Inside Red Bull’s Tour de France time trial: Glory for Remco Evenepoel, agony for Florian Lipowitz

Just 16 minutes passed between Florian Lipowitz crashing out and his teammate Remco Evenepoel winning stage 16 of the Tour de France.

Clad in the world champion’s rainbows, Evenepoel clenched both his fists, beamed a toothy grin, and hugged his soigneur. Tuesday’s stage was a long-term goal. He had no idea of Lipowitz’s condition, his team car opting against telling him because of the risk of panicking their rider.

Had he arrived at the tight right-hander with six kilometres to go just sixty seconds earlier, he would have seen the German walking gingerly from the course, his collarbone broken, suffering a potential concussion, and on his way to hospital. Before the crash, Lipowitz was on for a career-best time trial performance.

Just over two minutes later, Tadej Pogačar negotiated the same corner, his front wheel slipping, the yellow jersey just about keeping himself upright, centimeters from the gutter. He finished 28 seconds behind Evenepoel — handing the Red Bull rider his second successive Tour stage win.

Back at the team bus, the high fives and handshakes wore grimaces. This was a bittersweet day for a team that had tightened its grip on second, but lost one of its podium contenders.

“We’ve been working closely with Lipo for two years,” says Jonny Wale, Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe’s technical performance manager. “There were watery eyes in the car for two reasons, you know?”

Red Bull are the best time-trial team in the world — for one dramatic day, they took The Athletic inside their process.

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Two days earlier, on Plateau de Solaison, Evenepoel won his first-ever mountain stage at the Tour de France — capitalising on UAE Team Emirates’ indecision to outkick Pogačar and Isaac del Toro.

Lipowitz, meanwhile, had finished third in last year’s Tour after a strong third week — and with a route that suited him over the coming days, Red Bull believed they had a chance of a double podium. Early tension between Evenepoel and Lipowitz over their co-leader status, meanwhile, appeared to have dissolved.

The team celebrated Evenepoel’s stage win with champagne, and the next day, a rest day barbecue for team staff. Evenepoel’s attention, meanwhile, had already turned to Tuesday’s individual time trial — a discipline in which he is world champion, Olympic champion, and had already secured stage wins in his two previous Tour appearances.

A major part of his move to Red Bull last winter was due to the German squad’s investment in the discipline: a department led by head of engineering Dan Bigham and his right-hand man Wale, who leads its implementation on the ground.

“People call the time trial the race of truth and all sorts of fancy adjectives,” says Wale, speaking outside Red Bull’s team bus in Évian-les-Bains three hours before Evenepoel’s start time.

“But I think it really is on this course, because you have a fast climb from a high power position, and then the top of the climb which is super important in terms of time gained or lost. You still need energy to spend over the top — and then a really technical descent. I mean it’s dangerous maybe.

“Then, even if the race was from the bottom of the descent to the finish, you’d still see pretty big time differences. There are headwind sections through this, the turbulence and channeling of the air through these valleys, you can turn right and its still there.”

Evenepoel’s nickname is the aero-bullet — so named for his ability to tuck into an aerodynamic position, but still generate a huge amount of power. Larger, draggier riders, who may be able to put out more raw watts, simply do not cut through the wind as effectively.

“The more headwind in the time trial, the better it normally is for Remco,” says Red Bull directeur sportif Patxi Vila.

When Evenepoel first joined Red Bull last August, the team already knew they were getting the best time triallist in the world — but resolved to discover that there was still meat on the bone.

“A big part of the first half of the season was about building trust together,” explains Wale. “With Remco, this started in October — we did three days in (California’s) Morgan Hill wind tunnel. Traditionally, he had been the driving force for lots of this development, whereas I believe the technical expression we told him was: ‘Shut the f**k up and get back in the wind tunnel.’”

The team’s aim was to give Evenepoel options which were tailored to the specific parcours of the time trial in question — three or four different position options, clothing choices, or types of helmet, rather than an identical “cookie-cutter approach” for each effort. For this race, they have what is termed the ‘Tour de France’ package, with changes to the front end of the bike, a different skin suit set-up to the rest of the team.

“Do you remember there was a big media thing where Remco’s skin was more aero than aero fabric?” asks Wale. “It’s not, unfortunately. He’s actually a human being, believe it or not.”

