'I Was Justifiably Angry': Evenepoel's Stage Six Blow-Up Exposes the Cracks in Red Bull's Co-Leadership
It took until Gavarnie-Gèdre for the tension inside Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe to finally spill into public view. As Tadej Pogačar was busy putting two years of hurt to bed on the Tourmalet, Remco Evenepoel was fighting a smaller, more personal battle behind him — one against his own teammate.
Evenepoel finished stage six in fourth place, 2:57 down on Pogačar, with co-leader Florian Lipowitz crossing the line sixth at the same gap. On paper it was a strong day for the team. In practice, Evenepoel was furious. He had asked Lipowitz for a lead-out into the sprint for third behind the two Slovenian-flavoured escapees up front — a result worth four precious bonus seconds in the fight for the final podium spot — and said the help never came. Isaac del Toro instead nipped away to claim the time, tightening what has since become a seven-second scrap for third overall between Del Toro, Evenepoel and Juan Ayuso.
"I asked for a lead-out, and I didn't get one," Evenepoel said afterwards, adding that he had ridden 30km on the front for Lipowitz at the Volta a Catalunya earlier this season and could not understand why the same courtesy was not returned for a single kilometre on the run-in to Gavarnie. "I think I was justifiably angry," he said. "That needs to be discussed properly tonight."
The comments landed hard in a team that had spent the winter insisting its unusual co-leadership model — built around two riders who were podium contenders at last year's Vuelta and Giro respectively — could work without the friction that has undone dual leadership plans elsewhere in the sport. Red Bull moved quickly to play down the rift, noting that the pair had eaten dinner together that same evening, and directeur sportif Rolf Aldag insisted the disagreement was tactical rather than personal.
Whatever was said between them, it appears to have worked. By the second rest day briefing, Evenepoel had softened his tone considerably. "Everything is said. The Tour is not waiting," he told reporters, effectively closing the chapter as the race turned its attention to Bastille Day and the seven climbs awaiting the bunch on the road to Le Lioran. Whether the truce holds once the road tilts upward again through the Alps in week three remains the more interesting question — Evenepoel and Lipowitz are still level enough on GC that only one of them can end up standing on the final podium in Paris.