Eritrean Biniam Girmay won the 3rd stage of the Tour de France on Monday, winning the sprint in Turin (Italy), while Richard Carapaz took the yellow leader’s jersey.
He continues to write the history of African cycling. Biniam Girmay won the 3rd stage of the Tour de France on Monday, the longest of this 111th edition with 231 kilometers between Piacenza and Turin (Turin). The Eritrean won the sprint in the streets of Turin to become the third African rider to win the Grande Boucle after South Africans Daryl Impey and Rob Hunter. And like Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) the day before, he also gave his Intermarché-Wanty team its very first victory in the Tour de France.
The scenario of this 3rd stage took a long time to emerge. After two very eventful first days, the riders remained very calm. Only Fabien Grellier tried his luck by breaking away from the peloton about sixty kilometers from the finish with the hope of securing a 3rd French victory in as many stages after Romain Bardet and Kévin Vauquelin. But the Vendéen was finally caught and the victory was decided in a sprint as expected before the start. And in a chaotic finale, marked by a collective fall that occurred 2 km from the finish involving Jasper Philipsen, Biniam Girmay was the strongest.
Winner of Ghent-Wevelgem in 2022 and a stage of the Tour of Italy the same year, he scored the greatest victory of his career at the age of 24, causing great emotion. Just after crossing the finish line, he couldn’t hold back his tears.
If this Tour de France 2024 has had a 3e stage winner, he also has a 3e leader with Richard Carapaz, who stripped Tadej Pogacar of the yellow jersey. If the Ecuadorian, reigning Olympic champion, is tied with Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard, he has taken the lead in the general classification in the game of accumulating the best stage places. And he will be strong enough to defend it, this Tuesday, with the arrival in France and in particular the gravel Col du Galibier. For the beginnings of the big explanations?
