Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe has emerged as a strong contender in the Tour de France, with Florian Lipowitz in third place and Primož Roglič in sixth. The team has executed a long-term strategy focused on finishing on the podium, employing a cautious approach early in the race to reduce mental stress. Although early results were not impressive, the team is satisfied with their current position. They acknowledge the challenges ahead as they aim to maintain Lipowitz's podium spot amid the upcoming demanding Alpine stages.
"It felt like nobody would believe us when we said 'we target the podium, we target the podium', because everyone was like 'wait a minute, you're not really visible' but that was part of the plan, low risk-taking in the early stages."
"Obviously, you pay the price for pretty little in the stage results, but I think right now we are in the position where we wanted to be. But it's still a long way to Paris, so it's not like ticking the box and saying 'OK, we achieved that and now we can go home', there's still a week to go."
"It was really a lot about reducing the mental stress and the pressure for our guys. It's professional sport, we all measure against success and what we achieve on the road, but then still there's no need for us to say 'OK, every stage, every millimeter we fight for' because if you look at historical results, it's never about one or two seconds, it's always going to come down to minutes."
"Now we are a little bit in a different position, because we were kind of on a 'wait and see' thing, and now we are on the podium."
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