"I just want to say for the young kids, keep working hard and everything is possible" - Biniam Girmay hoping historic Green Jersey wins can inspire

Biniam Girmay made history at the 2024 Tour de France, becoming the first black African to ever win a stage of cycling's most iconic race and the first rider from his nation to win the points classification.

“What can I say? To be honest I really tried to enjoy it but sometimes, the feeling of emotion it was more than I expected," the Eritrean reflects in his post-stage 21 interview. "Just like everything is just so wonderful. I feel like I’m floating through the sky. It’s super nice."

Girmay has long been a hero type figure in African cycling, ever since his wins at the Giro d'Italia and Gent Wevelgem back in 2022. After this newest era of success for the Eritrean however, Girmay is more hopeful than ever to leave a lasting impact for the better on African cycling. "I just want to say for the young kids, keep working hard and everything is possible. I really would like to share my happiness and all the emotions," he explains. "There are a lot of people here and it is super happy, all the fans, I’ve seen all the Eritrean flags. Then when I went to the team bus I saw all my people and it’s great that they can be here to enjoy it too."

"We did a great job as a team and I want to thank everybody. From the start of the Tour I’ve had such incredible teammates you know. All the staff, the team manager, the bosses, I want to say thank you to them, because from the start we had a great atmosphere, good team spirit. We did such an incredible job to protect this jersey. We gave everything we had," Girmay concludes. "We have really the smallest budget of the World Tour teams, so to have three incredible victories and the green jersey, it’s just amazing. Especially for Laurenz Rex and Hugo Page it’s the first Grand Tour for them and they are just great riders and I’m happy to have them.”