The Girmay Effect

Cycling is already a popular sport in Eritrea, but Biniam Girmay's success can only build on that, writes James Shrubsall

- James Shrubsall

When Biniam Girmay swept across the line in first place on stage 10 of this year’s Giro d’Italia, the gravity of the occasion was lost on no one. The first black African Grand Tour stage winner had prevailed in a flat-to-lumpy 196km outing from Pescara to Jesi on Italy’s east coast. It wasn’t exactly unexpected – the Eritrean had top-five finishes in more than half of the previous stages. The moment wasn’t even lost on Mathieu van der Poel, the vanquished rider beaten into second, who gave Girmay a thumbs-up as he crossed the line behind.

Girmay, who rides for IntermarchéWanty-Gobert and had signed another four years with the Belgian team just before the race, also saw the bigger picture. “Every day comes new history,” he said at the finish. “I’m really grateful about what I did.”

Eritrea, in north-east Africa, faces off across the Red Sea with Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and is a dictatorship with a terrible record on human rights. However, looking around the WorldTour peloton, in which the country is sadly underrepresented, with just three riders, it might come as a surprise to learn cycling is in fact a popular sport in Eritrea – popularity that is only going to increase with Girmay’s Giro stage victory.