Evenepoel has other new technology too: a new Specialized (gear) shift, which he is the first rider to use, while more general improvements in materials have led to ever-lighter bikes in the trade-off between weight and aerodynamics.

Wale explains it succinctly. “I think it’s very easy to make a bike that works fast in a wind tunnel. But we don’t race in wind tunnels, unfortunately.”

Red Bull first reconned the course in person after the Tour de Romandie in early May, with Lipowitz — though the descent was closed for the tarmac to be relaid ahead of the race. Later, Evenepoel came as part of his pre-Tour camp and did the descent four times.

“Obviously it’s still open to traffic,” says Wale. “So you’re not seeing it perfectly, but it’s more about building that mental model.”

There were other models as well; plenty of them. Working with Red Bull Advanced Technologies, a cross-sport group which initially began with the drinks manufacturers’ Formula 1 team, Red Bull have developed a simulation tool which they believe demonstrates the fastest way to complete any time-trial course, given knowledge of factors such as a rider’s power potential.

“From a physics perspective, we believe this answer is very precise,” says Wale. “But obviously you have this human body sitting on the bike that has to pedal it. So the energy side is obviously variable — so it’s really good at answering wattage questions. Should I put down an extra 10 watts here or 10 watts there? There’s a change in the predicted time delta based on that.”

Similar tools can be applied to descending — particularly on a technical descent like Tuesday’s.

“Normally, if it’s big hairpin bends where it’s ‘hard brake, turn, accelerate’, the time differences aren’t that big,” he adds. “But here, there are these chicane complexes where it’s 50-50 whether you brake or not — and if your line into the first is wrong, then so is the second, and then the third is really wrong. But if you break, then bang, it’s five seconds gone, the speed will drop by 10kph and the energy re-acceleration will cost you later in the race.”

There were three locations like this on the descent that Red Bull particularly concentrated on — Evenepoel and Lipowitz were taught them via repetitive video work, repeated trips, and by having “emotionally relevant information” attached to them. For example, one high-risk section was named ‘Danish corner’ — so rather than the rider hearing “tight right hander” over the radio once again, the specificity could allow their muscle memory to kick in.

Winning on Plateau de Solaison was another, intangible, psychological advantage.

“I think he finished that stage feeling like Superman,” laughs Wale. “I hope he doesn’t start the race feeling like Superman, because he’s still Remco. This is Christmas for him as well, he knows this is what he’s good at. He’s the best Remco he’s ever been.

“And then Lipo as well, he’s also put some really really big numbers in the race and is right up there. It’s a really good opportunity for him to gain some time on GC and come back into that fight for the podium.”

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As 5pm rolls around, Evenepoel is the penultimate rider to begin, Lipowitz fifth-last. The final rider to begin is Pogačar, who, according to UAE Team Emirates sources, had been particularly motivated to beat Evenepoel in Tuesday’s stage after being caught and overtaken by the Belgian at last year’s world championships in Rwanda, finishing two minutes and 37 seconds behind him.

Red Bull were feeling confident. Earlier in the day, Mattia Cattaneo had delivered a good performance to put himself in the leaders’ hot seat after the early runners. In Evenepoel’s team car was Klaas Lodewyck, his long-time DS, chief DS Vila, mechanic Dario Kloeck, and Wale.

Lodewyck has been with Evenepoel since he was a teenager — including almost every time trial he has ever won. His job is to give Evenepoel radio instructions — simplicity is the key — with Vila driving and Wale providing technical information to Lodewyck when needed.

At the start, with the riders climbing immediately, both Evenepoel and Lipowitz are given a fixed number for the first 90 seconds of effort.

“There’s caffeine, bicarb, a thousand fans — it’s very easy for them to go too fast too soon,” says Wale. “It’s like — keep it in your pants boys. But Remco’s very good at understanding his body.

Red Bull also introduced a checkpoint of their own, two kilometers in, to give them extra information about where they were sitting in their own plan — from which they could give extra instructions.

“After the first climb, there’s still a five-kilometer plateau with some up, some down, and crosswinds,” Evenepoel said post-stage. “You still need to push because you don’t get the kilometers for free — and the gusts were quite big with the open and closed parts in the tree.

“I’ve been training a lot on climbing in a new position because it was very crucial today on this four to six per cent gradient — but you need to find some recovery as quick as possible to go into that tricky descent, which was not easy at all.”

