{"id":196013,"date":"2024-06-25T14:14:48","date_gmt":"2024-06-25T14:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=196013"},"modified":"2024-06-25T14:14:48","modified_gmt":"2024-06-25T14:14:48","slug":"from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/06\/25\/from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"From Dreaming in Eritrea to Starting at the Tour de France: Biniam Girmay\u2019s Incredible Rise"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>With the 2024 Tour de France drawing ever so near, the road-cycling fandom is already in the grips of the race\u2019s allure. Since we are focused on deeply personal experiences, memories, and connections with the Tour this year, Matt Stephens also made this podcast instalment into a Tour de France special. The guest today is Biniam Girmay and the topic is the Tour made personal.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Matt caught up with Biniam after he had just clinched a victory at the Circuit Franco-Belge on May 29, but the talented rider has been making waves for some time now. When Biniam first heard about the Tour de France back in Eritrea thanks to his father, a devout cycling enthusiast, he was about four or five. Eventually, it was his cousin who brought him to road cycling, sparking his love for the sport. In the podcast, he names several sprinters as his inspiration and especially highlights <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/09\/08\/the-story-of-the-skoda-green-jersey-and-the-legend-of-peter-sagan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Peter Sagan.<\/a> Biniam mentioned that \u201che\u2019s happy to have the memory\u201d of Sagan\u2019s famous little victory dances and various other shenanigans at the Tour de France, which are, surely, in the minds and hearts of many a fan as well.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_194506\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-194506\" style=\"width: 990px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2023\/11\/Biniam-Girmay-profimedia-0786906534-CVR.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-194506 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2023\/11\/Biniam-Girmay-profimedia-0786906534-CVR.webp\" alt=\"Biniam Girmay\" width=\"990\" height=\"660\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2023\/11\/Biniam-Girmay-profimedia-0786906534-CVR.webp 990w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2023\/11\/Biniam-Girmay-profimedia-0786906534-CVR-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2023\/11\/Biniam-Girmay-profimedia-0786906534-CVR-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2023\/11\/Biniam-Girmay-profimedia-0786906534-CVR-400x267.webp 400w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2023\/11\/Biniam-Girmay-profimedia-0786906534-CVR-272x182.webp 272w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 990px) 100vw, 990px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-194506\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Girmay is the first African and person of colour to win a World Tour Race and a one-day classic at the tender age of 21. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Now Biniam has his own history to write, as he took part in his first Tour in 2023. With Matt, he shared that when he was a little boy, he assumed that with all the gorgeous nature and the spectacular finish at Champs \u00c9lys\u00e9es, the riders have time to enjoy themselves and take in the scenery. As it turns out, that couldn\u2019t be further from the truth. As he laconically summed up, \u201cthe Tour de France is really hard.\u201d Nevertheless, he has stated multiple times that the Tour is the only thing he\u2019s \u201creally hoping to win\u201d in his cycling career.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-controller-wrapper\"><iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: From Dreaming in Eritrea to Starting at the Tour de France: Biniam Girmay\u2019s Incredible Rise\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/2YcSEi2QaeErviiR9f85SU?si=1M5hNyQhR-m1bxmNU0drzw&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Currently, Biniam is not the only Eritrean rider in the pro peloton. There\u2019s also Merhawi Kudus and Daniel Teklehaimanot. The latter won the Tour de France polka-dot jersey in 2015, which turned out to be a major defining moment for teenage Biniam, who watched it on TV. \u201cWhen he arrived on the podium, I really cried, [seeing] an Eritrean rider,\u201d exclaimed Biniam, adding that it made him realise that he too could follow in Daniel\u2019s footsteps.<\/p>\n<p>Also, as a curiosity, Biniam explained to Matt that during <a href=\"http:\/\/letour.fr\">the Tour de France,<\/a> Eritrean cinemas barely play films because they run a constant stream of Tour content, and just about every caf\u00e9 and household is streaming the Tour 24\/7. Eritrean fans also flock to the actual Tour course in droves to cheer on Biniam. And, allegedly, the \u0160koda Green Jersey is held in higher regard that the GC yellow jersey in Eritrea \u2013 which might explain Biniam\u2019s early inclination towards sprinters. Talk about a country-wide fandom.<\/p>\n<p>The 24-year-old Biniam is not only a rising star of the sport but also an exceptional athlete of many firsts. He became the first Black African cyclist to win a Grand Tour stage and a classic cycle race, the first cyclist born in the 2000s to win a professional race, and the first Black African rider to achieve a podium finish in the history of the UCI Road World Championships. Currently, Biniam rides for UCI WorldTeam Intermarch\u00e9\u2013Wanty, who signed him in 2021. The motto he has on his team profile page, \u201cVeni Vidi Bini,\u201d seems very fitting.<\/p>\n<p>Listen to the whole podcast to find out what sort of legacy Biniam would like to leave behind and who he would like to inspire, what it\u2019s like having the Tour de France as a dream pinnacle win, how the \u201cBiniam Girmay Stage\u201d at the Tour would look, and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the 2024 Tour de France drawing ever so near, the road-cycling fandom is already in the grips of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":196061,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[7807,6356,6399,433],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-196013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","tag-2024-tour","tag-biniam-girmay","tag-matt-stephens","tag-tour-de-france","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Biniam Girmay\u2019s Incredible Rise: Podcast With Matt Stephens<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With the 2024 Tour de France drawing ever so near, the road-cycling fandom is already in the grips of the race\u2019s allure. Since we are focused on deeply\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/06\/25\/from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From Dreaming in Eritrea to Starting at the Tour de France: Biniam Girmay\u2019s Incredible Rise\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With the 2024 Tour de France drawing ever so near, the road-cycling fandom is already in the grips of the race\u2019s allure. Since we are focused on deeply\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/06\/25\/from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-25T14:14:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2024\/06\/WLC_Podcast_Biniam-Girmay_ArticleCover.