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Wednesday, May 18, 2022
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2021 Tour de France | 2022 Giro d'Italia
To me, every hour of the day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle. - Walt Whitman
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Current racing:
- May 6 - 29: Giro d'Italia
Upcoming racing:
- May 21: Veenendaal - Veenendaal
- May 21: Tour du Finistère
Latest completed racing:
- May 15: Tro-Bro Léon
- May 14: Grand Prix du Morbihan
- May 3 - 8: 4 Jours de Dunkerque
- April 26 - May 1: Tour de Romandie
- April 29 - May 1: Vuelta Asturias
- May 1: Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn - Frankfurt
- April 24: Liège-Bastogne-Liège
The winner of stage 10 was not able to start stage 11 after he was it in the eye by the cork from a champagne bottle on the podium while celebrating his stage in. Here is the statement from Girmay's Team Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert:
Biniam Girmay will not appear at the start of the eleventh stage of the Tour of Italy in Santarcangelo di Romagna this Wednesday. The winner of the tenth stage, this Tuesday in Jesi, was victim of an incident on the podium. His left eye was hit and after the podium ceremony the Eritrean rider was immediately taken to the hospital in Jesi for medical examinations. These revealed damage in the left eye, which require the utmost care and rest.
So in consultation with the medical and sportive staff, the decision has been made that Biniam Girmay will not start anymore in this Giro d’Italia, which he is leaving with a stage victory, a second place and three other top five finishes. Team Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux stays ambitious for this 105th edition of the Giro, with a selection that is able to chase more stage victories and is aiming to finish with one rider in the top ten of the final classification.
"Following an incident on the podium, medical examinations revealed a hemorrhage in the anterior chamber of the left eye of Biniam Girmay. His injury is evolving in the right direction and will be followed up by a medical team in the next days. In order to minimize the risk of expansion of the hemorrhage and the intraocular pressure, it is strongly recommended to avoid physical activity. Our priority is a complete healing of the injury and that's why we decided together with the rider and the sports direction that Biniam will not appear at the start of the eleventh stage." - Piet Daneels (Team Doctor)
"From the opening stage, Biniam Girmay showed that we were right to believe in our chances to win a stage. It is remarkable to see how his teammates go though fire each day to obtain the best possible result and how happy everyone is to work with him. So his victory brought out an intense feeling of euphoria within the team. The news about the incident felt like a cold shower, but Biniam joined us now and we celebrated the victory together. It is of course a pity to loose an element like Biniam, but the advice of the medical team is clear and the health of Biniam is our priority. However, I stay optimistic because the whole team is making an excellent impression since the start of the race. Rein Taaramäe, for example, proved on the Etna that we can be in the mix for the stage win by anticipating, just like last year. I also saw that several riders grew during the first week. In each of the next stages, we'll try to seize opportunities. We'll also continue to focus on the general classification of Domenico Pozzovivo. With his current form and his experience, his chances to finish among the ten best riders are realistic. With Jan Hirt we even have a second rider in the top fifteen of the provisional classification and in the past we have seen that his best performances occur in the third week. This Wednesday we will start with one asset less, but our determination remains unchanged!!" - Valerio Piva (Sports Director)
We posted the report from seventh-place Romain Bardet's Team DSM with the results.
Stage winner Biniam Girmay's Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert team posted this:
This Tuesday, the riders of Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux enabled Biniam Girmay Hailu to write a new page of cycling history at the end of the tenth stage of the Tour of Italy (2.UWT).
In his first Grand Tour, the 22-year old rider from Eritrea triumphed at the end of a 196-kilometer stage between Pescara and Jesi, by defeating Mathieu van der Poel in a bunch sprint.
Biniam Girmay wins stage ten ahead of Mathieu van der Poel. RCS Sport photo
From the first until the last kilometer, his teammates did everything they could to ensure a group sprint in the streets of Jesi. Barnabas Peák and Aimé De Gendt first controlled the gap to the three men breakaway in the first race half along the flat Adriatic coastline.
Once they entered the hilly second race half, Rein Taaramäe, Loïc Vliegen and Lorenzo Rota neutralized all breakaway attempts in the peloton until they caught the early breakaway with 20 kilometer to go.
GC riders Domenico Pozzovivo and Jan Hirt accelerated on the final climb Monsano to distance the remaining sprinters and set the pace in the final 10 kilometers to neutralize all breakaway attempts.
Rota and Pozzovivo led the peloton under the red flag to launch Girmay. He started his effort with 300 meter to go and resisted to van der Poel, obtaining the eighth success of the team in 2022.
Thanks to this historical victory, Girmay is only three points behind Arnaud Démare in the battle for the maglia ciclamino, one the eve of an opportunity for sprinters between Santarcangelo di Romagna and Reggio Emilia.
Domenico Pozzovivo and Jan Hirt finished this tenth stage in the first group and stay eighth and fourteenth in the general classification.
“We came to this Giro with the aim to win a stage, knowing that if I succeeded, I would enter cycling history. After several top five finishes, I became the first black African to win a Grand Tour stage! I'm so grateful for the support of my teammates, the staff, my family, all people encouraging me! They are there for me every day, this victory belongs to them. My teammates all rode in the front for me. Barnabás Peák, Loïc Vliegen, Aimé De Gendt, Rein Taaramäe, Lorenzo Rota and even our GC riders Jan Hirt and Domenico Pozzovivo gave everything to give me the opportunity to take this win. In the final 600 meter, Domenico shouted that I had to follow him. He launched me perfectly. This victory makes me so happy!” - Biniam Girmay
There is this important news about Girmay, who was injured by a champagne cork during the the win celebration from AFP-Agence France Press:
Biniam Girmay claimed stage 10 of the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday to create history as the first Black African to win on any of the three grand tours but his celebrations were cut short by a champagne cork.
