'I thought maybe it would never happen' - Florian Lipowitz Tour de France Best Young Rider's jersey to collection after taking third overall in Paris

,It’s been barely two years since Tadej Pogačar could last claim the Best Young Rider’s jersey in the Tour de France, but if the four-time overall winner is no longer eligible for the category, after Remco Evenepoel took the white jersey home in 2024, Florian Lipowitz certainly makes for another striking new successor to Pogačar in 2025.

Like Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) last year in Nice, Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was able to claim the third spot on the Paris podium behind Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) as well as the white jersey in his first-ever Tour de France participation.

Both riders ensured a long overdue return for their countries to the Tour podium could be possible too – Evenepoel being the first Belgian in the top three since Lucien Van Impe’s second place in 1981, Lipowitz being the first German to do the same since Andreas Klöden took second back in 2004. Similarly to Evenepoel, too, in 2024, if Vingegaard and Pogačar were in a league and duel of their own last July, Lipowitz had his own tough battles to fight to remain in third overall.

In Lipowitz’s case, his lack of experience resulted in some tactical errors – “the sports directors were also sometimes not really happy with me,” he recounted, with a shy grin, to journalists in his press conference on Sunday evening. But he also had a lengthy battle to keep Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL) at bay. The Scot rode an almost equally spectacular debut Tour to finish in fourth place, and with less than 30 seconds between himself and Lipowitz, unlike Evenepoel keeping his closest pursuer João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) at nearly ten minutes, Onley’s challenge only ended when he faded on the last summit finish at La Plagne.

These were preceded by seventh place in the Vuelta a España last year as well as a podium finish in Romandie, while his earliest days as an athlete, however, were spent mainly doing biathlon. After getting his first racing licence in 2020 then riding with small Austrian Conti Team Tirol-KTM, despite various illnesses – his fragile health is perhaps a chink in his armour, and saw him quit the Giro last year after a promising first…

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‘I thought maybe it would never happen’ – Florian Lipowitz Tour de France Best Young Rider’s jersey to collection after taking third overall in Paris

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