Biniam Girmay: "Let's try to achieve our first goal and that is to win one stage"
Cycling
Biniam Girmay is part of a very diverse Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert Matériaux team, which is set to tackle the Giro d'Italia with high ambitions to take stage wins after a very successful classics campaign.
“For Africa, a big win would be the greatest moment ever. The first stage suits me right away," Girmay said in a recent interview with Wielerflits. The Eritrean rider is known for his climbing prowess, that can be very useful in the hilltop finish to Visegrád which is likely to end in a reduced bunch sprint. Girmay is, alongside Mathieu van der Poel and Caleb Ewan, the big favourite to take on the first pink jersey according to many.
After his win at Gent-Wevelgem, Girmay travelled back to his home country to recover and spend with his family before the Giro. With the preparation complete, the 22-year old is now ready for the second part of the season: “I now feel good to be here at the start. The Giro d'Italia is the next step in my development and that's what I've been focusing on for the past few weeks."
Besides a stage win, Girmay is also eyeing a possible win in the points classification. “Why shouldn't I go for the points classification after that? But first let's try to achieve our first goal and that is to win one stage. If I hunt for that, the points will come automatically. After that I can keep collecting points to see how far I get," he said. As for his main competitor for the jersey, Girmay has an unusual name pointed out: "But first let's try to achieve our first goal and that is to win one stage. If I hunt for that, the points will come automatically. After that I can keep collecting points to see how far I get."
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“This is my first experience in such a long stage race. I've raced five or six days in a row, but never longer. So it remains to be seen how I will digest all this, but my intention is to bring the Giro d'Italia to a successful conclusion," he concluded.
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- 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
- I'm loving the level of competition and the compositions of teams in 2025. Sure Pogi had an historic 2024. Slate is clean in 2025. And lots of great athletes--MvdP, Vingo, Primoz, Remco, Marc Hircshi, Pidcock, Carlos Rodriquez--and strong teams want to win. I think Pogi will have another great season in 2025. But I think we will talk about others having great seasons too. Who? I don't know. I'll watch the classics and tours and will root for spirited competition.pidginbil24-12-2024