Biniam Girmay
_(cropped).jpg) Biniam on the podium, GP de Québec, Sept 2022 | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Biniam Girmay Hailu | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 2 April 2000 Asmara, Eritrea | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 70 kg (154 lb) | ||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||
| Current team | Intermarché–Wanty | ||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Road | ||||||||||||||
| Role | Rider | ||||||||||||||
| Rider type | |||||||||||||||
| Amateur team | |||||||||||||||
| 2018–2019 | World Cycling Centre | ||||||||||||||
| Professional teams | |||||||||||||||
| 2020–2021 | Nippo–Delko–One Provence[1] | ||||||||||||||
| 2021– | Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux | ||||||||||||||
| Major wins | |||||||||||||||
Grand Tours
| |||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Biniam Girmay Hailu (born 2 April 2000) is an Eritrean professional road cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Intermarché–Wanty.[2][3]
At the 2022 Giro d'Italia, he became the first Black African cyclist to win a Grand Tour stage after winning stage 10 in a reduced bunch sprint.[4]
Career[edit]
After discovering cycling through his cousin Meron Teshome, Biniam joined the World Cycling Centre in 2018 for his second junior year.[5] That year, he became a triple junior cycling champion of Africa, winning the road race, time trial and team time trial. He also won the first stage of Aubel–Thimister–Stavelot, beating out favorite Remco Evenepoel.[6]
In 2019, with the Eritrea national team, he won the third stage in a sprint of the La Tropicale Amissa Bongo, his first professional victory.[7] This made Biniam the first cyclist born in the 2000s to win a professional race. His success continued, winning stage 5 of the Tour du Rwanda in a sprint against experienced riders, including Joseph Areruya and Daniel Turek who finished 2nd and 3rd.[8]
For the 2020 season, Biniam joined UCI ProTeam Nippo–Delko–One Provence, with whom he finished second in the Trofeo Laigueglia and the Tour du Doubs.
After he was let go by Delko earlier in the year, Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux announced his signing on 6 August 2021.[2][3] He made his debut for his new team days later at the Tour de Pologne.[9]
On 24 September 2021, he finished second in the under-23 road race at the UCI Road World Championships, becoming the first black African rider to achieve a podium finish in the history of the UCI Road World Championships.[10]
On 27 March 2022, in Gent–Wevelgem, Biniam was part of the winning breakaway, which also included Christophe Laporte, Jasper Stuyven, and Dries Van Gestel. In the finale, he was the first to launch his sprint, coming from the back of the group, and held on for the victory. In doing so, he became the first African winner of a classic cycle race.[11][12]
Later that season, Biniam rode his first Grand Tour at the Giro d'Italia. On stage 1, he finished second to Mathieu van der Poel in an uphill sprint.[13] Towards the next eight stages, he amassed four top five finishes in bunch sprints as well as a breakaway stage. On stage 10, in a reduced bunch sprint, he outsprinted van der Poel in a long sprint to win his first Grand Tour stage. He made history as he became the first Black African cyclist to win a stage at a Grand Tour.[4] However, at the podium, as Biniam was opening the bottle of Prosecco, the wine cork hit his left eye at full speed. He was checked by race and team doctors before being sent to the hospital for treatment.[14] The following day, Biniam confirmed that he would abandon the Giro in order to let his eye injury fully heal.[15]
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Biniam began the 2023 season racing in Spain, and had his first win of the year on stage 1 of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana.[16] After a lack of results in the spring, he won the second stage of the Tour de Suisse, outsprinting Arnaud Démare and Wout van Aert.[17] He entered his first Tour de France in 2023 as the team leader for Intermarché–Circus–Wanty, placing third in a sprint finish on stage 7.[18] He was one of only two African riders alongside Louis Meintjes as well as the only black rider to compete in the race.[19]
Major results[edit]
Source: [20]
- 2018
- African Junior Road Championships
- 1st
Road race - 1st Time trial
- 1st
Team time trial
- 1st
- 2nd Overall Grand Prix Rüebliland
- 3rd Overall Aubel–Thimister–Stavelot
- 1st Stage 1
- 3rd Trofeo Comune di Vertova
- 4th Trofeo Emilio Paganessi
- 2019 (2 pro wins)
- 1st Stage 3 La Tropicale Amissa Bongo
- 1st Stage 5 Tour du Rwanda
- 2020 (2)
- La Tropicale Amissa Bongo
- 1st
Points classification - 1st Stages 3 & 6
- 1st
- 2nd Trofeo Laigueglia
- 2nd Tour du Doubs
- 4th Giro della Toscana
- 2021 (1)
- 1st Classic Grand Besançon Doubs
- 2nd
Road race, UCI Road World Under-23 Championships - 2nd Tour du Doubs
- 5th Gran Piemonte
- 5th Route Adélie
- 6th La Roue Tourangelle
- 7th Royal Bernard Drôme Classic
- 7th Druivenkoers Overijse
- 7th Tour du Jura
- 9th Trofeo Laigueglia
- 2022 (4)
- 1st
Time trial, National Road Championships - 1st Gent–Wevelgem
- 1st Trofeo Alcúdia–Port d'Alcúdia
- Giro d'Italia
- 1st Stage 10
