Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay makes history yet again with Stage 12 victory at Tour de France

Eritrean cycling sensation Biniam Girmay, 24, continues to make remarkable progress at the 2024 Tour de France, with his latest heroics, victory in Stage 12 of the 21-stop cycling competition, elevating him to the status of Africa’s most successful Grand Tour rider.

In road bicycle racing, Grand Tour refers to any of the three major European professional cycling stage races. These three races are Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a Espana. The three races have similar formats where riders race over three weeks while competing in daily stages.

Girmay’s victory on Thursday comes hot on the heels of his Stage 8 win on July 6 and Stage 3 on July 1, a win which made him the first black African to win a stage at the Tour de France.

During Stage 12, riders competed to race over 203.6 kilometres from Aurillac, a city in France’s Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region to Villeneuve-sur-Lot, a city in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of France.

Biniam Girmay🥇🥇🥇

The lion from Eritrea 🇪🇷 🦁 #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/UVMFg9gOTN

— Intermarché-Wanty (@IntermarcheW) July 11, 2024

Girmay, who races the Intermarche-Wanty team, overcame stiff competition from Belgian cyclist Wout van Aert and eight other riders as they all powered to the finish line with time of 4 hours 17 minutes 15 seconds but Girmay emerge the best in the photo finish with the van Aert ranking second.

Having already established himself as one of the best sprinters at the 2024 Tour de France, the victory sees Girmay continue to keep hold of Green Jersey. A sprinter in cycling is a cyclist who has specialised in accelerating at high speeds on relatively flat courses, especially to finish a race explosively.

At the Tour de France, points are given for high finishes in a stage and for winning intermediate sprints. Girmay performed well enough in that regard to merit wearing the green jersey, the kit given to the racer who leads in points awarded as a result of accomplishing high finishes in a stage or winning intermediate sprints.

Girmay has won the Green Jersey since Stage Four, after snatching it from Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogacar.

Before racing in Stage 10 on July 10, Girmay expressed happiness about wearing the green jersey and stated that he felt confident about maintaining it until Nice, where the race's finish line is after the 21st and final stage of the race.

"I am super happy and super confident. I just have to do what I can to keep doing well in the sprints so that I can continue wearing the green jersey until Nice," he said.

In Stage 10, the riders competed to race from 187.3 kilometres from Orléans to Saint-Amand-Montrond for Stage 10 of the competition. Girmay finished in second place in that race before ranking outside the top 10 in Stage 11 which was a 211 kilometre race from Evaux-les-Bains to Le Lioran.

Having won Stage 12, Girmay, who has proved adept at racing in flat stages, looks forward to replicating his Stage 12 performance when the riders compete in the 165.3-kilometre flat stage race from Agen to Pau on Friday, July 12.

Another impressive display in that race is sure to see Girmay continue to keep hold of the Green Jersey, whose classification he leads with 328 points, 107 more than second-placed Belgian Jasper Philipsen who has 221 points.