From Dreaming in Eritrea to Starting at the Tour de France: Biniam Girmay’s Incredible Rise

With the 2024 Tour de France drawing ever so near, the road-cycling fandom is
already in the grips of the race’s allure. Since we are focused on deeply personal
experiences, memories, and connections with the Tour this year, Matt Stephens also
made this podcast instalment into a Tour de France special. The guest today is
Biniam Girmay and the topic is the Tour made personal.

Hello everybody, I hope you’re doing well. Matt Stephens here for another very special Tour de France We Love Cycling video podcast. And this one is with none other than Biniam Girmay of Intermaché–Wanty. Now Biniam talks to me about his inspiration, his love of the Tour de France, how he first heard about the Tour de France back in Eritrea and what it was like to ultimately ride the race itself. This is really inspirational stuff, enjoy. Fantastic, Biniam, firstly, thank you very much for joining us on We Love of Cycling. This is gonna be a Tour de France special podcast. Yeah, it’s gonna be special, I think, as I always love to race the Tour de France, especially when you cross the finish, you always see We Love of Cycling by Škoda. So yeah, it’s a pleasure. Thank you very much. Now, firstly, I need to congratulate you on a win yesterday in Belgium. Thanks for that. After your disappointment in the Giro, must be good to be back in good form and winning again. Absolutely, yeah, it was a nice comeback. The Giro was a bad luck, I was really disappointed, but yeah, now it’s a comeback with the winning, it’s always nice. So yeah, I’m really looking forward to the next season now. Fantastic, so we’re gonna focus on the Tour de France. Okay, so Biniam, can you take me back in time, in your mind, okay, to your earliest memory of the Tour de France as a young man? What’s your earliest memory of the Tour? Yeah, it just was special, just like a dream. It’s really special, like, yeah, I started following the Tour de France, I can’t remember, really young, I think, with my parents, because, yeah, they are really big fans of the Tour de France, especially my father. And yeah, I can remember the first time I watched the Tour de France, maybe I was like four, five years at that time. You hear me, Matt? Yes, I can, mate. Sorry, there’s a little bit of a delay. Don’t worry, I can hear you. Oh, you’ve gone again. Hello. That’s it, okay, we’re good. Yeah, I can remember exactly which year is the first time I watched because I was like four or five years old. But the first thing I really realised the Tour de France was 2011, 2012, the time Sagan won and then had a fantastic celebration, just like flying around and running, It was really good, a good inspiration for me, that year was like special. Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome winning, and yeah, it was really nice time to have this memory. I’m also really happy to remember always this kind of memory. And then now to be part of the Tour de France, it’s always a pleasure for me to go to the Tour de France. So when you were watching as a small boy, the Tour in those days, did you ever think that you would be a professional? Did you ever believe that you could be at the Tour at this age or was it just a dream? No, at that time, it was just a dream because at that time, I just started cycling when I was 12 years old, in 2012. Yeah, just like how do you call it? Just like a dream, just like, ah, Tour de France, ah, whatnot. And then I just really believed to be a part of the Tour de France for the first time when Teklehaimanot and Kudus were part of the 2015 Tour and then when he won the polka-dot jersey, when he arrived on the podium, I really cried. I was like, how is it possible to have an Eritrean rider on the podium? Yeah, and then from that one on, I just really believed, okay, maybe one day I will be a part of the Tour de France. And yeah, that was really the best moment, I think, for Eritrean cyclists in 2015. And then from that one on, it’s just like everybody’s believing, like, okay, maybe one day, we will be part of the Tour de France. But before that, I was just a kid, dreaming, and just like, ‘oh, okay, Tour de France, ah, yeah.’ So it’s a big race and yeah… It is amazing. I remember watching the images back in 2015. I think it was when Daniel Teklehaimanot came back. – Yeah. – And the reception at the airport, all the fans, clearly we know the Eritrean fans love the Tour de France, love cycling, don’t they? Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Tour de France is like, you can imagine, there are no movies in the cinemas. It’s only the Tour de France in those rooms. It’s like all the cinemas, the coffee bars, even every single house when you go inside is just watching the Tour de France. It’s more than you can imagine. It’s really huge, the fans of the Tour de France in Eritrea, especially in Asmara where I grew up, they’re really crazy about the Tour de France. So they’re always asking me as the season starts, ‘you going to the Tour de France?’ I say, yes, ah, that’s gonna be good. Yeah, it’s like, really nice. That’s fantastic. So, your first Tour was last year. Can you just explain then what it was like going to the Tour? And you were, obviously, you’d had some leading to the Tour de France last year, you won a stage at the Giro, Gent-Wevelgem, and you were a big, big rider. Your journey within the last couple of years has been amazing, okay? But just try and describe the feeling when you finally got to the Tour. What was that like for you? Yeah, it was like the best moment in my life, to be honest. I really enjoyed it, just the one thing I learned is the Tour de France, it’s really hard. Yes. Really hard. I just thought, oh, the Tour de France, it’s nice. If you are watching it on the TV, especially when I was young, you see a lot of nature, a lot of green areas, a lot of cities. And I was just thinking at that time back then, like when I was young, maybe they enjoyed the ride. It’s also a lot to pass through the Champs-Elysées, but it is not like this. The Tour de France is the hardest, it’s everything, the pressure, the media, and the race itself. Yeah, it was like a really nice experience to have it in your career, but it is also really hard. It has to be hard also, because all the best riders in the world, they are part of the Tour de France. So that makes the race harder, but last year for me was like, before I started the first race, just really all the night before, I’m thinking, I’m really gonna be a part of the Tour de France this year. And then, yeah, and then when the first time when you have the départ, yeah, I was just like, especially on the, how do you call it, on the […], I really enjoyed it, because we had in Bilbao, we have 12 km, I really enjoyed like– Oh, it’s tranquil like a little cafe ride. Yeah, I really enjoyed it, and then especially when I arrive in Champs-Elysées, I’m really happy, proud, because this is what I dream of, and then to be part of the Tour de France, and to achieve also some podiums at the place, Champs-Elysées place, yeah, that’s really amazing. It’s an amazing journey so far. And what about the Eritrean fans who travel to the Tour de France, because there’s a lot of them, a lot of Colombian fans, a lot of fans from all over the world, of course, but the Eritrean fans follow you around, don’t they, and wait, what is that like? Yeah, that’s nice. Sometimes it’s always, it’s a big expectation from you, because for sure, they would like to watch you win the races. But in the Tour de France, I already said also to the Eritrean fans, I say the Tour de France is gonna be tough, a tough one, because yeah, it’s gonna be the best sprinters in the world. They are there, the best teams, they are there, everything. And also first time the Tour de France is always not easy. And this is what I said also, but yeah, I have also, I would say, a big expectation for myself, a lot of pressure. But to see the fans, it’s always nice. You know, it’s like, I remember the time back, Colombia, when Esteban Chavez, and also Uran is there, and Quintana, you know, I’m always like, how you say, a bit shy, like, ah, these guys, how they handle these things. But now all the Eritrean fans come to support me, that was, you know, nice. On the other hand, it’s a bit of a pressure, but on the other hand also, it’s always proud, because even if you see the big champions from different countries, from France or from Belgium, they don’t have this kind of people, you know, with the flag. So it’s always nice to have them, this kind of culture. So I’m really happy and proud, especially when I saw them after the race, it’s always nice, you know, just makes me relax or makes me happy. That’s brilliant. And what do you hope, I mean, you’re still, you’re still a very young man. You’re only 24, I’m correct, 24 years of age. Let’s hope you have a long career ahead of you. But when you maybe look back on your career, what sort of legacy would you like to leave behind to inspire riders or young athletes in Eritrea? What do you hope to achieve? Yeah, I think more or less, thank God, everything is successful at the moment, because like I said, for me, they inspire me a lot. Daniel Teklehaimanot, they show me I can do it or African riders can do it, especially Eritrean riders can do it. So also, yeah, I always want to win as much as I can because I want to tell them it’s possible, everything is possible. If you believe, if you keep working hard, doesn’t matter the colour, you can achieve whether you’re black or white. So yeah, this is the only thing I need to tell them, to show them, we can do it. We can win races also. We can be leaders in different things. So we can climb, we can sprint, we can do also time trial. So the one thing that I only hope to win, it’s the Tour de France because like I said, it’s the Tour de France. It’s more than you can imagine. Even if there is no Eritrean rider, they just watch all around Asmara, all around Eritrea. So especially if there is one rider from us, he really represents so much to them. So yeah, I’m always searching to have victory in the Tour de France to just show them we can do it. And then we can also win stages in the Tour de France. And yeah, the other thing is I always like to have African riders in the bunch. We need to make a global or international racing like the other sports, like football or other things. And yeah, it’s always nice to have more victory in your career of course, especially in the Tour de France. So yeah, I hope I can achieve this. And right now, Biniam, who inspires you now? Is there a rider or is there somebody in your life who inspires you right now? Yeah, to be honest, I always say to different media, like Sagan is one of the best. I like personally sprinters. Like when I was growing up, I like sprinters more, like Cavendish. And yeah, a lot of people, but to just say the name now, it’s like, they really inspire me a lot, especially Cavendish, especially Sagan, how he celebrates in all his Classics. Because when you watch it, you like more of a