{"id":199171,"date":"2025-07-24T07:37:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T07:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=199171"},"modified":"2025-07-24T07:37:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T07:37:17","slug":"four-tour-de-france-stars-of-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2025\/07\/24\/four-tour-de-france-stars-of-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Tour de France Stars of the Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

As expected, this Tour de France has been another showcase for three- (and soon to be four-) time race winner Tadej Poga\u010dar. But from this fan\u2019s perspective, the more exciting, and perhaps more important, feature of this Tour has been the emergence of four young riders who could become the stars of many Tours to come.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Three of these stars are currently in the top 5 of the Tour\u2019s GC standings and the fourth is wearing the King of the Mountains polka-dot jersey. There are three enormous mountain stages left to ride, so it is possible that things may change, especially in the King of the Mountains race. But based on their performances so far, this new generation of cyclists will provide racing aficionados with at least six more years of exciting Tour de France racing.<\/p>\n

Out of Rogli\u010d\u2019s shadow<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The most impressive of the four riders, Florian Lipowitz, is also the oldest at 24. For the past two years, he toiled in the service of his Red Bull\u2013BORA\u2013hansgrohe leader, Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d, who joined the team in 2024 in his quest to finally win a Tour de France.<\/p>\n

Lipowitz first came to my attention in last year\u2019s Tour de Romandie, in which he rode in support of another Red Bull veteran, Aleksandr Vlasov. But a funny thing happened on stage 4 of that race, which ended with a hard climb (13.8 km @ 6%) to a summit finish at Leysin. Looking stronger than Vlasov on the ascent, Lipowitz was apparently permitted to ride for himself and finished second, with the same time as the winner, Richard Carapaz (EF Education\u2013EasyPost). In that stage, he not only outclimbed Vlasov, but also Enric Mas (Movistar), Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates\u2013XRG). He eventually finished third in that GC, 9 seconds behind the winner, Carlos Rodr\u00edguez (INEOS Grenadiers), and only 2 seconds behind Vlasov.<\/p>\n

Lipowitz had a mixed 2024. He abandoned the Giro due to illness, but finished seventh in the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a while helping Rogli\u010d win his fourth Vuelta. But he has found a new level this year, finishing second in Paris-Nice to Matteo Jorgenson (Visma\u2013Lease a Bike) and third in the Crit\u00e9rium du Dauphin\u00e9, behind Poga\u010dar and Visma\u2019s Jonas Vingegaard, but ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), Jorgenson and Mas. And riding in his first Tour de France, he is now on the verge of a podium finish and winning the white jersey for best young rider.<\/p>\n

Lipowitz came into his own on stage 12 of this Tour, on the climb to the finish on top of the Hautacam, when he literally rode out of Rogli\u010d\u2019s shadow and finished third in the stage, just 13 seconds behind Vingegaard. No one was happier for him than Rogli\u010d, who said: \u201cLipo had the legs today, so it was a great job from him. When you have the legs, you have to go. I\u2019m really happy and hope he can continue with his level here.\u201d Those were the words of a champion passing the baton.<\/p>\n

Lipowitz rode two excellent time trials in this Tour, finishing sixth and fourth, and he finished third, fourth, and fifth in the big Pyrenean mountain stages. Climbing on the big mountains, he appears to be struggling, but that\u2019s just how he rides. He has a strong cruising speed and knows how to pace himself. At 1.81 m and 68 kg, he may be too big to ever win a Tour de France, but in view of how much he has improved in one year, it\u2019s unwise to ever write him off. A golden future looks in store for this young German riding for a prosperous German team.<\/p>\n

Bardet\u2019s precocious prot\u00e9g\u00e9 comes up in the world<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When Romain Bardet announced that he would be retiring this year after the Crit\u00e9rium du Dauphin\u00e9, and therefore before the Tour de France, one of the reasons might have been his 22-year-old prot\u00e9g\u00e9, Oscar Onley. The main reason was probably that Bardet, at 34 and after riding in 11 editions of the race, didn\u2019t want to put himself through that ordeal again. But it was also because Onley was ready to become Picnic PostNL\u2019s new GC leader.<\/p>\n

Boy, was he ever ready. This year, he finished fourth in the Tour Down Under, fifth in the UAE Tour, and third in the Tour de Suisse. The young Briton now sits fourth in the Tour GC, 9:18 behind Poga\u010dar but only 1:25 adrift of Lipowitz. If the German falters, Onley could still make it a dream finish in his second Tour. His first experience in the Tour, last year, was mostly a learning experience, though it featured a promising fifth-place finish on the mountainous stage 17. The year before that, he began his Grand Tour career with a victory in the stage 1 team time trial of the Vuelta. However, Onley crashed on stage 2 and abandoned the race.<\/p>\n

That his team named him to become its GC leader in the greatest bike race in the world at age 22 tells you all you need to know about how much confidence its sport directors have in his ability. And the proof is in his results. In this Tour, he has finished fourth on stage 4, third on stage 7, and fifth, sixth and seventh, always behind Lipowitz, in the Pyrenean mountain stages. Onley is definitely a future star of the sport and almost certainly a Tour winner after Poga\u010dar and Vingegaard retire.<\/p>\n

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