{"id":196347,"date":"2024-07-22T15:41:58","date_gmt":"2024-07-22T15:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=196347"},"modified":"2024-07-22T15:41:58","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T15:41:58","slug":"girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/07\/22\/girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport\/","title":{"rendered":"Girmay\u2019s Historic \u0160koda Green Jersey Will Change the Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

I think no victory in this year\u2019s Tour de France was more welcome, or more important, than Biniam Girmay winning the \u0160koda Green Jersey.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It was welcomed by the hundreds of millions of cycling fans who want to see a more diverse sport; by the hundreds of millions of Black Africans, who now see that one of their own can become a star in a sport that had always seemed closed to them; and, from a wider perspective, by the billions of people of color around the world, who have seen another apparent barrier break down, for Girmay is the first Black African rider to win a Grand Tour jersey.<\/p>\n

This may seem hyperbole to some, but I don\u2019t think it is. And neither do the lords of cycling, the UCI and the organizers of Grand Tours, Monuments, Classics and all the other road races. Because, as Girmay himself had predicted, after his first victory in the race, on stage 3, that by having greater diversity, road racing could finally become a truly global sport and that he was \u201csuper happy to show and deliver so that cycling can be more global.\u201d<\/p>\n

Girmay\u2019s triumph was part of a historic moment in the sport because \u00a0the 2025 UCI Road World Championships will be held in Kigali, Rwanda, a first for the continent.<\/p>\n

Girmay\u2019s victory was both assured and dramatic \u2013 and also helped by a bit of luck. His only real competitor, the defending \u0160koda Green Jersey winner Jasper Philipsen<\/a> (Alpecin-Deceuninck), shot himself in the foot by deviating from his line during the bunch sprint of stage 6 and impeding Wout van Aert (Visma\u2013Lease a Bike). Philipsen finished second in the sprint, to Dylan Groenewegen, but was relegated and stripped of the points.<\/p>\n

This came in very handy for Girmay, especially after he crashed with 2km to race on stage 16, which Philipsen won thanks to a powerhouse lead-out by world champion Mathieu van der Poel. A lead that had been 86 points, 363 to 277, shrank to a mere 32. But Girmay then beat Philipsen in the stage 17 intermediate sprint, adding a point to his lead. The final rankings had him winning with 387 points to Philipsen\u2019s 354.<\/p>\n

\n
\"from-dreaming-in-eritrea-to-starting-at-the-tour-de-france-biniam-girmays-incredible-rise\"\/<\/a><\/div>
\n Road cycling<\/a>\n <\/div>\n
\n \n

From Dreaming in Eritrea to Starting at the Tour de France: Biniam Girmay\u2019s Incredible Rise<\/span><\/h3>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/article>\n<\/div>\n

Reportedly<\/a>, Girmay was fortunate in another way. He said that he had not been named as the main sprinter of his Intermarch\u00e9-Wanty team. That had been Gerben Thijssen, for whom he was supposed to work as main lead-out rider. But in the first flat stage of the Tour, stage 3, he and Thijssen had become separated and his team had told him to go for the sprint himself.<\/p>\n

And then, as he told the French sports publication L’\u00c9quipe<\/em><\/a>, \u201cI lost my teammate and tried to make the best possible sprint. I didn\u2019t go to the left because that\u2019s where the wind was coming from. So I decided to ride along the barriers on the right, at the risk of being blocked. But I managed to get next to Mads Pedersen [Lidl-Trek]. I closed my eyes and I made it.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the rest, he could also have said, is history.<\/p>\n

“Wearing the green jersey is an honor, the symbol of the sprinter,\u201d Girmay said after Sunday\u2019s final Tour stage. \u201cThis is a new dream come true. To be honest I didn’t come into this race with this ambition, I just came here to show I’m not a bad rider. I’m just grateful to have today, it’s the most amazing day of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the interview with L’\u00c9quipe<\/a>, Girmay said that he had been inspired by every rider, but cited two names in particular, Daniel Teklehaimanot and Merhawi Kudus, the first Black Africans to ride in the Tour (in fact, in 2015 Teklehaimanot briefly wore the King of the Mountains jersey).<\/p>\n

\u201cThey come from the same town as I do and we often trained together, which is always the case,\u201d Girmay said. \u201cThat always motivated me.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on to say that it was his father who had first got him interested in cycling. \u201cWhen I was young, my father watched the Tour every summer after eating. He called us and explained how it worked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started watching it in 2011. I asked my father if I could ride the Tour de France one day. He said yes, if I continue to believe that I had a chance. Everything changed when Teklehaimanot wore the polka-dot jersey. That made me believed that I had a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than a chance, as it turned out. With three Tour stage victories to his name, and only 24 years of age, a golden future beckons the man from Asmara, Eritrea \u2013 and cycling.<\/p>\n

