Biniam Girmay recorded his sixth top-five finish – and best Spring Classics result – of the season so far at Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday, narrowly missing out on a podium after a dramatic finish.
One day before his 26th birthday, Biniam finished fourth, narrowly placing second in the bunch sprint after long-range attacker Wout Van Aert was pipped to victory in sight of the line by Filippo Ganna.
“A podium would have been nice, but at least we’re back in the game,” says Biniam. “That’s important.”
Today’s showing from his teammates was also encouraging, with the race forming part of the Belgian “Holy Week”, which culminates with the Ronde Van Vlaanderen on Sunday.
Matîs Louvel, Riley Sheehan, and Lewis Askey all showed encouraging signs of form, with the trio either spending time in short-lived attacks or contributing to bring back others, during a race that averaged 48.483kph.
“It was a tough race from the start,” adds Biniam. “It was not easy to control because everybody wanted to make the race hard.
“In the end, most attacks came back, but we saw how strong Wout and Ganna are. We tried for the podium by winning the sprint [for third place], but fourth is OK.”