Biniam Girmay Becomes First Black African to Win Grand Tour Stage


On Tuesday, Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay became the first Black African cyclist to win the stage of the Grand Tours.

Girmay won the 10th stage of the Giro d’Italia, one of the three Grand Tours, along with the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, beating Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel to the finish in Jesi, Italy.

“Incredible,” he said just after the race.

At the highest level, the cycling peloton is overwhelmingly white. Most of the riders were European, with some North and South Americans involved. No Black African had even competed in the Tour de France until 2015 by Girmay’s countrymen Daniel Teklehaimanot and Merhawi Kudus. took place.

Girmay, who is 31st in the world at the beginning of the day, is the only African in the current world cycling top 100.

Girmay, 22, finished second in the U-23 road racing world championship last fall. This made him the first Black African to win a medal at a road racing world championship. In March, he marked another debut on the professional cycling scene: becoming the first Black African to win a World Tour race in Belgium’s Ghent-Wevelgem.

His first Grand Tour is performing well in the Giro, finishing five in the top five, so a stage win seemed like a matter of time. Before the Giro, he told reporters“The Grand Tours are always my dream – winning is the dream of all African cyclists.”

Girmay missed the post-race press conference on Tuesday after he caught a mushroom in his eye during a celebration.

Led by Juan Pedro López from Spain, the Giro is ranked 105th in the overall classification. Second place in the standings for the best sprinters.



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