After a somewhat quiet Tour de France so far, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe moved into a promising position on stage 12, with Florian Lipowitz taking fourth on the stage whilst Primož Roglič recorded his best result of the race so far in ninth.
Exactly what Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe are aiming at in this race has been hard to pin down so far, with nominal leader Roglič hesitant to play up any big goals, but after stage 12, it seems a top GC finish could be an ambition, though perhaps with Lipowitz instead.
The 24-year-old German, who finished second in Paris-Nice this year, started the race looking to Roglič as leader, but on Thursday, it was clear that he will be allowed to go for his own chances, too.
The Red Bull pair worked off each other on the finish to Hautacam, with Lipowitz setting the pace early on, before a chat at 5km to go preceded a proper attack from the younger rider. He went on to finish third, behind only Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard.
"We had both open cards," Lipowitz said of the status between him and Roglič on the stage.
"I pulled the first part quite long, and I tried to keep the pace high, and then I tried my own. I just tried how the others are, and the gap opened. Then I was with Oscar [Onley], tried to stay on his wheel in case Primož is coming back, and then I took my chance and went all out until the finish line."
With Roglič finishing ninth on the stage, after sticking with the main GC group right up until Pogačar's winning attack and taking his best result of the race, Red Bull are looking in a much better position than the perhaps hard-to-pin-down ambitions of the first week.
"I think we can be super happy," Lipowitz said. "We now have two guys super good on the GC, and I think that gives us a lot of opportunities for the next days."
Roglič was typically self-deprecating after the stage, not particularly celebrating his own ride, but was clearly approving of Lipowitz's performance and his possible future as the team's leader in this race.
"It was just fast, huh? Way too fast for me, and I really took it. I had a big battle in the last 7km to come to the top," Roglič told the TV cameras.
"When you have the legs, you have to go, no?" he said of Lipowitz. "And definitely he had the legs today, so it was a great job from him.
"I'm happy, I'm really happy, and I hope that he keeps the level, and that he keeps it up until the finish."
Lipowitz is now fourth overall, less than a minute behind third-placed Remco Evenepoel, who appeared to struggle on stage 12, making him a genuine contender for the podium in Paris.
Roglič, meanwhile, is seventh, clearly still in contention for a top 10, but he still is not making any noise about whether that may be something he's aiming at, and seemed at ease with the idea of handing the baton over to a strong Lipowitz.
A 24-year-old Tour debutant and a 35-year-old four-time Grand Tour winner, Lipowitz and Roglič could not be at more different phases in their career, and perhaps neither wants to put a firm goal against this Tour de France. But what's clear after stage 12 is that both riders, in their own ways and perhaps with different roles, are very much in this race.
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