With a little over two weeks to go until the start of the Tour de France, Biniam Girmay outlined his form as he capped off another strong NSN team performance to win stage one of the Baloise Belgium Tour on Wednesday.
Biniam, who took third in the Brussels Cycling Classic on his last outing at the start of the month, was piloted brilliantly by teammate Jake Stewart approaching the finish line, before he used his trademark sprint finish to take the victory in Scherpenheuvel-Zichem.
“I want to thank my teammates – they did a super job for me,” he says. “At the start of the season, we did some nice leadouts, but we missed some wins. Today, we did an incredible job – we were calm, and we focused on our jobs. We kept organized in the last three kilometers.
“I’m super happy to win here in Belgium. It’s super nice to win here – I’ve trained a few times on these roads, I knew the finish a little bit, and it suited me well. I’m happy to finish off the good job.”
The parcours of both today’s opener and Thursday’s second stage to the coast in Knokke-Heist are suited to sprinters, but the fastmen were almost denied their opportunity on the uphill approach to the line here. Late attacker Rune Herregodts (UEX) was still clear under the flamme rouge, but was just caught by the surging peloton approaching the line.
Biniam adds: “He was super strong – we thought he would come back early. He kept on pushing, but we were lucky we caught him before the last 100 meters! I’m happy to beat him!”
Head DS Sam Bewley noted the significance of not just the victory, but the work beforehand, as the sport’s biggest race draws closer.
“That was a really important win for a few reasons,” he says. “It’s the first time we’ve put the whole sprint group together around Bini since the start of the year, and also the first time we’ve integrated Jake into the group.
“It’s important to come to this race, get the group together, execute sprints, and understand what we can do better ahead of the Tour de France.
“Obviously, our focus on top of executing is to win. We know Bini likes to win, and to win before the Tour, and when we have all the best sprinters in this race, that brings a confidence boost to everyone.
“Momentum from this going into the Tour is really important, so we’re on track. It’s a great start to the race, and we have a few more stages to try and execute some more sprints.”