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"990\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"660\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tereza\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matt Stephens and Frantiska Blazkova\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/06\/25\/from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/06\/25\/from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\/\",\"name\":\"Biniam Girmay\u2019s Incredible Rise: Podcast With Matt Stephens\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/06\/25\/from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/06\/25\/from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2024\/06\/WLC_Podcast_Biniam-Girmay_ArticleCover.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-25T14:14:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/50f01ecd18718d2333cf72e823c4f926\"},\"description\":\"With the 2024 Tour de France drawing ever so near, the road-cycling fandom is already in the grips of the race\u2019s allure. Since we are focused on deeply\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/06\/25\/from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/06\/25\/from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/06\/25\/from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2024\/06\/WLC_Podcast_Biniam-Girmay_ArticleCover.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2024\/06\/WLC_Podcast_Biniam-Girmay_ArticleCover.webp\",\"width\":990,\"height\":660,\"caption\":\"Biniam Girmay\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/06\/25\/from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"From Dreaming in Eritrea to Starting at the Tour de France: Biniam Girmay\u2019s Incredible Rise\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/\",\"name\":\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\",\"description\":\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling magazine\",\"alternateName\":\"\u0160koda WLC\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/50f01ecd18718d2333cf72e823c4f926\",\"name\":\"tereza\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f9eb71be33845f0afabce3791bc1c58ecdb0a25c62964987e5dbcf7a20d2ec7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f9eb71be33845f0afabce3791bc1c58ecdb0a25c62964987e5dbcf7a20d2ec7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"tereza\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/author\/tereza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Biniam Girmay\u2019s Incredible Rise: Podcast With Matt Stephens","description":"With the 2024 Tour de France drawing ever so near, the road-cycling fandom is already in the grips of the race\u2019s allure. Since we are focused on deeply","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/06\/25\/from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"From Dreaming in Eritrea to Starting at the Tour de France: Biniam Girmay\u2019s Incredible Rise","og_description":"With the 2024 Tour de France drawing ever so near, the road-cycling fandom is already in the grips of the race\u2019s allure. Since we are focused on deeply","og_url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/06\/25\/from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\/","og_site_name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling","article_published_time":"2024-06-25T14:14:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":990,"height":660,"url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2024\/06\/WLC_Podcast_Biniam-Girmay_ArticleCover.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"tereza","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Matt Stephens and Frantiska Blazkova","Est. reading time":"4"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/06\/25\/from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\/","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/06\/25\/from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\/","name":"Biniam Girmay\u2019s Incredible Rise: Podcast With Matt Stephens","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/06\/25\/from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/06\/25\/from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2024\/06\/WLC_Podcast_Biniam-Girmay_ArticleCover.webp","datePublished":"2024-06-25T14:14:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/50f01ecd18718d2333cf72e823c4f926"},"description":"With the 2024 Tour de France drawing ever so near, the road-cycling fandom is already in the grips of the race\u2019s allure. Since we are focused on deeply","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/06\/25\/from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/06\/25\/from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/06\/25\/from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2024\/06\/WLC_Podcast_Biniam-Girmay_ArticleCover.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2024\/06\/WLC_Podcast_Biniam-Girmay_ArticleCover.webp","width":990,"height":660,"caption":"Biniam Girmay"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/06\/25\/from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"From Dreaming in Eritrea to Starting at the Tour de France: Biniam Girmay\u2019s Incredible Rise"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/","name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling","description":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling magazine","alternateName":"\u0160koda WLC","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/50f01ecd18718d2333cf72e823c4f926","name":"tereza","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f9eb71be33845f0afabce3791bc1c58ecdb0a25c62964987e5dbcf7a20d2ec7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f9eb71be33845f0afabce3791bc1c58ecdb0a25c62964987e5dbcf7a20d2ec7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"tereza"},"url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/author\/tereza\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196013"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":196078,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196013\/revisions\/196078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196013"},{"taxonomy":"global-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/global-categories?post=196013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}