Lipowitz finishes the Tour of the Basque Country in second place

German cycling star Florian Lipowitz finished the Tour of the Basque Country in second place in the pouring rain and thus achieved his next top placing this season. The Tour de France bronze medallist was only beaten in the final standings by French super talent Paul Seixas. The 19-year-old, who took a total of three stage victories in the Basque Country, did not let his comfortable lead slip away on the sixth and final stage over 135.2 kilometres from Goizper-Antzuola to Bergara.

The final stage win was secured by the American Andrew August, who had broken away from a breakaway group. Lipowitz and Seixas crossed the finish line together more than four minutes behind on this demanding stage with six mountain classifications.

Lipowitz still had to tremble because the Norwegian Tobias Johannessen pulled out more than three minutes in the breakaway group and came threateningly close. As a result, Lipowitz secured the best German result in the traditional race since Andreas Klöden's victory in 2011.

In the overall standings, Lipowitz was 2:30 minutes behind Seixas. He was only three seconds ahead of Johannessen. The 25-year-old only added the tour to his programme at the last minute, after finishing third overall in the high-class Tour of Catalonia just a fortnight ago.

Lipowitz getting closer to Tour form

This means that Lipowitz is still right on schedule in his build-up to the Tour. Last year, he sensationally finished third in the Tour of France behind superstar Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. He also won the young rider classification.

This year, Seixas could become the best young pro at the Tour. The youngster is France's great hope of finally securing the first overall victory for a local rider in more than 40 years at the Tour in the coming years. The last French victory to date was achieved by Bernard Hinault in 1985. Seixas had already finished third at the European Championships last autumn behind superstar Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel.

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