German cycling star Florian Lipowitz has already undergone surgery following his crash-induced withdrawal from the Tour de France. The 25-year-old suffered a broken collarbone in his fateful crash during the individual time trial on Stage 16. “He is still in hospital and is expected to spend the night there. As well as the fracture, he has some grazes,” said team manager Ralph Denk.
Lipowitz is set to be sidelined for at least six weeks. The Swabian rider crashed on a dangerous right-hand bend near Lake Geneva. As well as injuring his right shoulder, the 25-year-old sustained several grazes.
Denk made it clear that Lipowitz had been travelling too fast and that the blame lay with no one else. Nevertheless, the Bavarian emphasised that not everything on the course had been ideal. “Whether he would have sustained these injuries if the route had been better secured is open to debate,” said Denk. Furthermore, the teams had been given relatively little training time on the 26.1-kilometre route. The Tour leader, Tadej Pogacar, had already raised this point.
A comeback before the end of this season
For last year’s third-placed rider in the Tour, the next major races are effectively out of the question. He is unlikely to be fit in time for the Vuelta a España (22 August to 13 September) or the World Championships in Montreal (20 to 27 September). At best, one-day races in Italy such as the Tour of Lombardy (10 October) might still be possible in the autumn. “I expect we’ll still see him on his bike and competing in races this year,” said Denk.
And so ended a Tour for the German that, in any case, had never quite felt like his. Constant discussions about the dual leadership with Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel, the minor spat with the Belgian during the first week of the Tour, and the disappointment on the mountain stage to the Plateau de Solaison, when he had to let race leader Tadej Pogacar and Evenepoel pull away. For Lipowitz, whose career has taken such a meteoric rise over the past two years, there is a lot to process.
“Last year he came here as a newcomer and delivered. This year he started with huge expectations from the whole of the German cycling world. That’s the difference,” said Denk. They are pleased to have opted for a dual leadership with Evenepoel and to have already secured two stage wins. “We’re no longer chasing success.”
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