Lippert's Flanders Podium Breakthrough — Movistar's German Star Takes Third on Biggest Day of Her Career
For Liane Lippert, Sunday in Oudenaarde was the biggest day of her career. The German rider claimed third place at the 2026 Tour of Flanders Femmes, lining up on a Monument podium for the first time after surviving every Kopecky attack on the Oude Kwaremont and holding her nerve in the four-up sprint behind Lotte Kopecky and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot.
Lippert's ride was the revelation of the women's race. Historically a puncher with impressive finishing kick — her most famous previous result remains her 2023 Tour de France Femmes stage win — she has never been the first name mentioned when conversations turn to Flanders favourites. That will likely change now. On the key ascent of the Kwaremont, when Kopecky detonated the front group and sent the race into its decisive phase, it was Lippert who refused to be shelled, clinging to Kopecky's rear wheel alongside Ferrand-Prévot and Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney.
"I just kept telling myself, do not look back, do not think, just stay on the wheels," Lippert said afterwards. "When I realised we had a gap, and that the four of us were going to the finish together, I started to believe a podium was possible. Against Lotte in a sprint in Oudenaarde, at her home race — I knew second was going to be very hard. But third, I could fight for. I am so proud of this ride."
The result is a huge moment for Movistar, whose 2026 classics ambitions have centred on giving Lippert and Marlen Reusser the platforms and freedom to target Monuments in their own right. Reusser, the Swiss powerhouse whose Dwars door Vlaanderen win earlier this week had already signalled Movistar's rising classics form, finished tenth on Sunday after spending much of the day policing the front of the peloton in service to her teammate. It was a squad performance that will have impressed every sport director watching.
Lippert's fourth-kilometre surge on the Koppenberg — the climb that typically ends the race for anyone without elite cobbled legs — was the early warning sign that the German had arrived at Flanders in her best-ever shape. From that moment, she never left the front. Where most Flanders podiums are built on raw power on the bergs, Lippert's was built on a combination of efficiency, pack-craft, and a willingness to burn matches in defence of her position on the key climbs that most puncheurs decline to pay.
The third place will also strengthen her case as a rider to watch for the Ardennes classics. With Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes all on the horizon, Lippert arrives in the Netherlands and Wallonia with momentum and — crucially — a Monument podium finally on her palmarès.
"The Ardennes are next, and those races suit me too," she said. "But right now I am going to enjoy this. Third at Flanders — I cannot believe it yet."
For Kopecky, Sunday's record-breaking third Ronde title will dominate the headlines. But inside the peloton, quietly, there is a sense that a new name has just entered the roster of cobbled classics contenders — and that name is Liane Lippert.