German cycling star Florian Lipowitz has impressively underlined his ambitions for the Tour de France with a strong performance on the mountain. The 25-year-old was only beaten by the Slovenian world champion Tadej Pogacar on the queen stage of the Tour de Romandie, but consolidated his second place overall. Lipowitz is therefore likely to achieve another podium finish in Switzerland.
The Tour de France bronze medallist stayed behind Pogacar for a long time on the fourth stage over 149.6 kilometres from Broc to Charmey, crossing the Jaun Pass three times. It was only just over a kilometre before the last mountain classification that Pogacar increased the pace to such an extent that Lipowitz had to let go. At the finish, the German was 14 seconds behind, but almost one and a half minutes ahead of the other chasers.
"I'm super happy with the day today. I was on the limit for the last kilometre on the climb. I couldn't go any lower. After that, I rode my pace," said Lipowitz, who is happy with his form: "I've improved from race to race. Now I'm looking forward to a break after the Tour de Romandie."
Mountain finish on Sunday
In the overall standings, Lipowitz is 35 seconds behind Pogacar, who has already won three stages of the tour. After third place in the Tour of Catalonia and second place in the Basque Country, Lipowitz could finish on the podium for the third tour in a row.
The final decision will now be made on Sunday with the mountain finish on the final stage in Leysin. Over 14.3 kilometres, the final climb has an average gradient of 5.9 percent.
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