“I find it boring to watch someone riding alone for 40km on a mountain stage” – Biniam Girmay uses pointed Pogacar comparison to hit back at sprint stage criticism
CyclingSaturday, 11 July 2026 at 16:30
Biniam Girmay has hit back at criticism of quieter Tour de France sprint stages with a pointed comparison to Tadej Pogacar’s Tourmalet demolition. The Eritrean believes flat stages can offer greater uncertainty than mountain days dominated by one rider.
“I can completely understand why viewers think that,” Girmay told Feltet, addressing criticism after a subdued road to Bordeaux. “But we had such a hard day before the sprint stage that nobody wanted to go in the breakaway."
“It depends on what people enjoy, added the former Green Jersey winner. "Sometimes I also find it boring to watch someone riding alone for 40km on a mountain stage.”
Pogacar had attacked five kilometres below the summit of the Col du Tourmalet one day earlier and completed the final 43 kilometres to Gavarnie-Gedre alone. He finished 2:38 ahead of Jonas Vingegaard, with Isaac del Toro leading the next group home at 2:57. “I prefer watching sprint stages because you never know who is going to win,” Girmay added.
Why the peloton refused to attack before Bordeaux
Only Baptiste Veistroffer and Jakub Otruba committed to the main breakaway on the 175.1-kilometre Stage 7. Their advantage was controlled throughout the afternoon before both riders were caught with 18 kilometres remaining.
The previous stage had contained five categorised climbs and more than 4,000 metres of elevation between Pau and Gavarnie-Gedre. Pogacar’s attack had also forced the leading teams and their support riders into a demanding chase across the Tourmalet and final climb.
Once Veistroffer and Otruba were caught, Uno-X Mobility launched several late moves before the sprint trains took control. Tim Merlier came through in the final 200 metres to beat Soren Waerenskjold, with Girmay recovering from a poor position to finish third.
The winner remained uncertain until Merlier passed Waerenskjold near the line, contrasting with Pogacar’s 43-kilometre ride towards an unchallenged victory the previous afternoon.
Pogacar put in a dominant solo to win stage 6
“More entertaining than the fight for yellow”
Pogacar now leads Vingegaard by 2:42, with UAE Team Emirates – XRG teammate Del Toro third at 3:27. Mads Pedersen’s advantage over Girmay in the points classification stands at 59 points. “It is more entertaining to watch the fight for green than the fight for yellow,” Girmay said.
The contest has required Girmay to expend energy long before the bunch sprints. He and Pedersen have regularly challenged at the intermediate points, including during stages offering little chance of victory for either rider.
“It takes a lot of energy,” Girmay admitted. “Especially during the last four days, the racing was already very hard before we reached the mountains. Yesterday it was not a problem, but on the days before that it cost a lot of energy. Once I had not even recovered by the time I crossed the finish line.”
Girmay has not yet converted his form into a stage victory. He believes his condition compares favourably with the other sprinters after the harder stages, but his position in Bordeaux left Merlier and Waerenskjold with too much of an advantage.
“I am at my level and I feel better than the other sprinters, especially after a few hard stages,” he told Sporza. “But when you are not properly positioned in a sprint, you can be as fast as you want. You have no chance.”
Pedersen leads the points classification with 204, followed by Girmay on 145, Merlier on 125 and Waerenskjold on 114.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Slashed by 30km? More like timidly trimmed. The riders will still be out there during the hottest hours, from 2 to 5 pm.Hills3311-07-2026
- Perfectly put. Most of the criticism of sprint stages comes from people who find the GC the only interesting thing. Then any stage without GC action, like stage 4, is boring. It's a testament to Pogačar's greatness that he makes mountain stages much more boring than sprints. But then, Froome did that too. And Vingegaard does too. And Contador. And Merckx...
Rafionain-Glas11-07-2026 - lance armstrong calling out someone’s behavior - crazy. there is no bigger poor sport bad teammate in the history of the sport.mij11-07-2026
- I find it boring to watch guys sitting in for 100K just to sprint the last 200 meters, lol. To each his own
ScottG11-07-2026 - Yeah, kind of disappointed me a bit more there. I respect that there are situations where someone in his position would strike a balance that lands the wrong side of history but we now live in a time where each of us has to make changes to our situation to avoid having to make bad choices. And as an example to so many others you have a bit more responsibility in the choices you make. That said, anyone seriously concerned about the future of our world would probably never have chosen to try to become a pro rider unless wanting to militate for change so he is probably not the best person to expect more from. Hopefully at some point he’ll realise the error and find solutions and better sponsors, can’t imagine he can’t be more picky.Mistermaumau11-07-2026
- MTB making headlines during the TdF, haha. even boring articles about MVDP’s expected lack of results at the TdF will get more clicks. For MVDP going to the TdF must feel like most of us feel having to spend Christmas at the in-laws.Mistermaumau11-07-2026
- Welcome to CUTD :-)Mistermaumau11-07-2026
- I did that just through cringing at the text :-) And then there are the contradictions like trying to make you think the shallow rise explained the growing gap when elsewhere it’s the descent.Mistermaumau11-07-2026
- I doubt the official narrative is just one thing and there have been plenty of improvements elsewhere, or else why is equipment nowhere like it was back in the days? Coming from another sport, many of us were always quite surprised at how underdeveloped cycling used to be, including in training but recently that seems to have been realised and reversed which accounts for the relatively big improvement compared to more « advanced » sports. If you also follow amateur cycling you’ll see improvement has been across the board. If you’re interested in more than just pro racing you’d also see how the limits are being pushed out in many different directions like training, endurance and aerodynamics and that pros still have a lot of upward potential, hence the arrival of a Seixas after a Pogačar is not really that surprising.Jumpyjohn11-07-2026
- I think if you do a proper survey you’ll discover differences between Different types of races Different periods of his career Growth from certain areas/reasons and reductions from others. Before any survey, you should decide why you want or need to know. For sure TdF crowds depend more on the kind of French participation there is than anything else. Despite its global screen reach, spectators are largely locals with a high number of visitors following along a series of stages. Pretty sure none of the Mou aren’t there though and considering his criticism of Trump, I’m not quite sure how they let him in, must have been a sleeper before Tadej’s activity woke him.Jumpyjohn11-07-2026
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