The finish line of the third stage of the Tour de France in Turin gives two important firsts to the World Tour cycling: the first victory of the Eritrean Biniam Girmay and his team, Intermarché-Wanty, at the Grand Boucle and the first yellow jersey for Ecuador Richard Carapaz (EF Education-Easypost).
Biniam Girmay “A victory for Africa and all Africans”
Visibly moved after crossing the finish line, the Eritrean runner thanked his team and family.First of all I want to thank my teammates, for giving me all the strength and support possible. Since I started cycling I never hoped to participate in the Tour de France, but now I can’t believe I won a stage, in my second participation, in a big bunch sprint. It’s incredible. I want to thank my family, my wife, all the Eritreans and Africans. We should be proud. Now we are truly part of the big races and we can win: it’s our moment, our time. I want to congratulate all my team, especially Jean François [Bourlart, DS e general manager della Intermarché-Wanty, ndr]: We haven’t won the Tour de France yet, but now is our moment and I’m very happy. This is a victory for Africa, for all Africans.
Our plan was to take Gerben Thijssen to the sprint and if the race got tougher, I would have a chance too. The team worked well but in the last km I lost Gerben’s wheel, so I tried it myself. It was incredible to win in front of the fastest in the world, for me it’s really motivating”.
Richard Carapaz: “It’s a dream to wear yellow in the most important race in the world”
Richard Carapaz was reached by Eurosport microphones immediately after the end of the stage.It’s a dream for me, with all the respect I have for the Tour, to wear yellow in the most important race in the world. I’ve always prepared well for this and to be able to enjoy a moment like this is an immense joy.
We knew we had an opportunity in the finale, but we also knew it would be the first finale for sprinters, with a lot of nervousness in the group and possible falls. I had to be well positioned. The team worked very well in the finale. They left me one kilometer from the finish with Marijn [Van den Verg, ndr] who made the final straight. It was spectacular”.
Aike Visbeek: “Today we made history”
The DS of Intermarché-Wanty commented on Biniam Girmay’s victory as follows: “My first words to the guys on the radio were: today we made history. We had a plan and the guys stayed calm and took turns in the right order. Bini was free and we were pulling for Gerben [Thijssen, ndr]. The guys took the initiative and ran with authority and positioned themselves really well, we had all the riders where we wanted them. The goal was to get Bini into the top 10 and he completed the job admirably. When he can launch a long sprint he can have incredible acceleration.
What happened today is very important: there is a whole continent that was waiting for this victory. Now that it has been achieved, we hope to have opened a window for many other African cyclists. I think it was necessary and now the world knows what happens when we give these guys a chance”.
De Lie: “Happy with third place”. Cavendish “I kept something in my legs for tomorrow”. Gaviria “Today Girmay was stronger than me”
Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny): “The team did a great job, third place is a great result. It was a very fast sprint: I was a bit blocked at the beginning but in the end I managed to sprint. Congratulations to Biniam, he deserved the victory. I didn’t see the fall, because I was on the left. I’m very happy, especially after a day like this. Not being able to achieve a result would have been frustrating but I really did a great sprint. Maybe I waited a bit too long, but this time it went like this”.
Mark Cavendish (Astana Kazakhstan): “Something had to happen: you don’t know where or when, but then you feel it happening in front of you. You approach, apply the brakes and wait for someone to hit you from behind. Luckily it went well for me and I don’t think anyone was really hurt. I don’t think anyone was okay today, maybe only Pogačar [ride]. It wasn’t an easy stage to recover, I was a bit uncomfortable all day. But it’s all ok, I kept something in my legs, since we will arrive in the Alps tomorrow”.
Fernando Gaviria (Movistar): “I’m disappointed because I wanted to try to win. Today the team worked well for me and I have to thank the guys, because I know they went beyond their role, since many are climbers. There’s little to do, we all give our all on the bike and Girmay was the fastest. Next time we’ll see, but for today Girmay was stronger than me. It was important for him, who is also a nice person, so I’m happy”.
