“Momentum from this going into the Tour is really important”: Biniam Girmay caps flawless team lead-out to win photo-finish Belgium Tour opener

Biniam Girmay continued his strong build-up to the Tour de France by winning the opening stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour, delivering a photo-finish sprint victory after a well-executed lead-out from his NSN teammates. The Eritrean capped another impressive team performance in Scherpenheuvel-Zichem, providing both a morale boost and a valuable test of the sprint train that could play a key role at the Tour in just over two weeks' time.

Girmay was perfectly positioned by teammate Jake Stewart in the closing kilometres before launching his sprint to secure victory. “I want to thank my teammates – they did a super job for me,” Girmay said afterwards. “At the start of the season, we did some nice leadouts, but we missed some wins. Today, we did an incredible job. We were calm, and we focused on our jobs. We kept organized in the last three kilometres.”

The victory was particularly satisfying for Girmay, who knows the local roads well and had already shown promising form with third place at the Brussels Cycling Classic earlier this month. “I’m super happy to win here in Belgium,” he said. “I’ve trained a few times on these roads, I knew the finish a little bit, and it suited me well. I’m happy to finish off the good job.”

The sprinters were almost denied their opportunity after a determined attack from Rune Herregodts, who remained clear of the peloton inside the final kilometre. The Belgian held out until the closing moments before finally being caught by the charging bunch.

“He was super strong,” Girmay said. “We thought he would come back early. He kept on pushing, but we were lucky we caught him before the last 100 metres. I’m happy to beat him.”

NSN Cycling Team Sports director Sam Bewley highlighted the importance of refining the sprint setup ahead of cycling’s biggest race. “That was a really important win for a few reasons,” Bewley explained.

“It’s the first time we’ve put the whole sprint group together around Bini since the start of the year, and also the first time we’ve integrated Jake into the group. It’s important to come to this race, get the group together, execute sprints, and understand what we can do better ahead of the Tour de France.”

Bewley believes the result provides valuable confidence for both Girmay and the team as they continue their preparations. “Obviously, our focus on top of executing is to win. We know Bini likes to win, and to win before the Tour, and when we have all the best sprinters in this race, that brings a confidence boost to everyone. Momentum from this going into the Tour is really important, so we’re on track.”

With several sprint opportunities still to come at the Belgium Tour, NSN will continue fine-tuning its lead-out train, but Wednesday's victory already offered encouraging signs ahead of Girmay’s return to the Tour de France, especially given the extremely strong field of sprinters present in Belgium (Merlier, Philipsen and Kooij, amongst others).