This page covers Florian Lipowitz's 2026 season race-by-race, including results, roles, key moments, and incidents for each race. Each entry is a spoiler for the corresponding race. Read no further if you intend to watch any of them unspoiled.
Florian Lipowitz arrived in 2026 carrying the weight of a breakout 2025 — a Tour de France podium behind Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard had announced the German as Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe's next Grand Tour leader. But the new season stayed stubbornly winless deep into June, the results solid without a victory to underline his rise. That changed on the queen stage of the Tour of Slovenia, where he attacked on the climb to Vršič, soloed clear over the summit and descended to a stage win in Kranjska Gora ahead of teammate Giulio Pellizzari for a Red Bull one-two. The win — his first of 2026 — also handed him the overall lead with one stage to ride, and landed as a pointed statement of climbing form just two weeks before he returns to the Tour de France as one of the race's genuine podium contenders.
Last year's podium finisher starts the defence of his GC result at +35'', a manageable deficit for a climber with the mountain stages to come.
Lipowitz, third overall last year, finishes eighth on GC at +35'' — a deficit slightly larger than ideal but manageable for the mountain stages ahead. Red Bull-Bora's TTT showing confirms the team can work as a unit around their two GC leaders.
Delivered his first win of 2026 in emphatic fashion on the stage that mattered most. After Red Bull controlled the breakaway through Predel — with even green-jersey Pithie working for him — Lipowitz attacked on Vršič alongside Pellizzari, then rode clear of his teammate to crest the summit 30 seconds ahead. He held off on the technical descent to take the stage in Kranjska Gora and, crucially, the overall lead with one day to go. The performance ended a long wait for a 2026 victory and landed as a pointed statement of climbing form two weeks before the Tour de France, where he stood on the 2025 podium behind Pogačar and Vingegaard.
Red Bull's GC leader rode into the overall lead with a commanding queen-stage win, attacking on Vršič and soloing to victory in Kranjska Gora. His first win of 2026 came at the perfect time — two weeks before a Tour de France where he stood on the podium in 2025 — and left him four seconds clear of teammate Pellizzari with one stage to ride.