𝙃𝙄𝙎𝙏𝙊𝙍𝙔. Intermarché-Wanty has won on the 3 Grand Tours 🤩 🇮🇹 Giro d'Italia 🥇 Taco van der Hoorn 🥇 Biniam Girmay 🥇 Jan Hirt 🇫🇷 Tour de France 🥇 Biniam Girmay 🇪🇸 La Vuelta 🥇 Rein Taaramäe 🥇 Louis Meintjes 🥇 Rui Costa
Despite Biniam Girmay's victory, Intermarché-Wanty manager worries about future of African cycling: "African juniors need to ride more races and be able to compete in Europe for longer periods"
CyclingTuesday, 02 July 2024 at 13:00
Biniam Girmay is currently making history in cycling, becoming the first Black African rider win a stage at the Giro d'Italia and, this Monday, replicating the feat at the Tour de France. The Intermarché - Wanty rider is setting a benchmark to his peers but team manager Aike Visbeek continues to be worried that structural changes aren't yet happening to improve the situation for African cyclists.
Rwanda will host the 2025 World Championships in Kigali which may make a big change, but Visbeek points out the actual obstacle that needs to be tackled. "If you create a mountainous course during that World Championship, it's of no use to you. That doesn't inspire anyone there, because after 150 kilometres there is no black African in the race anymore," Visbeek told Wielerflits. "Because they did not have the chance to ride in Europe as juniors".
Whilst a few riders, Girmay being the main figure, make it to the World Tour and display their quality; only a few riders get the chance to ride amongst the pros, whilst most do not get the experience and key skills that come with it throughout the year. “What needs to happen very quickly now is that the African juniors need to ride more races and be able to compete in Europe for longer periods. They need to learn their skillset and way of racing, especially the steering skills," he argues.
The presence of the World Cycling Center already provides opportunities to a few riders but understandably, there isn't the same amount of teams and riders getting to race all year long in a high-quality calendar which allows them to develop as riders. “If these things do not change, the distance will only increase, unless a large multinational emerges and pumps endless amounts of money into a project," Visbeek warns. The Belgian team's development squad currently has two Eritrean riders including Girmay's brother, the team seems to benefit from the potential of riders emerging from lesser known nations.
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