Tour de France Eritrean Girmay wins Tour stage – Carapaz in yellow
Biniam Girmay from Eritrea celebrates his victory Photo
© Daniel Cole/AP/dpa
On the third day of the Tour, the fast men get their first chance. Sprinter Biniam Girmay from Georg Zimmermann’s team wins sensationally in Turin. There is a change in the overall ranking.
Biniam Girmay has made cycling history. The 24-year-old was the first professional from Eritrea to win a stage of the Tour de France. Girmay raced to victory in Turin on the third day of the national tour, seemingly unstoppable. After the 230.8 flat kilometers between Piacenza and the northern metropolis of Turin, the sprinter from the team led by Georg Zimmermann from Augsburg surprisingly won in a hectic final spurt ahead of the Colombian Fernando Gaviria and the Belgian Arnaud de Lie. It was the first victory for the Intermarché team.
The Belgian sprint king Jasper Philipsen came away empty-handed, did not finish in the top ten and missed his seventh Tour victory. Philipsen’s most important helper, Mathieu van der Poel, the current world champion, suffered a defect just six kilometers from the finish and was unable to help his team colleague. The German sprinter Phil Bauhaus came sixth. Even veteran Mark Cavendish did not come close to his single-stage victory record.
The overall ranking remains close. Richard Carapaz took over the yellow jersey for overall winner from superstar Tadej Pogacar. The Ecuadorian benefited from being a few places ahead of Pogacar on the sprint stage. A total of four riders are tied in the overall ranking, including defending champion Jonas Vingegaard and young Belgian star Remco Evenepoel. When determining the overall winner, the cyclist with the best average placings will be the winner.
Aldag calm despite Roglic’s time loss
Primoz Roglic is currently not among the top four. As expected, the shooting star of the top German team Red Bull did not make a big jump back into the ranks of the other top riders. The day before, the Slovenian’s lead over fellow countryman Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel had grown to 21 seconds. But his team remained relaxed. “We lost a bit of time, but it felt like we didn’t lose the Tour. And that’s a good thing,” said sports director Rolf Aldag.
After two exhausting days in Italy at high temperatures, the weather had cooled down at the start of the week. There were fewer ice packs on the neck and ice vests visible in the field of riders. Mark Cavendish must have had a good blow. On the first day, he collapsed on the first climb after the start in Florence, had to vomit and only just managed to cross the finish line, 39 minutes behind the French stage winner Romain Bardet.
Cavendish with mechanical defect
On the third day of the Tour, Cavendish, who is desperate to score his 35th stage win and claim the sole record ahead of legend Eddy Merckx, suffered another minor setback. With 89 kilometers to go, he had a mechanical problem and fell back. However, he returned to the field shortly afterwards, which remained largely closed throughout the race.
It was not until just 66 kilometers from the finish that Frenchman Fabien Grellier launched a powerful attack, grabbed the mountain points on the Côte de Sommariva Perno and was caught again just 28 kilometers from the end of the stage. After that, the teams were all focused on the mass sprint.
On Tuesday, there could be major changes in the overall rankings for the top favorites around Pogacar and Vingegaard. The professionals will ride over the 2,642-meter-high Tour classic Col du Galibier. In total, the first kilometers of the race in France after the start in Italy will be 139.6 kilometers from Pinerolo to Valloire.
dpa
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