Falls, storms, sprint to the finish line
Liane Lippert lands special tour success
07/25/2023 10:23 am
Two falls and driving rain, but Liane Lippert is unstoppable: As the first German, she wins a stage in the women’s Tour de France and thus achieves what her male colleagues have been waiting for for two years. She actually started out as a precious helper.
Georg Zimmermann, Phil Bauhaus and Co fought in vain for 21 stages, but Liane Lippert made it on the second attempt: a stage win in this year’s Tour de France. The German road champion stormed unstoppably to the day’s success in occasional lashing rain and dangerous gusts of wind – and then let her feelings of happiness run free. “I’ve waited so long for victory,” said the driver from Team Movistar, soaked and beaming with joy at Eurosport: “It couldn’t be nicer that it was also successful in the Tour.”
For Lippert it was not only the first tour, but even the first World Tour victory ever. On the classic-like course over 151.7 kilometers with six categorized mountain ratings, the 25-year-old didn’t let the bad luck of a fall stop her. After the start in Clermont-Ferrand, the German cycling hope had hit the ground twice: First in the neutral zone, then almost 48 kilometers from the finish when she and her captain Annemiek van Vleuten, defending champion and world champion, were involved in a five-headed fall.
“The whole team helped us come back after the fall,” praised Lippert, who was able to quickly catch up with the peloton around overall leader Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime). In the final sprint, she then relegated that same Belgian to second place – and as second overall is only 49 seconds behind the yellow jersey. “I didn’t expect to win against Lotte,” said Lippert, surprised. After all, their qualities are not in the sprint, but in longer climbs.
“She Won’t Stop Here”
Having started out as a noble assistant for the Dutch top driver van Vleuten, Lippert catapulted herself into the international limelight at the Great Loop wearing the German championship jersey. A surprise? Hardly, as her team captain emphasized as she pulled out on the reel: “I knew she was extremely strong and I’m sure she won’t stop here.”
Lippert’s triumph is also the first for a German in the Tour de France Femmes, which has been held since last year. The men, on the other hand, have been waiting for a day’s victory for two years. At this year’s Tour of France, Zimmermann and Bauhaus only just missed the longed-for success.
After the start last Sunday, which was overshadowed by a serious accident, there were also several falls on the second stage. In addition to Lippert, Eva van Agt also fell.The Dutch breakaway from Team Jumbo-Visma fell on a descent and slipped under a crash barrier. The third stage takes the female riders over 147.2 kilometers from Collonges-la-Rouge to Montignac-Lascaux on Tuesday, four climbs in the fourth category and one mountain in the third category are on the program on the bumpy day. The second edition of the women’s tour ends next Sunday in Pau.