Liane Lippert didn't quite want to believe it even at the finish. "I thought maybe there was an escape group," she said shortly after arriving in Mauriac. But there was no rider ahead of her, Lippert actually crossed the finish line first, winning stage 2 of the Tour de France Femmes 2023 in an uphill sprint. However, anyone who chases a big win for as long as Lippert may doubt their own success at first.
She has long since established herself as one of the top riders in the peloton, but so far it has mostly been her rivals who have been invited to the winner's interviews. Last year alone, Lippert achieved 13 top-five finishes in World Tour races, followed by third place at the Brabantse Pijl and second place at the Fleche Wallonne this spring. Outstanding results, but unsatisfactory in the long run. Now the knot burst in Mauriac. "This is something very special. I've waited so long for a win like this. I have the feeling that I have now made the breakthrough and can continue to win," said Lippert.
Liane Lippert gladly accepts the role of the German figurehead
The 25-year-old from Friedrichshafen is now regarded as the figurehead of German women's cycling, a role that Lippert gladly accepts, as she says in an interview with TOUR ahead of the Tour de France Femmes: "I see this as an advantage, it makes women's cycling in Germany better known and more popular. That's why I really enjoy doing it. I can also really enjoy it." She recently won her third German championship title on the road in Bad Dürrheim in June - more than a minute ahead of second-placed Kathrin Hammes.
Meanwhile, Liane Lippert has earned a reputation as a classics specialist among international riders since her professional debut in 2017. In just her second season, the then 20-year-old took overall victory in the demanding Tour of Belgium by winning the final stage over cobblestones to Geraardsbergen. In the same year, Lippert also won the German Championship in Einhausen for the first time. 2020 heralded another good season, when Lippert first finished second in the Tour Down Under and shortly afterwards won the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race as a soloist in February. However, the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent break from competition brought her high-flying season to an abrupt end.
Liane Lippert narrowly missed out on a medal at the World Cycling Championships
The promise of her career had been great since then at the latest, but she failed to fulfil it in the decisive moments. Lippert was often among the front runners, but rarely won. With third place in the Amstel Gold Race and Brabantse Pijl, she impressed in the Classics in 2022 and fought with Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig in the summer for victory in the Tour of Scandinavia, which she ultimately finished 17 seconds behind in second place. She also missed out on a medal at the Road World Championships in Wollongong, finishing fourth in a tight sprint finish. Always good, but always just short of a breakthrough - that is often the realisation for Liane Lippert. Her only victories in the past three years were the German championship titles in Winterberg and Bad Dürrheim in 2022 and 2023. Despite her class, she occasionally lacked the right instinct for the race situation in the final. In Mauriac at the Tour de France Femmes, her timing was just right.
Lippert was introduced to cycling by her father, who was a youth coach at the RSV Seerose Friedrichshafen and motivated her to take part in a mountain bike race at the age of eight. Although Lippert finished in last place, she found that she enjoyed the sport. Her first bike was an "ancient Peugeot steel bike with gears. It was too big for me, but that didn't matter. From then on, I got on my bike every day," as Lippert reported in the 2021 TOUR interview.
New impetus for Team Movistar in the 2023 season
The 2016 season then paved her way to the pros: first, Lippert won the junior classification of the Tour of Thuringia in the national team jersey in 22nd place, and two months later she secured the European Junior Road Championship title in Plumelec, France. Numerous professional teams then wanted to sign her for 2017, but the former professional soldier opted for Team Sunweb. She stayed with the Dutch team for six years.
Lippert then broke new ground for 2023, switching teams for the first time and joining the Spanish team Movistar. It is the team of Dutchwoman Annemiek van Vleuten, who has dominated women's cycling for years but will end her career at the end of the season. For Lippert, this means learning from the best. Quite a few also see her as the team's internal successor. "When she leaves, I'm sure I'll automatically slip into her role a little on the tours. But I think that my focus will continue to be on the classics," says Lippert in the TOUR interview, adding: "I don't want to lose my sprightliness and my sprinting strength. That's why we have to see how we can find a good way with the team to combine both - classics and tours." After all, these qualities, her sprightliness on the climbs and her finishing speed, helped her to win a stage at the Tour de France Femmes.
In France this year, she is planned as a noble helper for van Vleuten so that the Dutchwoman can take her second overall victory in the women's Tour de France. But her team captain also emphasised after the stage in Mauriac how important victory can be for Lippert: "I knew she was very strong. And sometimes you have to wait for the right moment, just once. But once you start winning, you don't stop. It's certainly good for your self-confidence, also to achieve even more."
Liane Lippert: "The next goal is to win the classics"
For Lippert, however, this "achieving more" lies first and foremost in the classics. "We are different riders. I have more punch, Annemiek is more made for the longer climbs. I can climb, but I'm not a classics rider," says the 25-year-old. Lippert finished 16th in last year's inaugural Tour de France Femmes and achieved the same position a few weeks ago as a helper in van Vleuten's overall victory at the Giro d'Italia Donne. Her primary goal: "My next goal is to win the classics."
If she succeeds in doing so, the classification of the grand tours may well have its appeal for Lippert at some point. She has the beginnings of this, even if she is still a little short of the top riders on long climbs. At Movistar, however, she seems to be in the right team for the next step. Regardless of her future direction, Lippert's performance can no longer be denied: She will go down in cycling history as the first German stage winner of the Tour de France Femmes.
