Eritrea's Biniam Girmay has extended his contract and committed his long-term future to Intermarché-Wanty until 2028 after a very successful Tour de France.
After making history at the Tour as the first Black African to both win a stage and win a classification with the green points jersey, Girmay will stay on Jean-François Bourlart’s Belgian squad for at least another four seasons after joining in 2021 from DELKO.
"Intermarché-Wanty is like a family to me. The results achieved during this Tour de France have confirmed that Intermarché-Wanty is the perfect team to achieve my goals, with a highly developed Performance structure but while always maintaining a family atmosphere,” said Girmay in a team release.
“In all circumstances, the team has supported and trusted me, even in the most difficult moments. Intermarché-Wanty remains my favourite team, so extending the adventure for two more years is simply an obvious choice.”
Girmay confirmed his historic green jersey triumph by finishing the stage 21 time trial in Nice safely on Sunday, with hundreds of Eritrean fans welcoming him en route to the line down the Promenade des Anglais. Now, his focus will turn to the Paris Olympics Road Race on August 3 where he will be alone on a team but have a great shot at a medal.
“I am convinced that we can still achieve great things together, and I am already looking towards the next goals, starting with the Olympic Games! I am really glad to continue this story with my beloved team,” said Girmay.
It wasn’t just one historic stage win for Girmay but three, when he added victories in Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises and Villeneuve-sur-Lot to that from Turin on stage 3, leading team boss Bourlart to assess the extension as a “no-brainer”.
"In 2021, we began a fantastic journey with Biniam Girmay. We've built on this over the past four years, culminating in this Tour de France that propelled both Biniam and our Intermarché-Wanty team to the pinnacle of world cycling,” said Bourlart.
“It was therefore a no-brainer to continue writing this story for another four years, with many more exciting moments to come, I'm sure. This also marks another step forward in the development of our team, which continues to grow year after year."
While Girmay is aiming for a medal in Paris next month, the real dream for some of his team is to go one step further than his historic win from Gent-Wevelgem in 2022 with victory at one of cycling’s five Monuments.
“The results during the Tour prove that our approach is working, and now we want to continue on this path and build further together,” said Performance Manager Aike Visbeek.
“Our next goal is to win a Monument, and we will be doing everything we can to achieve this in the coming years."
