Binian Girmay wins stage of the Tour de France

Biniam Girmay has made cycling history. The 24-year-old was the first professional from Eritrea to win a stage of the Tour de France. Girmay stormed to victory in Turin on day three of the national tour.

After the 230.8 flat kilometers between Piacenza and the northern metropolis of Turin, the sprinter from the team around Georg Zimmermann from Augsburg surprisingly won in a hectic final spurt ahead of Colombian Fernando Gaviria and Belgian Arnaud de Lie,It was the first victory for the Intermarché team.

Carapaz takes over yellow jersey

The Belgian sprint king Jasper Philipsen came away empty-handed, did not finish in the top ten and missed his seventh Tour victory. Philipsen’s most important helper Mathieu van der Poel, the current world champion, suffered a defect just six kilometers from the finish and was unable to provide decisive help to his team colleague.

The German sprinter Phil Bauhaus finished sixth. Even veteran Mark Cavendish did not come close to his desired record for sole stage victory.

The overall standings remain close. Richard Carapaz took over the yellow jersey of overall winner from superstar Tadej Pogacar. The Ecuadorian benefited from being a few places ahead of Pogacar on the sprint stage. In total, four riders are tied in the overall rankings, including defending champion Jonas Vingegaard and young Belgian star Remco Evenepoel. When determining the overall winner, the cyclist with the best average placings will be the one in front.

Aldag calm despite Roglic’s time loss

Primoz Roglic is currently not among the top four. As expected, the shooting star of the top German team Red Bull did not make a big jump back into the ranks of the other top riders. The day before, the Slovenian’s lead over fellow countryman Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel had grown to 21 seconds. But his team remained relaxed. “We lost a bit of time, but it felt like we didn’t lose the Tour. And that’s a good thing,” said sports director Rolf Aldag.

After two exhausting days in Italy with high temperatures, it had cooled down at the beginning of the week. Fewer neck cooling packs and ice vests were visible in the riders’ field. Mark Cavendish must have had a lot of energy. On the first day, he collapsed after the start in Florence on the first climb, had to vomit and only just managed to cross the finish line, 39 minutes behind the French day winner Romain Bardet.

Cavendish with mechanical defect

On the third day of the Tour, Cavendish, who is desperate to score his 35th stage win and claim the sole record ahead of legend Eddy Merckx, suffered another minor setback. With 89 kilometers to go, he had a mechanical problem and fell back. However, he returned to the field shortly afterwards, which remained largely closed throughout the race.

Only 66 kilometers from the finish did Frenchman Fabien Grellier launch a powerful attackgrabbed the mountain points on the Côte de Sommariva Perno and was caught again just 28 kilometers from the end of the stage. After that, the teams were all focused on the mass sprint.

On Tuesday, there could be major changes in the overall rankings for the top favorites around Pogacar and Vingegaard. The professionals will ride over the 2,642-meter-high Tour classic Col du Galibier. In total, the first kilometers of the race in France after the start in Italy will be 139.6 kilometers from Pinerolo to Valloire.