After a relatively quiet start to the Tour de France, the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team finally showed its cards on stage 12, achieving promising results with both of its leaders.

Florian Lipowitz finished in third place, while Primož Roglič achieved his best finish so far with a ninth place.

While the German team's goals had remained unclear until now, with Roglič reluctant to declare specific ambitions, today's stage finally shed light on the team's true potential, suggesting that a strong overall placing might be within reach, perhaps with the young Lipowitz at the forefront.

The 24-year-old German, already second in Paris-Nice this year, had started the Tour as Roglič's domestique, but today's stage demonstrated that he will have carte blanche to push his chances. The two worked together perfectly on the final Hautacam climb: Lipowitz set the pace in the early section, then launched an attack after a brief consultation with 5 km to go, taking a prestigious third place behind only Pogačar and Vingegaard.

"We both had a clear path," Lipowitz explained after the finish. "I pushed hard in the first part, maintaining a high pace, then I tried to attack. When I saw a gap opening up, I gave it my all until the finish."

With Roglič keeping pace with the leaders until Pogačar's decisive attack, Red Bull-Bora is now in a much stronger position than in the first week. Lipowitz is fourth in the overall standings, less than a minute behind Evenepoel in third, while Roglič is seventh.

The Slovenian veteran, while maintaining his usual low profile, praised his young teammate's performance: "When you have the legs, you have to keep going, and today he had them. He did an exceptional job, and I hope he maintains this level until Paris."