- Held
after Stage 1
- 2nd Grand Prix de Wallonie
- 3rd Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec
- 4th Tour du Doubs
- 5th E3 Saxo Bank Classic
- 6th Bretagne Classic
- 7th La Drôme Classic
- 10th Milano–Torino
- 2023 (2)
- 1st Stage 2 Tour de Suisse
- 1st Stage 1 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
- 2nd Trofeo Palma
- 3rd Trofeo Ses Salines–Alcúdia
- 4th Brussels Cycling Classic
- 7th Grand Prix de Wallonie
- 7th Paris–Chauny
- 8th Famenne Ardenne Classic
- 2024 (1)
- 1st Surf Coast Classic
- 7th Gent–Wevelgem
Grand Tour general classification results timeline[edit]
| Grand Tour | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
 Giro d'Italia
|
DNF | — | |
 Tour de France
|
— | 125 | |
 Vuelta a España
|
— | — |
Classics results timeline[edit]
| Monument | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milan–San Remo | — | — | 12 | 28 | 27 |
| Tour of Flanders | — | — | — | DNF | 59 |
| Paris–Roubaix | NH | — | — | — | — |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | — | — | — | — | |
| Giro di Lombardia | — | — | — | — | |
| Classic | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
| Milano–Torino | — | — | 10 | 18 | — |
| E3 Saxo Bank Classic | NH | — | 5 | DNF | 19 |
| Gent–Wevelgem | — | — | 1 | 97 | 7 |
| Bretagne Classic | 96 | DNF | 6 | DNF | |
| Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec | Not held | 3 | 37 | ||
| Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal | DNF | DNF | |||
| Paris–Tours | 20 | — | — | 14 | |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
References[edit]
- ^ "Nippo Delko Provence". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 8 January 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
- ^ a b "Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux". Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 9 August 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
- ^ a b "Girmay Hailu joins the team with immediate effect". Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux. 6 August 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
- ^ a b Fletcher, Patrick (17 May 2022). "Giro d'Italia: Biniam Girmay becomes first Black African rider to win a Grand Tour stage". CyclingNews. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
- ^ "Biniam Hailu, le vélo en famille". DirectVelo.com. 28 July 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
- ^ "Cyclisme: un surprenant Erythréen bat Evenepoel à Aubel" [Cycling: a surprising Eritrean beats Evenepoel in Aubel]. LaProvince (in French). 8 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
- ^ Floyd, Tom (23 January 2019). "Tropicale Amissa Bongo étape 3: le tout jeune Biniyam Ghirmay s'offre une grande première" [Tropical Amissa Bongo Stage 3: The very young Biniyam Ghirmay gets a great first] (in French). Cyclismepro.com. Archived from the original on 23 January 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
- ^ Berhanu, Markos (2 March 2019). "Eritrean Biniam Girmay takes Stage five as Kudus retains the yellow jersey". Ethiosports.com. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
- ^ "Debut for Ghirmay Hailu". Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux. 8 August 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
- ^ Fletcher, Patrick (24 September 2021). "Biniam Girmay: Worlds silver is for Eritrea and for Africa". CyclingNews. Future plc. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
- ^ "Biniam Girmay: Eritrean becomes first African to win a one-day classic with Gent-Wevelgem victory". BBC Sport. 27 March 2022. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
- ^ Puddicombe, Stephen; Ostanek, Daniel (27 March 2022). "Biniam Girmay wins Gent-Wevelgem". CyclingNews. Future plc. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
- ^ Ostanek, Daniel (6 May 2022). "Giro d'Italia: Mathieu van der Poel wins crash-marred uphill sprint in Visegrád". CyclingNews. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
- ^ Becket, Adam (17 May 2022). "Biniam Girmay's stage 11 start in question after podium mishap". CyclingWeekly. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
- ^ Giuliani, Simone; Farrand, Stephen; Ryan, Barry (18 May 2022). "Girmay out of Giro d'Italia after podium eye injury". CyclingNews. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
- ^ Farrand, Stephen (1 February 2023). "Biniam Girmay storms to stage 1 sprint victory at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana". CyclingNews.
- ^ Fotheringham, Alasdair (12 June 2023). "Tour de Suisse: Girmay grabs stage 2 sprint victory ahead of Démare, Van Aert". CyclingNews. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
- ^ Weislo, Laura (7 July 2023). "Tour de France: Philipsen denies Cavendish, completes hat-trick in Bordeaux". Cycling News. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
- ^ Harding, Jonathan (29 June 2023). "Biniam Girmay: Tour de France history maker". dw.com. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
- ^ "Biniam Girmay career achievements". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
External links[edit]
- Biniam Girmay at UCI
- Biniam Girmay at Cycling Archives
- Biniam Girmay at ProCyclingStats
- Biniam Girmay at Cycling Quotient
- Biniam Girmay at Olympedia
