Florian Lipowitz, who finished third last year, is happy to take on a support role for co-captain Remco Evenepoel for the remainder of the Tour de France. “I’m open to anything, of course. Remco has definitely shown that he can compete at the very front, and Tuesday’s stage is his speciality,” said Lipowitz, who currently lies fifth overall, 6 minutes and 48 seconds behind. Following his stage victory on Sunday, Evenepoel is second overall, 5:00 minutes behind leader Tadej Pogacar.
The team will draw up a plan for the final week. “I’ll be happy to help him with that,” added Lipowitz. The 25-year-old and double Olympic champion Evenepoel had started the Tour as the team’s dual leaders. On the first mountain stages, the Belgian was still struggling on the climbs; by Sunday, Lipowitz was no longer able to keep up with the leaders.
Evenepoel himself is in favour of sticking with the current set-up. “There may well be days when I lose time. Lipo is also in a very good position in the general classification. He’ll have to fight for his place, and I’ll fight for mine. That’s how we should approach it,” said the Belgian.
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