Biniam Girmay: "Even when I win minor races people go crazy, I can imagine what would happen if I won in the Tour de France"
Cycling
Biniam Girmay has big ambitions for 2023 and he has started his 2023 off with a win already at the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana. He will have bigger goals however, including the Tour des Flandres, Tour de France and World Championships.
“I'm happy because we have a strong pack around me with the experience of Adrien Petit, Mike Teunissen, they both know the roads of Flanders very well," Girmay said in conversation with TopCycling.pt. "Loic Vliegen also works a lot with us. I feel that the team is stronger and therefore I am more motivated to work. I think we are stronger for the harder classics, because I will have them with me longer.”
Girmay has surprised to victory at Gent-Wevelgem last year, but this spring he won't limit himself to the classics that favour the sprinters. He will race Flandres aswell, and Paris-Roubaix is also in sight for the Eritrean talent.
Milano-Sanremo and Amstel Gold Race will also be on the program for the Intermarché-Circus-Wanty this spring, before he recovers and prepares for the second half of the season. He will make his debut at the Tour de France where many eyes will be on him.
“Even when I win minor races people go crazy, I can imagine what would happen if I won in the Tour de France. It will be special. People didn't expect to win the Tour de France, but now they're more knowledgeable about cycling and they know I'm going to participate," he says. Right after he will travel to Scotland where he should be a contender for the World Championships, which will take place in an explosive urban circuit in Glasgow.
“If I can win this year in Glasgow! Of course, to be world champion in Rwanda, in the first World Championships in Africa, would be… The main thing that people will realize is that in Rwanda there are many cycling fans, people are very happy to receive the World Championships and they don't just like it to see the World Championship, but all the races. It is a big dream for all of Africa," he concluded.
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- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- Ok, happy I’m not too interested in this team coz’ the account of what happened is really hard to follow.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- The UCI is worse than USA CyclingVeganpotter24-12-2024
- It's not like they wanted her to not win😅 She had an outstanding Olympics. But there's a reason why she wasn't expected to win the road race and that's ok. Things like this happen and it's great...better than seeing expected winners win.Veganpotter24-12-2024
- Bruyneel ? The man with a lifetime ban from cycling...why do you keep giving him and his doper mate, Armstrong, a platform?DJ24-12-2024
- yeah, agree. on the subject of being a “complete rider,” i do think that’s getting more interesting. mathieu seems to have decided he wants to get much better at climbing the the high mountain passes. he appears to be looking for new challenges, which should be interesting to watch. in most cases you’d dismiss a goal like that at age 30, but it’s mvdp. he’s never going to climb with the real climbers, but if he can improve enough it could open up stage wins when the parcours isnt just purely toothy and punchy.OCexile24-12-2024