According to team manager Ralph Denk, the internal friction between the two co-captains, Florian Lipowitz and Remco Evenepoel, has long since been resolved ahead of the Tour de France. “Words spoken in the heat of the moment” and a bit of “miscommunication”, says the head of the Red Bull racing team, seeking to allay concerns. But as early as this weekend, the declared truce will be put to a severe test with two extremely gruelling mountain stages in the Vosges and the Jura Mountains.
What happens if one rider is clearly left behind by another? “That day will come. Then it will be exactly as I’ve said,” says Denk, who expects everyone to rally round the strongest rider. Some experts doubt whether Evenepoel, the double Olympic champion with a big ego, would accept such a role.
During the climb up to the Tourmalet, and also briefly in the Massif Central on the way to Le Lioran, Evenepoel lost sight of the German rider – who finished third last year – on two occasions, but fought his way back both times. Evenepoel was annoyed that Lipowitz did not do enough to lead the chase group in the Pyrenees. How will things go this Saturday in the Vosges, with three first-category climbs? Or on Sunday at the mountain finish on the Plateau de Solaison?
A close battle for second place
At the moment, the field is bunched up tightly behind the dominant leader, Tadej Pogacar. There are just 68 seconds separating second-placed Jonas Vingegaard and Lipowitz in seventh. In between them, Evenepoel sits in third place. Could Lipowitz even improve on last year’s performance? “We’ll see by this Saturday at the latest what’s possible in that regard,” says the 25-year-old.
Pogacar, however, cannot understand why some of his rivals have already described the battle for the overall victory as a lost cause. “If you’re only fighting for second place, that’s a shame. In a Grand Tour, if you’ve got a strong team, there are so many possibilities. You always have to try to make the most of it,” says the exceptional Slovenian rider. Pogacar is in a good position to say that.
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