Great start of the season #TourDownUnder🙌 🥈🥉 Two podiums with Biniam Girmay, 12th overall with Georg Zimmermann and brilliant teamwork all week.
Biniam Girmay already better than 2023 according to Jean-François Bourlart - "Bini is the central figure in the team"
CyclingMonday, 22 January 2024 at 18:00
The Eritrean sprint star and classics rider Biniam Girmay from the Intermarche - Wanty team has always excelled at the Tour Down Under. He finished third, fourth, eighth and second on stages I-IV, even though he, like others, was beaten by the superior Sam Welsford of BORA - hansgrohe.
Nevertheless, his team manager Jean-François Bourlart sees some expected progress, especially compared to last year, as he told Dernière Heure: "He is in better shape than at this point in the 2023 season. He has wintered better and you could see that at the team's training camp in December. The aim was to hit the ground running, because last year his season was relatively short due to the two big crashes in Flanders and at the Clásica San Sebastián."
The loss of Rui Costa has left a large gap, which he intends to fill for 2024, particularly with Girmay and younger riders, including Georg Zimmermann, Gerben Thijssen and LaurenzRex. "But our main leader remains Biniam Girmay. His sprints this week in Australia impressed me and at the same time annoyed me that he finished third after starting his sprint in 20th place. Bini is the central figure in the team," says Bourlart.
Maxime Seegers, COO of the team, added: "Last year he was doing well at the beginning of the year, but after spending some time in Eritrea between Valencian and Tirreno-Adriatico, he was one or two percentage points behind where he should have been."At the same time, Seegers pointed out that certain changes in Girmay's life, especially the fact that he had found a base in Belgium for this season and that his younger brother, Meweal Girmay, was now part of the Wanty-ReUz-Technord development team, were decisive for Biniam's progress. Seegers is confident that these and other factors will help 'Bini' to really get going this season.
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