Biniam Girmay triumphs in Ghent-Wevelgem as a pioneer of the new world of cycling – Liberation

It was long believed that the first great success of a black African rider in the elite of world cycling would be a climber. The Eritreans Daniel Teklehaimanot and Natnael Berhane were the first of the rope a few years ago. The movement has slowed down, notably due to the withdrawal of the South African team MTN-Qhubeka, which in 2015 aimed to put an African rider on the podium of the Tour de France. It was finally in the cultural heart of European cycling, in Belgian Flanders, that the big first happened.

The Eritrean Biniam Girmay, 21, won the prestigious Ghent-Wevelgem classic this Sunday, beating Franco-Belgian competition. It was in a reduced sprint that the nugget of the Belgian team Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux won, ahead of the tricolor Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) and the Belgian Dries Van Gestel (TotalEnergies). Here he is crowned with the title of the first black African rider to have won a one-day World Tour race, the highest level of world cycling. A title that symbolizes the rise of Africa in this sport, a continent that will also host its first world championships; in Rwanda, in 2025.

This victory also crowns a thunderous start to the season, which had already seen Biniam Girmay raise his arms at the end of January in Spain, during the Trofeo Alcúdia – Port d’Alcúdia, or sign several places of honor in Paris-Nice at the beginning of the month. Of March. Asked by Belgian television about possible ambitions next weekend on the Tour of Flanders, the rider assured that he would now return to Eritrea after spending three months in Europe. “I miss my wife”, justifies Girmay, who gives an appointment on the Tour of Italy, at the beginning of May. There is no doubt that he will be particularly observed there.