At just 23 years old and riding his first-ever Tour de France, Florian Lipowitz of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe has claimed the white jersey for best young rider and secured third place overall on the podium in Paris. Only Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard finished ahead of him after three gruelling weeks, marking the German’s biggest breakthrough yet and confirming his place among cycling’s rising GC stars.
After Remco Evenepoel won the Best Young Rider classification in 2024, the jersey once again changes hands – and Lipowitz becomes the first German to stand on the Tour’s final podium since Andreas Klöden in 2004.
“I think I need one or two more days to realise what I’ve done, what happened in the last three weeks,” Lipowitz said after the final stage. “Being on the podium at the Tour was always a dream, I thought it maybe would never happen, but doing that is something very special.”
How did Lipowitz beat Onley to secure third place?
While Pogačar and Vingegaard raced in a league of their own, Lipowitz had a fight on his hands to hold off Oscar Onley. The 22-year-old Picnic-PostNL rider pushed him all the way, finishing just under 30 seconds behind in fourth after an impressive debut Tour of his own. Onley had shown strong form earlier in the season with third at the Tour de Suisse and a stage win in the mountains, and his climbing credentials meant the battle for third went deep into the final week.
Lipowitz admitted he wasn’t expecting to be in the white jersey battle, let alone the podium. “Going into the Tour, I was never thinking about fighting for the white jersey but day by day I realised it was possible,” he said. “I knew Oscar was a strong rider, he showed in the Tour de Suisse he can compete with the best. I lost some time on the second last mountain stage but I tried my best on stage 19 and I made it now to Paris.”
What is Florian Lipowitz’s background?
Lipowitz only got his first racing licence in 2020, having come to cycling from biathlon. After riding for Continental team Tirol-KTM, he signed with Red Bull in 2023. Since then, he’s built a steady run of results: 7th overall at the 2023 Vuelta a España, a podium at Tour de Romandie, and strong GC rides this year at Paris-Nice (2nd behind Matteo Jorgenson) and the Critérium du Dauphiné (3rd behind Pogačar and Vingegaard).
Despite that upward trend, his rise has not been without difficulty. Illness forced him out of last year’s Giro d’Italia after a promising first week, and his tendency to race on instinct has occasionally led to tension with his team. “It’s also in my nature to race and I think as a GC racer you always need to be patient, stay calm and save energy,” he said. “Maybe sometimes it’s stupid, also the sports directors were sometimes not really happy with me, but that’s why we are here. We want to race.”
What are his future goals?
Lipowitz was realistic about what comes next. “Vingegaard and Pogačar are on a different level,” he admitted. “I will also have some setbacks and I want to enjoy now and not think about the future too much.”
With Red Bull reportedly interested in signing Evenepoel, Lipowitz said he hadn’t given the rumours much thought during the race but added, “If he comes, we can achieve something together.”
For now, his white jersey and third place in Paris mark an extraordinary milestone for a rider who only joined the WorldTour in 2023. It’s not just the jersey or the result that stands out, but how Lipowitz took the fight to the best and showed he belongs in the highest tier of GC contenders.
