Florian Lipowitz clenched his fist and raised his finger in the air. With two stage wins and overall victory in the Tour of Slovenia, the German cycling star has put in an impressive dress rehearsal for the Tour de France, which begins on 4 July. Following a sharp attack on the final climb, Lipowitz secured the stage victory single-handedly on the fifth and final stage, covering 169.4 kilometres from Litija to Novo mesto.
The 25-year-old had already won the queen stage to Kranjska Gora on Saturday, securing his first professional victory since 9 July 2024. “It’s been an impressive week for the whole team. I’m very proud and delighted with this second victory here,” said Lipowitz. Looking ahead to the Tour, he added: “There are still two weeks to go. I’m going to take a bit of a rest now. The Tour is a special race. I’m in good form.”
Will Lipowitz make it back onto the tour podium?
The Red Bull professional appears to be in excellent shape for the Tour de France. There, he aims to repeat last year’s success, when he finished third behind Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard and became the first German to reach the podium in Paris since 2006.
In the home country of his rival Pogacar, Lipowitz had an easy ride, as his main rivals weren’t on the start line. The race for the overall victory was decided on the climb to Trska Gora, which reached gradients of up to 20 per cent, when Lipowitz pulled away from the field. “It was a tough day, very hot. We rode brilliantly as a team. We attacked hard on the final climb. I was first over the top and had opened up the gap. I then carried on riding, and the gap just kept getting bigger,” added Lipowitz.
At the finish line, he was 24 seconds ahead of his team-mate Laurence Pithie from New Zealand. In the overall standings, he finished 42 seconds ahead of the Italian Giulio Pellizzari. Lipowitz also claimed the King of the Mountains title.
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