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Historic
In reply to imusic
Wow!!
In reply to imusic
Amazing feat
wow!!!!
Congratulations
to beat a pack with Cavendish (who later won his 35th and now with the most stage wins ever) makes it an even greater feat
link
and 2nd place in the 6th stage
2nd place finish
Africa is on the rise!
In reply to imusic
Nice
and wins stage 8
2 wins so far is very impression
link
He's in 137th place. They aren't even in sight of the mountains yet.
In reply to KTom
that has nothing to do with the historic nature of his 2 wins...
he himself acknowledged at presser that he thought it was over now...they have done what they had in mind and a bit more
and isn't it remarkable that his team is so bad according to you he managed to win 2 stages?
live and let live
In reply to doosra
First, the good news - after stage 9, he's up to 119th place.
I will simply remark that I said nothing critical about the rider nor his team. My post was solely directed against the impression that Girmay's winning a couple of stages is particularly 'historic' or that he is now suddenly amongst the world's elite cyclists. A fairer assessment would be that he's one of the best sprinters in the field. These grand tour events are strange beasts - dozens of riders endure for over 3 weeks with merely a handful having a realistic prospect of overall victory. To mitigate the boredom (for want of a better word) sub-competitions (points/jerseys for stage and sprint placings, mountain climbs, young riders) have evolved to make proceedings more interesting/give journalists something to talk about.
As for the notion that it could spark a revolution in African cycling, colour me sceptical. Cycling is just about the whitest sport there is. Well, maybe next to yachting and polo. I suggest you could count on one hand the number of cases where the success of a single individual was largely responsible for the rapid growth of a sport within a particular social group, country or region. Off the top of my head, perhaps Bjorn Borg in Swedish tennis. The classic counterexample would be Tiger Woods.
In reply to KTom
Lol... He is not competing to win the Tour, or general classification (gc). He is here to sprint and win stages and right now he is leading and looking good to win the prestigious green jersey which is what sprinters compete for at the Tour.
There are 22 teams in the race. Of those I would say only 11 had a realistic chance to win the thing coming in.
Now there are only about 6 teams with guys close enough to challenge for the gc.
That's why there are 4 jerseys given away.
Yellow, is the big prize.
Green for the sprinter who amassesthe most points for winning intermediate sprints and stage wins. Biniam currently leads by 96 points over Jasper Phillipsen, who won that last year.
Then the less significant Polka dot jersey for the mou tain classification....since a climber usually/always wins the Tour, he usually also wins that jersey....but there are some who go in breakaway and wi the early mou tains point.
And finally the White young rider jersey. For riders under 25. Usually a young rider highest in GC wins that. Which is Remco right now....he sits second in the standings.
The Eritreans are really going crazy. Winning at the Tour is a crowning achievement.
But Biniam has some other significant wins....at other tours and a monument and what was his best win for me, he outsprinted one of the most devastating puncheurs in MVP at the Tour of Britain a couple years ago....I believe that might have been his first win at this level....but I may be wrong.
Someone posted that this will be a boon to cycling in Africa.....there already is a ton of African cyclist. Of course him winning, like any other national winner, opens the eye of more youth.but the issue right now is the world Tour teams are not as inclined to give them a shot on the rosters.
2nd in stage 10
2 wins
2 2nds
so far
go Bini
First, the good news. After stage 10, Girmay was up to 117th overall.
The bad news, in the mountainous stage 11 he finished in 140th place to fall back to 126th overall.
I learn that to win the green jersey, a rider has to complete the race, so he's going to have to suffer some more.
win #3
3 stage wins
go Bini forKTOM
In reply to KTom
Dude, no one cares about where sprinters are in the overall.
After the top ten it's really not of any importance really other than bragging rights with your mates.
No one, and I mean no one, checks where sprinters are in the overall standing.
4th in stage 13
In reply to doosra
Congrats! More history
He finished in 113th place.
In reply to KTom
he is the king of sprint this year
that doesn't go down well with certain ppl
now guh weh, ignar
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