Make it two stage wins for Biniam Girmay!
The 24-year-old from Intermarché–Wanty made history on Stage 3 by becoming the first Black stage winner in Tour de France history. On Saturday’s Stage 8, he proved it was just a one-off. The sprinter from Eritrea showed off his speed once again, winning a bunch sprint to take his second stage win of this Tour.
Girmay’s patience paid off in the sprint to the line. Cofidis dropped off Bryan Coquard in the lead an awfully long way from the finish. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was the one to make the move from there, going to the front. He tried to open up a gap on Girmay, Pascal Ackermann (Israel–Premier Tech), and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny), but Girmay was able to hold the pace and accelerate past Philipsen to take the win on the line.
Girmay’s stage victory wasn’t his only win of the day. He furthered his lead in the green jersey points classification. He was second at the first intermediate checkpoint (first in the peloton) to claim 17 points, and then crossing the finish line first netted him an additional 50 points. He now has 216 points to lead the green jersey competition by 88 points over second-place Philipsen.
Stage 8, as we predicted, would be a battle between the breakaway and the sprint. But from the start that breakaway would only consist of one rider: Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility). The leader in the King of the Mountains classification scooped up plenty of points to extend his polka dot jersey lead (and take the combativity award).
hings looked iffy at times for the peloton to catch the lone leader, with Abrahamsen’s advantage getting out to as much as six minutes. But ultimately the sprint teams got it together and caught him with 11km to go in the stage.
From there, on some damp roads, it would be a battle to the finish between the sprint squads. Intermarché–Wanty provided a strong leadout to put Girmay in a good position to earn his second stage win of the season, and further solidify his grip on the green jersey.
