Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team manager Ralph Denk has confirmed that Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz are both team leaders for the Tour de France, but admitted that one of them will eventually emerge as the team's protected rider as they "fight it out between themselves on the road."
Denk is convinced the dual leadership strategy can work and played down any internal rivalry, with any 'fight' for leadership expected to be fair and honest, and managed much like the 'Papaya Rules' of the McLaren Formula 1 team, which allows their pilots to race freely but without damaging the team's overall ambitions.
"Remco is still the team leader and Florian Lipowitz is a bit of the second man but in terms of sporting performance, they are on equal footing," Denk explained to Flemish newspapers Het Laatste Nieuws and Het Nieuwsblad.
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"Eventually, there will come a day when one or the other feels better. Then they will have to fight it out between themselves on the road."
"I am convinced that this can work," Denk made clear.
Lipowitz has developed into a consistent Grand Tour rider during his three years at Red Bull. The team invested massively to sign Evenepoel for 2026, and then Lipowitz finished third in the 2025 Tour, as Evenepoel struggled and eventually abandoned after an injury-hit winter.
Lipowitz and Evenepoel are different riders and have different personalities, with the German being quiet but consistent, while Evenepoel is a natural leader, very determined and often outspoken.
So far, they appear to work well together and have spent time together at altitude camps. They have only ridden the Volta a Catalunya together, where Lipowitz finished third, and Evenepoel was fifth.
Evenepoel impressed in the Spring Classics and has opted to train rather than race in recent weeks, while Lipowitz has been consistently good all season. He was second behind Tadej Pogačar at the Tour de Romandie and last week won two stages and the overall at the Tour of Slovenia.
"Lipowitz's season and the entire team has gone phenomenally so far," Denk said, knowing that Red Bull will have to combine their talents of their leaders and teammates if they want to challenge Pogačar and fight with Jonas Vingegaard and Paul Seixas for a place on the final podium.
"If everything goes normally from his perspective, it will be damn difficult to challenge him at all," Denk said.
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