At the first official timecheck, Evenepoel led by seven seconds from Pogacar — with Lipowitz 25 seconds down in fifth, in the thick of the podium hunt. On the descent, the wider status of the race started to come into play.

“Remco is obviously here for GC, but he’s wearing a striped (world champion’s) jersey,” says Wale. “His psychology for these races is to treat every time trial like a one-day race. But he has to manage the risk-reward in a way that the pure TT guys don’t. So if we lose five or six seconds on a descent, but stay high in GC, that’s a risk we might need to take.”

Because of his small buffer at the top of the climb, Evenepoel was told over the radio that he did not need to go ‘full send’ on the descent — 99 percent would do.

🚀 The rocket 🌈 Remco Evenepoel is flying high! Nearly a minute ahead of Skjelmose at the summit!

🚀 La fusée 🌈 Remco Evenepoel est lancée à fond ! Près d’une minute d’avance sur Skjelmose au sommet !#TDF2026 pic.twitter.com/ojDAOda5Lz

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 21, 2026

“I just tried to focus on the coaching over the radio from Klaas (Lodewyck),” said Evenepoel. “To trust my descending skills without going over the limit because of the flat kilometres to come. I wanted to take it as a recovery without taking too much risk.”

Pogacar, in the yellow jersey, arguably had even more to lose than Evenepoel — and fell a further eight seconds behind the Belgian, to trail by 14 seconds. Lipowitz, meanwhile, moved up to fourth, ahead of the two riders immediately ahead of him on GC — Del Toro and Paul Seixas. The Red Bull pair needed to bring it home.

“I was cautious in every corner, because for me personally, the last five kilometers were more tricky and dangerous than the descent,” said Evenepoel. “It was proper 90 degree corners with wide white lines on the road, pretty slippery also. So it was a very beautiful TT, but a tricky one to manage.”

Two days after two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard broke his own collarbone descending the Col de la Croisette, those words encapsulate professional cycling as a whole; callous in its beauty.

Lipowitz was sailing round one of these corners, a right-angled right-hander, when his front wheel slipped at some 40kph. The 25-year-old landed hard on his right side before hitting the kerb at pace — breaking his collarbone and appearing to suffer a heavy blow to his head.

He sat entangled in the roadside crash padding, stunned, as the team car and medical staff rushed to help. After five minutes, he rose under his own power to cross the road and enter an ambulance — abandoning the Tour from fifth position.

“He just went in much too fast,” Red Bull’s team boss Ralph Denk told the team’s internal podcast later that evening. “It was too optimistic, and I don’t see anyone else at fault. It’s an accident in the heat of the moment. When it comes to these races, you have to risk, in this case, risk a bit too much.”

“It was a racing incident,” agreed Wale post-stage. “We flagged it as high-risk, but it’s also true, and it’s hard to say, that you can’t go slow around every corner if you want to win bike races. If he takes that corner 10 more times, maybe he doesn’t crash.”

With Evenepoel fast approaching the crash site, the team had a decision about whether to tell him to be cautious — given his growing lead over Pogacar. In the front seat of Red Bull’s car, Lodewyck did not hesitate.

“It’s something you definitely don’t want to mention, because then maybe you create some panic in the head of a rider,” he said. “That was not communicated.”

🔻 A blistering final kilometre to cap off a stunning victory that @MaillotjauneLCL was unable to prevent.

🔻 Un dernier kilomètre en boulet de canon pour parachever un succès retentissant que le @MaillotjauneLCL n’aura pas pu empêcher.#TDF2026 | @Continental_fr pic.twitter.com/MqkDk2pk7c

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 21, 2026

Evenepoel sailed through the closing kilometers, his lead to Pogacar doubling in the final flat section, taking his fourth stage victory at the Tour by 28 seconds.

“It’s a bittersweet pill for us to swallow,” Evenepoel said, moments after being told about his teammate’s fall. “We make big sacrifices, Lipo as well, and we’ve been together in Sierra Nevada, he won Tour of Slovenia, at another altitude camp, but then to crash out on one stupid corner and probably break something is super sad for him, for us as a team. He is one of the best climbers in the world and for the stages that are coming, he will be missed.”

Back at the Red Bull team bus, moments after the stage finish, two soigneurs emptied an ice-bath. Though two riders had not used it, neither were coming back. One was going to the podium. The other was going home.