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Paris (AFP) – A first for an African rider in a classic: Biniam Girmay, a 21-year-old Eritrean, wrote cycling history on Sunday by winning the 84th edition of Ghent-Wevelgem ahead of Frenchman Christophe Laporte.
After 249 kilometres, Girmay was the fastest of a group of four riders. “It’s just incredible, I mightn’t hope for so much!” exclaimed the young rider from the Intermarché team, which he joined last spring following starting his professional career in 2020 in training. French Delko.
“I suffered a bit on the cobbles, it was really not comfortable. Afterwards I felt better and better and I took up places. In the sprint, I was dealing with strong riders but I I had confidence”, added the winner of the day, who discovered the roads of Ghent-Wevelgem.
Representing cycling on the rise symbolized by the organization of the 2025 Road Worlds in Rwanda, the rider from Eritrea – the country in sub-Saharan Africa at the forefront of cycling – smiled before mounting the ceremonial podium: “It will change a lot of things for my future, I hope also for that of African runners.”
Laporte’s great disappointment
In the past, none of his compatriots, most often climbers, had achieved a performance of the same level. Not even Daniel Teklehaimanot, the Eritrean cycling pioneer who briefly wore the mountain polka dot jersey in the Tour de France in 2015.
Winner at the end of January of a race in Majorca (Spain), Girmay has progressed over the races. Noticed by his 12th place in Milan-Sanremo, he asserted himself last Friday in the E3 Classic (5th), the repetition of the Tour of Flanders in which he will not participate next Sunday. He planned to return to his country before returning to Europe in view of the Giro.
His triumphant sprint on the sunny Wevelgem carriageway, near the French border, concluded a race dominated by the Jumbo team, which might not however make the decision in the various “mountains”.
Belgian champion Wout van Aert set the pace on the third and final ascent of the Kemmel, 34 kilometers from the finish, and brought with him a small group of strong men (Asgreen, M. Pedersen, Laporte, van Baarle, Kragh Andersen, Mohoric then Benoot) without managing to create a sufficient gap.
“I made a mistake, I should have started the sprint. Opportunities like this, we don’t have them every day”, regretted Laporte, very disappointed.
But the Frenchman, second Friday of the E3 Classic, concluded, fair play: “I got a little surprised by the start of Girmay, he came out very quickly and made the hole. It’s very good for him !”
© 2022 AFP
