It was a historic victory for Biniam Girmay on stage 10 of the Giro d’Italia as the 22-year-old from Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux not only claimed his first Grand Tour stage victory, but also the first for a Black African rider.
The hilly day to Jesi had all the hallmarks of one that would suit Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) and Girmay, with climbing enough during to rule the pure sprinters out of contention and then an uphill finishing sprint.
There were plenty of attacks in final kilometres, but ultimately it was a lead group of about 30 together to contest the sprint on the stage 10 finish at the Giro d’Italia. As the line drew near there was soon no question that the winner would be either Van der Poel or Girmay after the Eritrean rider leapt from the pack with a powerful acceleration and the Dutch rider was the only one who could follow.
After emerging from his slipstream in the final 100 metres, Van der Poel came almost in line with Girmay’s shoulders but couldn’t come past, so after missing out to the Dutch rider on stage 1 this time it was Girmay that got to raise his hands in victory.
Vincenzo Albanese (Eolo-Kometa) came third after leading in the front group, including the overall favourites and race leader Juan Pedro López (Trek-Segafredo).
See the video highlights above.
