Ralph Denk<\/a> finally broke his silence on Tour leadership this week.<\/p>\nAnd then he left the door wide open for the mountains to overrule any orders from inside the team bus.<\/p>\n
\u201cRemco is still the team leader and Florian Lipowitz is a bit of the second man,\u201d Denk told Het Laatste Nieuws.<\/p>\n
\u201cEventually, 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Add in the money, the pressure, and two riders who both believe they belong on the podium, and you have the ingredients for the Tour\u2019s biggest soap opera.<\/p>\n
Red Bull is the only serious Tour contender heading to Barcelona without a clear number one.<\/p>\n
On paper, Evenepoel is the man.<\/p>\n
But Denk all but admitted the road will decide.<\/p>\n
The stats favor Lipowitz, the money is on Evenepoel
\n![\"Evenepoel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2250476094-720x490.jpg\"\/)
Lipowitz and Evenepoel say publicly there\u2019s no rift. (Photo: Clara Margais\/picture alliance via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The awkward reality for Red Bull is that Lipowitz has been its most consistent GC rider all season.<\/p>\n
Podiums at Catalunya, the Basque Country and Romandie \u2014 followed by two stage wins and the overall at the Tour of Slovenia \u2014 back that up.<\/p>\n
But after one of cycling\u2019s most expensive transfers ever, Red Bull has to back the double Olympic gold medalist, right?<\/p>\n
Remco opened 2026 on fire, with seven wins before March, plus Amstel Gold and podiums at Flanders and Li\u00e8ge in the classics.<\/p>\n
Then he cracked at the UAE Tour and looked vulnerable at the Volta a Catalunya.<\/p>\n
Since Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge, Evenepoel hasn\u2019t raced at all. Just altitude camps and training blocks.<\/p>\n
Showing up in Barcelona after more than 60 days without racing is one of this Tour\u2019s biggest gambles.<\/p>\n
Red Bull will let them race it out. Fans of drama and inside-the-bus intrigue couldn\u2019t be happier. <\/p>\n
The road will decide
\n![\"German](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2273802871-720x480.jpg\"\/)
German Florian Lipowitz was second to Tadej Poga\u010dar at the Tour of Romandie and won the Tour of Slovenia this month. (Photo by Til Buergy \/ AFP)<\/p>\n
Both riders have something to prove.<\/p>\n
Evenepoel was third in his Tour debut in 2024 but abandoned last year. Lipowitz finished third and won white in his first Tour in 2025.<\/p>\n
The opening half suits Evenepoel. The brutal final week may favor Lipowitz.<\/p>\n
Things might reach a full boil deep in the French Alps, with back-to-back summit finishes at Alpe d\u2019Huez to settle everything.<\/p>\n
Of course, Red Bull\u2019s biggest problem is wearing UAE colors.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf everything goes normally from his perspective, it will be damn difficult to challenge him at all,\u201d Denk said of Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n
Poga\u010dar has become so dominant that teams might as well throw the kitchen sink at him and hope something sticks.<\/p>\n
Red Bull gets two chances. If one leader blows up, there\u2019s still another rider in the game.<\/p>\n
Not many teams can say that heading into the Tour.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t miss a moment of the Tour de France. Get stage previews, insider recaps, and expert analysis from Velo delivered straight to your inbox with the Velo Tour Daily email newsletter.<\/p>\n
Sign up for Velo\u2019s Tour Daily Newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Red Bull names Remco Evenepoel its Tour de France leader, but Florian Lipowitz’s form could spark the Tour’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":759564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[168574,49,48,635,54263,82,79742,112865,57421,90610,118060,54267],"class_list":["post-759563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-audio-true","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-parent_category-road","tag-sports","tag-tag-analysis","tag-tag-florian-lipowitz","tag-tag-jonas-vingegaard","tag-tag-paul-seixas","tag-tag-red-bull-bora-hansgrohe","tag-type-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=759563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=759563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=759563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Evenepoel](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2268784084.jpg\")
<\/p>\n