Girmay was struck in his face when fumbling with a magnum bottle on the winners' podium, leaving him rubbing and holding his left eye.
A champagne cork can fly at up to 50mph (80kph) as it leaves a bottle and Girmay appeared deeply agitated as he was led into an ambulance and taken to hospital.
The cyclist had placed the bottle on the floor and bent over it as he undid the binding before the cork flew off hitting him from close range.
Girmay's team said a decision would be made Wednesday morning on whether or not he would continue in the race.
The 22-year-old Eritrean had proven too strong for Dutch ace Mathieu van der Poel, who threw up his hands in resignation after a long struggle for the line at Jesi.
Biniam Girmay upon leaving the hospital. From the Tweet by Renaat Schotte.
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Here's the report from fourth-place Wilco Kelderman's Team Bora-hansgrohe:
After the rest day, the race started with a 100 km flat section along the Adriatic coast before the second half of the race went over some short climbs inland to Jesi. With Jai Hindley and Emanuel Buchmann, BORA - hansgrohe was represented by two GC riders in the top-10 in the race and wanted to make sure that the duo reached the finish line safely.
Early on, a small breakaway distanced itself but their efforts ultimately remained unrewarded. After the last of the escapees were reeled back in, the peloton had thinned out considerably. In the final climb, a number of attacks ensued from this group, which included Wilco Kelderman, Emanuel Buchmann and Jai Hindley. However, the three BORA - hansgrohe riders were sure to remain very alert to any moves.
On the finishing straight, the stage came down to a sprint from a group of about 30 riders, which was taken out by Biniam Girmay. Wilco crossed the finish line in fourth place, while Emanuel and Jai finished in 16th and 23rd place respectively, with the same time as the winner, and thus remain unchanged in the top-10 in the overall standings.
Twenty-eight riders were in the front group that contested the sprint.
"The final today was actually not so easy and the reduced peloton went pretty fast on the last climb. I tried to launch an attack before the final but the pace was too high for that. At the end Jai actually rode a super lead-out for me, but with all the fast men still around it didn't work out in the end. Then I tried something in the final and I'm pretty happy with my fourth place." - Wilco Kelderman
"We knew what was waiting for us, especially in the second part of the stage, which was really a roller coaster. That was really a tough job from our helpers to keep our classification riders in good position all the time. But they managed that well and we were in the front reduced group until the end with everyone we wanted there at the end. With his fourth place Wilco has rounded off today's performance and has brought in another good result. It was important for us not to lose any time to our main rivals in the overall classification. And we succeeded in doing that with a good performance from our guys." - Jens Zemke, Sports Director
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Here's the report from fifth-place Richard Carapaz's Team INEOS Grenadiers:
Richard Carapaz was able to animate the closing kilometres of stage 10 at the Giro despite a brief crash earlier in the stage.
The Ecuadorian went down with around 78 kilometres to go but was quickly back in the peloton with his teammates. The stage had potentially looked like one for the sprinters but ended up being far more selective due to an aggressively raced finale.
A group of just 28 riders crossed the line together in Jesi, with Carapaz able to sprint to fifth, narrowly missing out on a few bonus seconds. The Grenadiers had upped the pace late on, with Carapaz himself even launching a momentary acceleration as the GC contenders sounded out their rivals.
Richard Carapaz finishing fourth. Sirotti photo.
Carapaz remains fourth overall, just 15 seconds back on the pink jersey as we approach the half way point of the race. Richie Porte slipped back four places to 20th in the closing stages.
Richard Carapaz:
"In principal today's stage seemed like it was going to be an easy one, but in the end it was a bit complicated. There was a moment when we were descending and there was a lot of tension and I ended up coming down on one side, but I’m fine, nothing serious happened, just a bit of road rash.
"The guys did an amazing job, towards the end I was feeling good, I tried to go to see if there was a possibility to take some seconds by not letting it come down to a sprint, but in the end I came fifth on the stage amongst the sprinters, so I’m pretty happy with that."
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And here's the report from sixth-place Koen Bouwman's Team Jumbo-Visma:
Koen Bouwman has finished the tenth stage of the Giro d’Italia in sixth place. The 196-kilometre stage along the Adriatic coast was unleashed on the Monsano climb, partly due to Team Jumbo-Visma. The 28-year-old Dutchman was in the front group and sprinted to a place of honour in Jesi.
Here's Koen Bouwman winning stage seven. Sirotti photo
The tenth stage’s course had two faces. From the start in Pescara, the first half was flat, the last eighty kilometres went into hilly terrain. Edoardo Affini and Tobias Foss were often in the front of the bunch in the opening phase, but their attempts to be in the day’s breakaway were unsuccessful. A leading group of three held on until the final.
The peloton remained in control throughout the day and Foss and others prevented small attacks. The Norwegian champion tried to escape on the Monsano, but the pack did not let him go. Subsequent attacks on the climb and descent were also unsuccessful, but the peloton lost quite a few riders.
“It was a tough day”, sports director Marc Reef said. “The pace was high in the first hundred kilometres. From the start of the hill section, the pace only went up further. Because there was a lot of control in the peloton, we tried to make the group as small as possible for Pascal Eenkhoorn. We did that with Tobias from the foot of the last climb, so the pace increased again. The classification riders briefly picked up that pace, leaving less than thirty men at the top. Pascal could not quite catch up, but we had Koen, Sam and Gijs Leemreize in front. Afterward, we put Koen in position and he sprinted to a nice sixth place. The fight and willingness our riders showed was good to see. It is a sign of freshness, both mentally and physically. It provides hope for the coming days.”
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