The Eritrean is the first black African to win a stage in the Tour de France
MADRID, 1 (EUROPA PRESS)
Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) won on Monday the third stage of the 111th edition of the Tour de France, contested over 230 kilometers between Piacenza and Turin, while Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (EF-Easypost) is the new leader after a massive crash involving the previous yellow jersey holder, Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates).
At the final finish, Lidl-Trek tried to help its sprinter Mads Pedersen to victory, but the Eritrean Girmay’s start on the outside gave him the win ahead of the Colombian Movistar cyclist Fernando Gaviria, who was left with a bitter taste in his mouth after a great sprint, in which he came close to achieving a victory that he has not achieved in the Tour since 2018.
Girmay became the first black African cyclist to win the Tour de France, something he also achieved in 2022 in another ‘major’, the Giro d’Italia. He is also the first cyclist from his country to achieve this, closing a historic day for him and for Eritrean and African cycling. It is his fourteenth victory as a professional at just 24 years old and his third triumph this year.
After the first two mountain stages, in which the sprinters had no chance, the first day of sprinting, still on Italian soil, was decided in a finish that was marked by a fall that occurred two kilometres from the end, and which affected one of the favourites, the Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Deceuninck).
Bad luck also struck the team, as with six kilometres to go, Dutchman Mathieu Van der Poel, the current world champion, had a mechanical problem that prevented him from competing for the finish or helping his teammate in the fight for position.
The first day of sprint racing, the longest stage of this Tour, went off as expected without much movement from the teams of the favourites for the general classification, and also from the adventurers, who were aware before the start of the stage that victory would go to the sprinters.
The sprinters’ teams calmly controlled the solo attempt by Frenchman Fabien Grellier (TotalEnergies), who was caught with 28 kilometres to go.
In the general classification, a massive crash with two kilometres to go left leader Tadej Pogacar behind, and Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz took advantage of the situation to snatch the yellow jersey from him thanks to his fourteenth place in the stage, although without any seconds between them since, as the crash occurred in the safety zone, times were not checked. However, the positions at the finish were taken into account.
The incident also affected the defending champion, Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), who finished one minute behind the winner, but as it was within the three-kilometre buffer zone, he did not lose any time in the general classification.
This Tuesday, the French race will see its first high mountain stage, with a 139.6-kilometre stage between Pinerolo and Valloire, which will include the fearsome Col du Galibier, over 19 kilometres long and whose summit is less than 20 kilometres from the finish line.
–RANKINGS.
-Stage.
1. Biniam Girmay (ERI/Intermarché-Wanty) 5:26:48.
2. Fernando Gaviria (COL/Movistar Team) mt
3. Arnaud De Lie (BEL/Lotto Dstny) m.t.
4. Mads Pedersen (DIN/Lidl-Trek) mt
5. Dylan Groenewegen (NED/Team Jayco AlUla) mt
-General.
1. Richard Carapaz (ECU/EF-EasyPost) 15:20:18.
2. Tadej Pogacar (SVN/UAE Team Emirates) m.t.
3. Remco Evenepoel (BEL/Soudal Quick-Step) mt
4. Jonas Vingegaard (DIN/Team Visma | Lease a Bike) m.t.
5. Romain Bardet (FRA/Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) m.t.
2024-07-01 15:42:45
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