<\/p>\n
In his assessment, the gap is now minimal. \u201cHe is only a small step behind Pogacar and Vingegaard,\u201d Voigt said, adding that \u201cin the mountains, he is closer than in the time trial. There, Pogacar, Vingegaard and also Evenepoel have advantages.\u201d<\/p>\n
Proven at the highest level<\/p>\n
Rather than representing a breakthrough, Lipowitz\u2019s Catalunya podium forms part of a consistent run of results at the very top of the sport. His third place at the Tour de France and Crit\u00e9rium du Dauphin\u00e9 in 2025 has already established him among the leading general classification riders, and Voigt believes those performances are now beyond question.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m absolutely thrilled with how he\u2019s riding and how he\u2019s handling all the attention since his third place at the Tour de France,\u201d he said, pointing to the growing expectations around the German. \u201cMany German fans hope Florian will be the next German Tour winner. It\u2019s fascinating how he deals with that and how grounded he has remained.\u201d<\/p>\n
That consistency, in Voigt\u2019s eyes, is decisive. \u201cHis consistent performances are no longer anything to do with luck. He has been delivering for a year now and has arrived among the very best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Where the difference still lies<\/p>\n
Despite that status, Voigt\u2019s analysis makes clear where the remaining gap to Pogacar and Vingegaard can be found. It is not a question of endurance or consistency, but of specific race situations.<\/p>\n
Looking first at the time trial, Voigt noted that \u201che can improve\u2026 by becoming more aerodynamic and spending a lot of time on the time trial bike so his body adapts.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the more significant difference comes in the mountains, where \u201cVingegaard and Pogacar have a more explosive acceleration,\u201d Voigt explains. “Lipowitz uses more of a \u2018diesel engine\u2019 approach to bring them back gradually.\u201d<\/p>\n
That contrast becomes most evident at the sharpest moments of a climb. \u201cAt the first brutal acceleration, he can\u2019t follow. If he did, he would quickly go into the red and need ten minutes to recover. Those hard accelerations and changes of rhythm are where Vingegaard and Pogacar have the advantage. They can attack hard three times in a row,” clarifies the German.<\/p>\n
Small margins to close<\/p>\n
Those limitations, however, are framed as marginal rather than structural. Voigt is clear that Lipowitz\u2019s strengths already align with the demands of Grand Tour racing, particularly over three weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not criticism of Florian, it\u2019s something he can still improve,\u201d he said, before underlining where Lipowitz already excels. \u201cHis big strength is endurance over a Grand Tour. He is especially strong in the final week. Three consecutive mountain stages are not a problem for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the conclusion is a simple one. \u201cThere are only small details left for him to work on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taken together, that assessment places Lipowitz in a rare position within the current peloton. Not chasing the leading pair from a distance, but operating just behind them, with clearly defined areas to improve.<\/p>\n
And if those marginal gains can be found, the gap Voigt describes may not remain for long.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In his assessment, the gap is now minimal. \u201cHe is only a small step behind Pogacar and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,173159,236967,6495,39733,85,6494,225022],"class_list":["post-576695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-florian-lipowitz","tag-jens-voigt","tag-jonas-vingegaard","tag-red-bull-bora-hansgrohe","tag-sports","tag-tadej-pogacar","tag-volta-a-catalunya"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}