“They’re two young riders with different characters, and you sort it out by talking”: Evenepoel and Lipowitz tension settled down according to Red Bull - BORA director
CyclingSaturday, 11 July 2026 at 10:20
The sixth stage of the Tour de France offered far more than Tadej Pogacar’s show on the Col du Tourmalet. Inside Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe a small flashpoint emerged after Remco Evenepoel publicly voiced his frustration with Florian Lipowitz, believing the German had not helped him at the key moment on the climb. This has, according to the team, been resolved.
The Belgian champion did not hide his anger as he crossed the line. Evenepoel said he had asked his teammate to work for him in the final kilometres, but Lipowitz’s response was not what he expected. His comments quickly fueled debate about the co-existence of the German team’s two major GC cards.
However, the sports management has sought to downplay the episode. Patxi Vila, head of performance at Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe, appeared at the finish of stage seven to send a message of calm and make it clear the situation is far from becoming an internal issue.
“I think you’ve already seen everything that’s been on social media, so there’s not much more to add,” said the Spanish coach, well aware of the impact of Evenepoel’s words.
“Problems are solved by talking”
For Vila, the solution is far simpler than it looks from the outside. “You fix it by talking. We are people, we’re human, and we all have our temperament and our character,” he explained.
The Spanish director noted that managing different personalities is part of a cycling team’s daily routine and that situations like this are common in a race as demanding as the Tour de France.
“Our job is precisely to make people with different characters work together. There’s nothing more to it than that,” he stated firmly.
The team’s performance boss also hinted the episode has been blown out of proportion because of the riders’ media profile. “Many times things are given more airtime than they should be,” he added.
In fact, Vila framed the disagreement as completely normal between two young riders who share ambitions and fierce competitiveness. Both have finished on the podium of the Tour de France in the previous two editions, and look to do the same this summer.
Florian Lipowitz and Remco Evenepoel together at the 2026 Tour de France
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Two separate leaders working together for Red Bull - BORA
“They’re simply two young people, with two different characters, who need to work together, that’s all. Nothing else is happening,” he concluded.
The situation nonetheless highlights the delicate balance Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe must manage in the coming weeks. For now, the German setup wants to close the matter quickly and focus all efforts on the road. In a Tour with plenty of mountains to come, the team knows any shot at the podium depends on maintaining internal unity and preventing a simple disagreement on the Tourmalet from becoming a bigger problem.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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Andrew11-07-2026 - I was with you all the way on the UAE thing Andrew, but saying the USA is not as bad is not accurate,. Currently Cuban folk are starving due to their blockade of the country and have no fuel to heat food or power lighting/ cars/ machinery. They killed 170 school children in strikes on Iran plus handreds more children and women. They killed the Iranian lerader and many of his family. Their record in Gaza is woeful. The USA supplies many of the weapons Isreal has been using to kill thousands of Palestinians and Lenonese people. The Venezuelan president was kidnapped. Venezulian fishing boats blown out of the water supposedly smuggling drugs but destroyed with no proof. Just poof gone! I could go on, That list just scrathes the surface. It makes the UAE look like saints in comparison.Cyclingsbestfan11-07-2026
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- Some one needs to drug test Wiggins with that comment!frieders311-07-2026
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