TdF stage 12: Lipowitz and Onley on Hautacam

 

For the 24-year-old Tour debutant, Florian Lipowitz produced a monster ride on stage 12 taking fourth and moving into podium contention with third on GC. Red Bull Hansgrohe now has two riders in the top-ten as Primoz Roglic finished in seventh and is ninth on GC. The two-pronged attack can't be bad as Lipowitz will now be allowed to go for his own chances.

"We had both open cards. I pulled the first part quite long, and I tried to keep the pace high, and then I tired my own. I just tried how the others are, and then gap opened. Then I was with Oscar Onley, tried to stay on his wheel in case Primoz is coming back, and then I took my chance and went all out until the finish line. I think we can be super happy. We now have two guys super good on the GC, and I think that gives us a lot of opportunities for the next days."

-Florian Lipowitz

"I feel pretty tired. It was hard all day but the guys looked after me as best they could. I felt good but maybe I just went a bit over my limit about halfway up, but it was still a pretty good day. It's difficult when there are two guys there from the same team, so I had to try and get away from at least one of them if I could. I was quite surprised on the first climb when I saw a few other dropping, but I guess they probably suffered in the heat. I thing the team managed that part pretty well for us today. If I can recover well then I'll give it a good shot tomorrow in the TT."

-Oscar Onley. He takes a strong fifth place on the stage and sixth on the GC.