High Tensions, Imperfect Process: Inside Evenepoel and Lipowitz’s Fragile Leadership

It only took 20 minutes of the 2026 Tour de France for the first signs of trouble between Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s two leaders, Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz.

Evenepoel distanced his teammate on the final climb to the Olympic Stadium on Montjuïc in the TTT, putting 16 seconds into him on the opening stage.

Their occasionally combustible co-ordination has been one of sub-plots of the race’s GC battle. After stage six finishing at Gavarnie-Gèdre, Evenepoel aired his frustration to the press. He said he was “angry” at not getting a lead-out after leading the way for Lipowitz at March’s Volta a Catalunya for 30 kilometers.

The next day, the team showed a united front, releasing a PR video of the pair on the team bus. Apparently, all is well between their frontmen.

“We didn’t have to interfere there,” Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s lead sports director Patxi Vila tells Velo. “I understand: you guys and social media need to write a few things, I see that was something appealing, let’s say, but there’s no problem.

“They fixed it themselves, actually. We just put them together and thanks to that work we did before, the solution came along. It was just a reaction in the moment, nothing more.”

Hindley: tensions are high

“I think it’s normal. You have two guys who are fighting in the biggest race in the world and of course, tensions are high,” Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider Jai Hindley told Velo before stage 12 Thursday.

“It’s always going to be like that in professional sport, I think the team handled it quite well afterwards.

“Of course, the media like to blow shit up out of proportion, as they do, but in general, I see them both pretty well together and the vibe in the team is good.”

Stage 10 to Le Lioran saw Evenepoel briefly distanced after Lipowitz made a strong acceleration ahead of the day’s final categorized climb. The Belgian fought his way back and sprinted to second place.

For all the flashpoints, genuine or “blown up”, Vila says things are “totally fine” between the pair.

Remco Evenepoel is positioned third on GC, 4 minutes 6 seconds behind Tadej Pogačar, with Lipowitz 38 seconds behind him in sixth overall. “For now, we are where we want to be,” Remco Evenepoel said after stage 10.

But are they still on the same level as dual leaders?

“Completely,” Vila says. “I do believe that from the weekend on, the seconds of the first weeks will become minutes. Basically, everything will happen Saturday [stage 14 to Le Markstein] on. We have done two hard stages out of eight. 30 seconds is not too much.”

In other words, something has to give.

Teide team bonding for Evenepoel and Lipowitz

You don’t decide on the eve of the grand départ to have two equal leaders. Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe has been working towards this dual-pronged Tour attack since the route announcement late last year.

“The main concept behind it is that together, they are stronger. They need to understand it, I think they understood it,” Vila says.

“Of course, knowing each other is a process. I think as a team and two leaders, we are still not perfect because this process needs time.”

Vila believes you need a strong human connection for optimal performance. The team aimed to strengthen Lipowitz and Evenepoel’s bond by sending them to Mount Teide in late February.

On the same coaching schedule, they rode together for three weeks. The team’s in-house media suggested that on their first session side-by-side, they talked about old crashes, past races and the Tour de France route.

“Besides the technical [altitude training] advantage, it was also that they spend time together. It’s not just about cycling, it’s about knowing each other, what food they like, start building some jokes between them, this kind of stuff,” Vila says.

There was no talk of playing popular soccer console game FIFA, favored by many teammates such a rising star Giulio Pellizzari, in their spare time but Vila says there were darts around to throw.

Fire and ice

Both Vila and Hindley use the same word to describe the personalities of Evenepoel and Lipowitz: opposites. “One is more extroverted, likes to talk and wears his heart on his sleeve, let’s say,” Hindley says of the Belgian superstar.

“The other is more introverted, more quiet, more reserved.

“They’re both different personalities but both really good guys and both good to work with. And they’re both having a great Tour de France.”

Vila also notes how opposing they are in physical capacities and their rider type: “When you find those really different characters, it’s perhaps easier to match them. When you’re technically so different, that also helps to have a different strategy.”

For example, he explains that the team expected Evenepoel to perform better in the opening two stages of the race in Barcelona, superior in the TTT and in a punchy finish to the German.

Unai Emery and soccer secrets

Calling the shots in the race from the team car, as lead sports director Patxi Vila is partly influenced by a very different sport to cycling: soccer. He is a close friend of top Spanish manager Unai Emery, who coaches leading English team Aston Villa. “

We grew up together. I was at the Europa League final in Istanbul with him and sat [in the stands] with Prince William. We speak quite a bit,” he says.

One of the unique challenges of cycling is how teams are always changing, given 30-rider squads and differing rider and race types. For instance, the Tour de France is the first time Vila has worked with domestique Tim Van Dijke. He says Emery could not believe that he can go to a race with without having seen a rider for months.

There are lessons to learn from one of the world’s most popular sports for Vila. “Watching how much of that is tactical, technical, how much is attitude, willingness, the team, feeling part of something, mental. He’s a very good manager of characters and I take that from him. The final really inspired me for the Tour, I got a lot of energy from that.”

Evenepoel and Lipowitz: podium potential

Giving the team’s Tour performance a mark of eight-and-a-half out of ten so far, Vila believes they are still on track for their team goal of a podium finish in Paris and a stage win.

Will the Alps favor Lipowitz or Evenepoel better? Vila thinks historically that they have fitted last year’s third-placed finisher more but says that the performance staff have been working with the Belgian to make the step up to the longer climbs.

“I think we could see that in Tourmalet [on stage six] but also in stage 10, you see there is another Remco that can manage the effort a bit better. Historically, it was not as good, I would say. Honestly, it’s hard to say if it’s one or the other [who is better].”

Successive days in the Vosges mountains before the brutal finishing climb of Plateau de Solaison on stage 15 Sunday will surely allow the stronger rider to rise to the top and assert their superiority.

“The road will decide, I think that’s also right,” Jai Hindley says.

“There’s a lot of hard racing coming, especially this last week. Both have been on the Tour de France podium before and not by accident, I would say … I think the Tour is quite an honest race, especially when it comes to the final.”