2024 Season Review | Intermarche - Wanty: Biniam Girmay's Tour de France campaign leads the team to a strong year

Over the past month we’ve started to look at each World Tour team’s 2024 performances. It’s safe to say that there was a huge range of fortunes for the teams this year, but today’s team we are reviewing will surely be happy with what they accomplished this year. Yes, today we’re looking at Intermarche - Wanty, the team lead by the year’s best sprinter Biniam Girmay. Thanks to Girmay, Intermarche will forever be recognised as a history making team in the peloton, but of course we will review more than just Girmay’s stunning performance at the Tour, and see if there’s any room for improvements going forward.

Intermarché-Wanty came 15th in the UCI World Tour rankings with 9,915 points, a slight drop from their 14th-place finish in 2023, which may be surprising to some. Despite the marginal decline in rankings, 2024 will be remembered as a historic year for the Belgian outfit, but they will still want to climb back up the rankings next year.

Founded in 2008, Intermarché-Wanty began as a pro-continental team, before securing their World Tour license in 2020. Known for their aggressive racing style and ability to spot and develop hidden talents, the team has grown into a strong presence in the WorldTour peloton.

Let’s take look at how the team performed throughout the cycling calendar in 2024.

Ok we can’t help but start with Biniam Girmay, he was of course the most compelling feature of Intermarche-Wanty’s season, and his performances in 2024 were nothing short of historic. Girmay began the year with a commanding victory at the Surf Coast Classic, setting the tone for what would become the best season of his career. His early win marked the team’s first victory of the year, and showed the other sprinting teams he had made a step forward in 2024.

However, it was in July during the Tour de France that Girmay truly made history. He claimed victory in Stage 3, becoming the first Black African cyclist to win a stage at the Tour. This win was momentous not only for Girmay but for the entire continent, highlighting the growing diversity within the sport. Yet, Girmay's achievements didn’t stop there. By the conclusion of the race, he won two more stages and emerged as the first African cyclist to win the green jersey, a groundbreaking achievement that highlighted his ability and the progress cycling has made as a sport in terms of equality. His Tour de France performances won him and the team 400 points, significantly contributing to their UCI tally and cementing his place as a trailblazer in the sport.

While the Tour de France was undoubtedly the crown jewel of Intermarché-Wanty’s 2024 season, other notable moments punctuated their campaign. The team collected 13 victories throughout the year, with Girmay claiming five of these wins. He was also strong in the one-day races, as he picked up good results at the BEMER Cyclassics ad the Fraco-Belgian circuit too.

The team’s biggest points haul of the season of course came from Girmay, but perhaps not during the race you expected. Nope, not the Tour de France, but the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec, where he came second and picked up 150 points, in a rare race in 2024 in which Tadej Pogacar participated, and didn’t win!

Now, let’s look at how the team did aside from their main man Biniam Girmay.

Though Girmay was the undisputed star, Intermarché-Wanty’s success in 2024 was not a one-man show. Riders such as Laurenz Rex and Gerben Thijssen played pivotal roles in securing important results for the team. Rex’s triumph at Le Samyn and Thijssen’s stage victory at the Trofeo Palma provided essential points and momentum during the early part of the season.

Taco van der Hoorn also showcased his speed, as he clinched victory at the Elfstedenrace. Meanwhile, Louis Meintjes brought valuable experience and stability to the team, claiming a stage win on the fourth stage of the Tour of the Basque Country, in an impressive return to form for the South African.

Despite the historic highs of the season, the team faced challenges that underscored the need for strategic improvements. The departure of promising talent Madis Mihkels to EF Education-EasyPost, who always produces strong performances in the classics, and the impending retirement of Boy van Poppel, as well as Rein Taaramäe’s departure, present some hurdles for 2025. The team’s reliance on Girmay’s performances highlight their need for broader depth in their lineup to pick up results even when their top man doesn’t.

Intermarché-Wanty’s overall performance in multi-stage races outside of the Tour was relatively subdued, indicating a gap that needs addressing. While they excelled in one-day races and select stages, the consistency needed for higher placements in week-long tours remained elusive. This is a strategic area where the team could bolster their roster and training to achieve more balanced success across different race formats.

Looking forward, Biniam Girmay has made his intentions clear: he aims for victories in some of the most prestigious one-day races, such as Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, and Paris-Roubaix. He’ll have different challenges at these races than his usual sprinting rival Jasper Philipsen, and he’ll be going up against the dominant forces of Tadej Pogacar and Mathie van der Poel.

Girmay has expressed his desire to "do something better" and take on bigger challenges in the future, showcasing his ambition and hunger for even more success. This mindset will be crucial for Intermarché-Wanty as they look to build around him for the 2025 season and beyond.

The team is aware that maintaining Girmay's momentum, and of course his services, will require more support going forward, and recruiting riders who can assist him in key classics and stage races will be essential. Moreover, nurturing existing talents and finding hidden gems on the transfer market will be pivotal for sustaining their upward trajectory.

We’re giving Intermarche-Wanty a strong 8/10 rating for their 2024 season, and they’ve got Biniam Girmay to thank for that. The sprinter was truly stunning at the Tour de France in July, and his rivalry with Jasper Philipsen is hopefully only just getting started. So yes, well done to Girmay, and the Intermarche sprinting set up.

Of course, it was disappointing for the team to slip down a place in the rankings. They do have one of the smallest budgets in the peloton, but even so they will not want to slip any further down in 2025. To make sure that doesn’t happen, the Belgian-French team should make sure they aren’t overly reliant on Girmay going forward, as one crash or injury for him could see the team lose a significant amount of points.