Final \u0160koda Green Jersey Top Five<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Biniam Girmay, Intermarch\u00e9-Wanty\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0387 points<\/li>\n
  2. Jasper Philipsen, Alpecin-Deceuninck\u00a0 \u00a0354<\/li>\n
  3. Bryan Coquard, Cofidis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0208<\/li>\n
  4. Tadej Poga\u010dar, UAE Team Emirates\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0196<\/li>\n
  5. Anthony Turgis, TotalEnergies\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0180<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I think no victory in this year\u2019s Tour de France was more welcome, or more important, than Biniam Girmay winning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":196348,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[7807,6356,5436,3453,433],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-196347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","tag-2024-tour","tag-biniam-girmay","tag-jasper-philipsen","tag-skoda-green-jersey","tag-tour-de-france","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"\nGirmay\u2019s Historic \u0160koda Green Jersey Will Change the Sport - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I think no victory in this year\u2019s Tour de France was more welcome, or more important, than Biniam Girmay winning the \u0160koda Green Jersey. It was welcomed\" \/>\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\/07\/22\/girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Girmay\u2019s Historic \u0160koda Green Jersey Will Change the Sport\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I think no victory in this year\u2019s Tour de France was more welcome, or more important, than Biniam Girmay winning the \u0160koda Green Jersey. It was welcomed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/07\/22\/girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-07-22T15:41:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2024\/07\/Biniam-Girmay-profimedia-0891297075-CVR.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\/07\/22\/girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/07\/22\/girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport\/\",\"name\":\"Girmay\u2019s Historic \u0160koda Green Jersey Will Change the Sport - \u0160koda We Love Cycling\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/07\/22\/girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/07\/22\/girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2024\/07\/Biniam-Girmay-profimedia-0891297075-CVR.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-07-22T15:41:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/50f01ecd18718d2333cf72e823c4f926\"},\"description\":\"I think no victory in this year\u2019s Tour de France was more welcome, or more important, than Biniam Girmay winning the \u0160koda Green Jersey. It was welcomed\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/07\/22\/girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/07\/22\/girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/07\/22\/girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2024\/07\/Biniam-Girmay-profimedia-0891297075-CVR.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2024\/07\/Biniam-Girmay-profimedia-0891297075-CVR.webp\",\"width\":990,\"height\":660,\"caption\":\"Will van der Poel snatch the Green Jersey this year?\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/07\/22\/girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Girmay\u2019s Historic \u0160koda Green Jersey Will Change the Sport\"}]},{\"@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":"Girmay\u2019s Historic \u0160koda Green Jersey Will Change the Sport - \u0160koda We Love Cycling","description":"I think no victory in this year\u2019s Tour de France was more welcome, or more important, than Biniam Girmay winning the \u0160koda Green Jersey. It was welcomed","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\/07\/22\/girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Girmay\u2019s Historic \u0160koda Green Jersey Will Change the Sport","og_description":"I think no victory in this year\u2019s Tour de France was more welcome, or more important, than Biniam Girmay winning the \u0160koda Green Jersey. It was welcomed","og_url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/07\/22\/girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport\/","og_site_name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling","article_published_time":"2024-07-22T15:41:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":990,"height":660,"url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2024\/07\/Biniam-Girmay-profimedia-0891297075-CVR.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\/07\/22\/girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport\/","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/07\/22\/girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport\/","name":"Girmay\u2019s Historic \u0160koda Green Jersey Will Change the Sport - \u0160koda We Love Cycling","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/07\/22\/girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/07\/22\/girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2024\/07\/Biniam-Girmay-profimedia-0891297075-CVR.webp","datePublished":"2024-07-22T15:41:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/50f01ecd18718d2333cf72e823c4f926"},"description":"I think no victory in this year\u2019s Tour de France was more welcome, or more important, than Biniam Girmay winning the \u0160koda Green Jersey. It was welcomed","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/07\/22\/girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/07\/22\/girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/07\/22\/girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2024\/07\/Biniam-Girmay-profimedia-0891297075-CVR.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2024\/07\/Biniam-Girmay-profimedia-0891297075-CVR.webp","width":990,"height":660,"caption":"Will van der Poel snatch the Green Jersey this year?"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/07\/22\/girmays-historic-skoda-green-jersey-will-change-the-sport\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Girmay\u2019s Historic \u0160koda Green Jersey Will Change the Sport"}]},{"@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\/196347","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=196347"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":196349,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196347\/revisions\/196349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196347"},{"taxonomy":"global-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/global-categories?post=196347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}