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Lukáš Ronald Lukács @lucasaganronald on x 36.1K followers
Created: 2025-07-22 09:20:18 UTC
Who is the current white jersey and the 3rd place overall of Tour de France Florian Lipowitz? 🤍
He started biathlon at the age of 8, along with his older brother Philipp. When they were 14-15, the family moved to Stams, Tyrol, Austria, where the siblings attended a famous ski academy. He wanted to participate at the winter Olympics and he dreamt about successful biathlon career.
But he had an accident while kitesurfing, which caused a torn ACL. However, he did not end his sports career, but simply chose a branch that was more suitable for his health at the time. When he did not feel any pain, he definitively changed sports at the turn of 2019 and 2020.
Lipowitz wanted to turn pro and had the guts to contact the head of the only German team that is in the World Tour category directly.
Ralph Denk, general manager of the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe team, still remembers this moment and described it in the Sportschau Tourfunk podcast.
“The phone rang and they told me that there was someone on the line who wanted to become a professional cyclist, and who was currently doing biathlon. I thought that okay, I'll listen to what he has to say. It was a really inspiring conversation.”
Denk met Lipowitz for the first time in January 2020. He was surprised that, despite the cold, he came in full cycling gear. When he asked him where he was coming from, he found out that he had cycled more than XXX km after him.
After about a two-hour conversation, Denk thought that the 19-year-old's mother would come to pick him up, but he replied that he would cycle back, another XXX km.
"It was a clear indicator for me. Wanting something is one thing, having talent is another, but when you see such determination, it tells you a lot," said Denk.
And the rest is history. Come on Lipo. #TDF2025
📷: @tornanti_cc
XXXXXX engagements
