Peace found at Red Bull

The storm has subsided, at least officially. After Remco Evenepoel's heated comments against teammate Florian Lipowitz, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe did everything it could to put out the media fire that erupted at the end of the sixth stage of the Tour de France. And team manager Ralph Denk opted for diplomacy: everything was resolved, everything was scaled back, everything was consumed around a dinner table.

The spark had been ignited in Gavarnie-Gèdre, when Evenepoel took to the Flemish media megaphone to accuse Lipowitz of not granting him the requested launch at the end of the stage. The result: no third place, no bonus seconds, with Isaac del Toro mocking both. "I asked for a launch and they didn't give it to me," the Belgian thundered, recalling with evident irritation how in Catalonia he had worked for the German for a full thirty kilometers, only to be refused when he needed it.

Evenepoel's words had spread across Belgium within minutes. The daily newspaper Het Nieuwsblad summed it up with a scathing headline: "How Remco Evenepoel blew up the dual leadership with Lipowitz in five scathing sentences." A headline that speaks volumes about the resonance the episode generated.

But Ralph Denk wanted to pour oil on the fire in the team's official podcast. "Yes, there was a small disagreement, a language barrier, the heat of the moment after more than 180 kilometers of mountain stage, but it's nothing serious," the team manager declared. And then the reassuring twist: "They even sat down at dinner together and laughed. The issue is being blown out of proportion far more than it deserves."

Despite the internal turbulence, the Red Bull duo is generally in positive waters in the overall standings. Evenepoel sits in fourth place , while Lipowitz is seventh , 30 seconds behind. Both are a long way from leader Tadej Pogačar—3:30 and 4:00 respectively—but remain perfectly in contention to replicate or improve on their historic results at the Grande Boucle, with a podium spot in their sights and Jonas Vingegaard in second place as an immediate reference.