"The next day is always the hardest" - Biniam Girmay proves he still has the kick day after his crash by flying past Philipsen on intermediate sprint

Biniam Girmay managed to pull through the fast-paced stage 17 without his crash from the day before taking any significant toll on the Eritrean sprinter. Together with his team Intermarché - Wanty they're on the verge of a greatest success in the Belgian team's history.

"Today to be honest my elbow and my knee were really hurting, especially my elbow, because with the stitches I could not move so well," Girmay confessed in a press release. "So especially with today’s really fast racing we needed to accelerate more so it was super painful."

"Always the next day is the hardest, you feel the pain and it’s not nice to sleep, but mentally I’m highly motivated so that gave me a lot of strength today." Girmay was able to power past Jasper Philipsen at the intermediate sprint, further improving his position in the Points classification. "Mentally I’m really strong and I’m super happy to gain some points again."

"It’s always the way, if you get closer you feel strong mentally, also because you say to yourself, this is the time, we are only two or three days away, so that gave me a lot of motivation and I am really happy I could finish in a good way today. You have to show the fighting spirit and if you are mentally strong nothing can stop you. I already said to my team yesterday, don’t worry it’s not yet finished and we’ll give it everything, just fight until Nice."

With four more stages to go, Girmay holds a lead of 33 points ahead of his main opponent Philipsen. With neither of the remaining stages likely to end in a bunch finish, it'll come down to a battle on intermediate sprints where Girmay, even through his light injuries, seemed much stronger than his Belgian counterpart on Wednesday. Hence it'll become a very difficult task for Philipsen in order to overcome Girmay in what's left of the Tour de France.