show. The guys, they do a lot of show and a lot of act and then you like this more. And then I don’t know why but in Eritrea, the green jersey is more famous. Really? The green jersey, it’s always more loved by the Eritrean people. So I don’t know why, the yellow and the green, they’re more famous, but the other stuff, the white jersey, they don’t care. And then yeah, so I think because of that, I am more inspired by the Sagan generation. And when you think about it, when you look at the sort of rider you are, you’re very fast, you can climb okay, you can get over the hilly stages. Maybe one day the green jersey is something that you could wear or go for. You have to think like this because of all the riders currently in the peloton today, for me, you would be one of the riders who I think could compete for the green jersey because of your consistency on the harder terrain as well. Yeah, I think this is what I’m working for in the future, to be honest. And yeah, because it’s possible, maybe. Yeah. Maybe one day, but in the Tour de France, it’s gonna be hard, but yeah, I still keep believing that. And yeah, the first thing is first, I’m really searching for the victory first. And then after that, I still have plenty of time, I hope, for the future. But yeah, for the moment, I’m really searching for the victory because that’s already quite not easy. Because a lot of professional riders, I have also a different story, they never had a Tour victory even. So if you have the Tour de France, it’s always people, if they ask you on the street, if you say I’m a rider, they just ask you, ‘Do you have the Tour de France?’ Yes. It’s always nice to have a victory, but to have the green jersey, it’s, how I can say, it’s more than I can dream of. So yeah, but it’s for the future for sure. I’m also working for, I’m working on that, just to prepare myself, to do it like I said, like hard finale, flat sprint. And yeah, just to try to improve myself, to try to compete for the green jersey. Okay, I’m gonna, this is an interesting little question now. If A.S.O. said to you, Biniam, you can design your own stage, you can design the Biniam-Girmay Tour de France stage. Where would it, what would it look like? Where in France would it be perhaps, the Biniam-Girmay Tour de France stage? What do you think that would look like? Yeah, it’s more or less like kind of a Classic race I would like, not flat for sure, but to have it kind of like a hard finale, the last part of the race can be like yesterday up and down, or hills, and then you do a short hill and then down, and then you’re gonna finish the race. This kind of race, I’m also more, more fast in this kind of race. I have more chances to win the race. So I would create this in the south of France, maybe, I think. Well, I think what you’re saying, you’d like a stage like the Napoli stage in the Giro, when you- Exactly, yes. That’s fantastic. So what is your preparation now leading to the Tour de France? You clearly, you’re in good form. What is your last race before you head to the Tour? So far, I’m already doing better after my crash. I already did super preparations, to be honest, for the Giro. I did everything perfectly, the altitude camp, and everything was perfect. I was in my best shape before Giro, but yeah, I couldn’t show my performance. Just the only chance I could show it was this one sprint stage, I was third. And then after that was, yeah, there was no way to continue, but that’s why I want to use my form to continue racing. And then for the moment, it’s still the same plan to approach the Tour de France. I will do my last race on Sunday, a Brussels Classic. That’s also a nice race. And then after that, I will also go for an altitude camp to prepare myself for the national championships. I hope maybe I can have the jersey. -That’s gonna be nice. -Nice, yeah. And yeah, but now Sunday is my last race. And then afterwards,an I fly straight home and then I will do altitude camp. And that’s gonna be my last race, the national championships, before the Tour de France. Okay, well, I wanna wish you all the best. Hopefully, well, I will see you at the Tour de France. I’ll be there doing the interview. So hopefully we’ll have another conversation at the Tour. But good luck. I have one final question for you. Somebody that’s watching this who wants, who’s maybe in Africa or somebody, or just a young child who wants to be inspired, what advice would you give them in relation to ultimately wanting to maybe turn professional? What advice would you give? Yes, especially to the African riders. I just want to give two bits of advice. The first thing is: trust yourself, keep working hard. And then it’s number two: it’s vitamin N. You know this, I think. What vitamin N, tell me? It’s Never give up, so. Ah, okay, I like that. I like that, vitamin N, Never give up. That’s brilliant. These two things should be on their mind, I think, for sure. One day, they can find their dream. So that’s also what I’m doing still now. Just keep working hard, living by myself, and then also never give up because for sure, there is a lot of obstacles, a lot of bad things or bad events, but just keep living, never give up. For sure, one day you will reach your goal. So I just need to give them this advice. Keep continuing, keep riding, keep believing in yourself, and then never give up again. Fantastic, Biniam, it’s been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for talking to me. See you at the Tour de France, all the very best. Yeah, see you soon. Thanks, mate. Thanks, mate.