Lipowitz is a bit of the second man. I am convinced that this can work. Eventually, there will come a day when one or the other feels better. Then they will have to fight it out between themselves on the road."

However, all strategies can feel futile in the face of an in-form Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian is set to defend his Tour crown as he bids to make it a fifth overall after recently winning the Tour de Suisse. Denk knows Pogacar - once the race goes his way - will be difficult to beat.

"If everything goes normally from his perspective, it will be damn difficult to challenge him at all," Denk said.

Pogacar faces general classification challenges from all angles, including Giro winner and long-time rival Jonas Vingegaard, emerging teenage sensation Paul Seixas, Evenepoel and Lipowitz as well as potential outsiders such as Oscar Onley and Tom Pidcock.