Girmay: There are two sides to being a World Championships contender

Biniam Girmay (centre) trains with his Eritrean teammates
Girmay (centre) training on the Worlds road race course with his Eritrean teammates (Image credit: SprintCyclingAgency©2022)

A year ago, Biniam Girmay sprinter to silver in the under-23 road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Leuven, but such is his success this season, the 22-year old Eritrean is a dangerous outsider for Sunday's race and a real concern for major nations like Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Italy.

Back in the spring, Girmay outmanoeuvred his Classics rivals and then outsprinted Christophe Laporte, Dries van Gestel and Jasper Stuyven to win Gent-Wevelgem and become the first African rider to win a WorldTour Classic.

Stephen Farrand
Head of News

Stephen is one of the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.

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