What could be more beautiful for a sports director than to see one of his riders triumph on the Grande Boucle… By winning the sprint on the third stage between Piacenza and Turin, Biniam Girmay did a double. He thus became the first Eritrean, and the first black rider, to win a stage on the Tour and at the same time gave the Intermarché Wanty-Gobert team its first success on the event. An accomplishment for the Belgian team that inevitably triggered general hysteria in the sports directors’ car.
In a video posted on the Belgian team’s X account (formerly Twitter), we can see three team leaders in the car, who were unable to see the live footage, waiting for Radio Tour to announce the winner. When Biniam Girmay’s name is mentioned, there is mass hysteria. “We did it, we did it!” they shout in English, banging on their dashboard. “What a team! It’s historic! We made history,” they shout into their microphone. The joy must have been intense and shared in the earpieces of the Intermarché Wanty-Gobert riders…
Created in 2008, the Belgian team has been a World Tour team since 2021. With its rider from the Horn of Africa, Intermarché Wanty-Gobert has already achieved several renowned victories, including a victory in Ghent-Wevelgem and the Giro d’Italia in 2022.
Today, we’re heading to one of the main stages of this Tour de France, with the Col du Galibier, where the Belgian team will probably play supporting roles with an expected duel between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard.
