Eritrean becomes first Black African to win Tour de France stage | DW News

an Eritrean cyclist has made history at this year’s Tour de France. Biniam Girmay has become the first Black African to win a stage during the famous race.
Celebrating the moment, the 24-year-old rider dedicated his stage 3 victory to “the continent of Africa.”
Later posting on social media… ”Let me open the door.” A reference to his ambition to inspire more Africans to take up the sport.

00:00 Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay wins stage 3 in Tour de France
00:52 DW speaks with David Kinjah, Kenyan cycling pioneer and former pro
06:05 DW speaks with Kimberly Coats, CEO of Team Africa Rising

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#TourDeFrance2024 #Eritrea #BiniamGirmay

an Eritrean cyclist has made history at this year’s tour to France binam G has become the first black African to win a stage during the famous race celebrating the moment the 24-year-old Ryder dedicated his stage three Victory to the continent of Africa later posting on social media let me open the door a reference to his ambition to inspire more Africans to take up the sport difference is also a really big motiv ation uh for the local Riders because yeah this is uh yeah one of the most uh uh known race in Asmara so I think uh our achievement uh it can help them a lot so yeah I’m still uh hoping to to shine more and then to give them more motivation David ker Kenyan cycling Pioneer and former pro joins us from naromoru in Kenya just after a uh good to have you on the program with us um what’s your reaction to Bam G’s achievement at the tour to France uh it’s more easily go like yeah you know but uh this is this is a great achievement for all of Africa you know we’ve been waiting for so long to get somebody who can win stages for us and you know b g is more of a sprinter and uh he can already do these things he want the Jalia stage two years ago and now the T France we need to have now our African Riders winning the mountain stages because we are more of uh lighter and mountain people than sprinters but this is incredible incredible incredible fit for G G what does it take to to get to that level uh it’s a lot of hard work you know patiency a lot of determination you know you you you have to overcome a lot of challenges coming all the way from H Africa Into the Heart of Europe Into the Heart of the biggest challenge in cycling ever and looking at erria such a small country that has been in war for many many many years so this is this is this is the real winning of the war that has been in their land and this is huge for Africa can you tell us about your experiences as a a pro cyclist from Kenya from Africa and how the scene has changed since that time uh everything changes and recently things changing very very quickly because of the advancement of Technology uh obviously uh I was among the first uh black Africans to actually go into the heart of Europe and actually get to sign a professional contract with a professional team in Italy back in the days that is 2000 2001 2003 there were very very few few black Africans finding their way into the European cycling scene I was lucky enough that I got sponsored by Shimano to ride a big mountain bike race in Australia which was the version basically the mountain bike version of TW France back in the days that was the Crocodile trophy in Australia and uh from this event I finished seventh overall and uh I quickly got an Italian team interested in signing me in to try road but they were not very uh sure that I can do Road cycling but when they realized that I was actually a road cyclist more than a mountain biker so I ended up going to Bergamo in Italy and I I signed a two-year contract with the index Alexia uh but unfortunately the team the team collapsed in the beginning of 2003 season what were those major challenges you you faced you mentioned you did get this sort of sponsorship deal but I’m I’m guessing finances is is usually one of the major things that would affect cyclists on the continent how do you deal with these these issues how did you overcome them yeah African survivors uh that’s what we call you know we call them survivors on the bicycle so the first and foremost is the bicycle is a tool for for them to survive you know it’s a it’s a working tool you they use it everywhere but uh when it comes to sports and competition wise then you need to oftenly update the equipment and uh you have to train and you have to ride a lot and this means you need money you need budgets and this is where the challenge number one comes in right and another form of leadership you mentored uh the cycling Legend Chris FR H how important is this kind of mentorship on the local scene and local support and developing cycling talent in Africa yeah there’s uh a lot of group now coming up and realizing that it is very beneficial to do the Grassroots work that is to develop young uh boys and girls into the sports you know at an early age we have here in Kenya now uh inos setting up a camp inen where the runners come from and uh recruiting lots of youngsters to learn early and then we have the Kenyan Riders and of course my project the Safari simbas with room on board supporting me and uh we we we see the importance of grooming these people young and when you look into the history of itria they had lots of this kind of grooming coming through the ages and you see people like bam gri these are like the third fourth generation of efforts done in the past so we’re looking in the same way in East Africa right David kja Kenyon cycling p we appreciate you taking the time to speak to us thank you very much thank you let’s speak to Kimberly coats CEO of Team Africa Rising a nonprofit organization that promotes and supports cycling development in Africa good to have you on the program Kimberly you’ve spent years supporting cycling as a sport in Africa just how big is binam G’s achievement for the sport on the continent it’s huge it’s an epic moment for African saing and Bam’s win is all about representation and representation matters and he is the only black African in the prop pellaton at the tour to France and our kids throughout the continent see that and they see him win and they too believe right well we’ll get to that development stage in a bit but just looking at that level that top level what are the main barriers for African cyclists when they’re competing uh you know at levels like that at the tour to France it it begins with them as really young children having even an access even access to a bike and then it’s about access to races there’s not a lot of races on the continent and the races that are there are not at the highest levels so some of the challenge becomes how do we get the kids to Europe um Europe is is the gold standard that’s where they learn the most then you have the challenge of visas because getting especially Juniors into Europe to train is really challenging and you know the cost of it all I mean you have kids in Europe and Kids In America who have parents that have credit cards our kids are sometimes the Breadwinners of their families and they have to support families on top of that so pretty much by the time one of our African writers makes it to the start line of a race like the tour to France they have overcome so much just to get to that point you deal with them on the ground what kinds of programs does team Africa Rising run we look at it from a holistic perspective so not only are we looking for in training cyclists but we’re also training coaches we’re training mechanics we’re building mechanic networks and those in Turn end up becoming mechanic and bike shops um so that it also provides income we train Sor administrative staff because we do know that most kids will not make it to Bam’s level just it’s super competitive competitive and they might not make it so if they’re not going to make it what can they do within the sport how do we keep them in the sport and make it so that they can have an income and and continue to grow the sport long after we’re gone and if you’re to grow the sport what needs to happen for more of them to truly get to that stage what are the the key things the key things are investment we need lots of money there’s there’s groups like ours that work on the ground but our budget is super small and we do a lot with a little bit of money um we’re only talking a couple hundred, is what we work with and it’s matter of collaborating with all the different groups working on the ground it’s it’s federations um because federations are really strong on the continent it’s about federations knowing more about the sport and not succumbing to corruption that is Rife throughout the sport um at the Federation level and it’s about we have to do something about the Visa issue that that is our biggest stumbling block I I have a young woman who was signed by Canyon Shram Wildlife um in Uganda and she can’t get her visa and it’s just frustrating because she’s talented she’s got the skills to make it I have a team that wants her and we can’t get her out of Uganda so that’s that’s our biggest challenge right you you’ve spoken about the the W the young woman there we seen a black African man have this huge achievement what are what about the women’s uh the continent’s women women uh what are their chances on the big stage you know they have the talent the talent is there it’s it’s getting them access to good equipment proper training coaching nutrition but then with women you have the whole you have a whole another side of it which is cultural um women are not seen as the the group that should be riding bgs and generally the women get whatever is left after after the men get everything you also have cultural issues with families not understanding why a woman would want to race um they in some countries they get married super young there’s so much pressure to have children get married have children and those are all things in addition to all the challenges we have with men that we then stack on with women okay uh we’ll be looking to see how things develop over time Kimberly coats it’s been great having you on the program Kimberly coats CEO of Team Africa Rising thank you so much