GIRMAY SETS AFRICAN WHEELS IN MOTION

In The Spotlight

- Dilenjit Singh

In a sport awash with white faces with a sprinkling of South Americans, Eritrean Biniam Girmay is a trailblazer on two wheels.

In 2024, on his second stab at the Tour de France, he became the first black African to win a stage in cycling’s most storied showpiece.

After the Stage 3 success, he posted alongside a photo of him fist-pumping at the finishing line the caption “Let me open the door”.

By the end of the three weekrace in July, considered among sport’s most gruelling challenges, the only black rider in the 176-strong peloton was resplendent in green.

The Intermarche-Wanty cyclist won three stages and the points classification green jersey, the most coveted honour for sprinters. It made him the first person from his continent to win a secondary classification at one of the three Grand Tours.

Still, he was conscious enough to say: “This year I’m the only black rider in the peloton. It’s not nice, to be honest, so I wish there were more black riders in the peloton.”

Eritrean cycling coach Aklilu Haile, who has known Girmay for a decade, insists the 25-year-old is already making an impact, telling the BBC in 2024: “Sometimes cycling seems like it’s for white people only, but now he teaches us that cycling is for all the world.”

On Nov 2, Girmay will take part in another sprinters’ showdown against Italy’s Jonathan Milan and Belgian Jasper Philipsen as the last three green jersey winners face off at the Tour de France EFGH Singapore Criterium, with former Olympic time-trial gold medallist and 2024 Vuelta a Espana champion Primoz Roglic of Slovenia thrown in for good measure.

But it has been a wild ride for Girmay to get here.

GIRMAY'S ORIGIN STORY

He was born in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, a country in the Horn of Africa along the Red Sea with a population of around 3.5 million.