The year 2023 did not meet Biniam Girmay’s expectations as he had hoped. The 23-year-old Eritrean cyclist only won two victories and did not stand out in classic events. As a result, Intermarché-Wanty’s main sprinter was unable to repeat the success of the excellent year 2022.
“There are several reasons for this, but basically its base was very narrow”, explains performance director Aike Visbeek to the Dutch website WielerFlits . “We saw a lot of things we wanted to approach differently.”
A surprising aspect, the team is looking for a home in Belgium for Girmay, for the period between competitions.
Girmay loses form after returning from Eritrea
After the relative failure of 2023, the Walloon team has been looking for a way to improve conditions for their leader.
“You’re always looking for things that can be improved with your riders. For Bini, these are mainly the training weeks when he returns from Eritrea or altitude. We lost a lot of quality and volume there.”
Hotel do Star Wars
“Other issues why things didn’t go well were because we were in an exhibition hotel during the period of the classic events. A year earlier it was still a family hotel. Everyone felt good there, the food was good and everything was peaceful. Details, but very important.”
“Now the hotel has taken a 180-degree turn,” describes Visbeek. He explains this using a concrete example.
“The morning before Gent-Wevelgem, Girmay was having breakfast and there were people walking around dressed as Stormtroopers , because they were going to a Star Wars fair nearby. This doesn’t work for those who need to concentrate for competitions.”
New coach for Biniam Girmay
Together, they analyzed what could be improved. “ Bini now has a new coach, with whom we have done rigorous planning for the classics. But don’t forget he’s still only 23 and has yet to figure out what that entails. And what he has to give up. He makes a lot of sacrifices. But we lost some percentages everywhere.”
House in Belgium
Girmay lives in Eritrea and when he is in Europe he trains in Italy. “But we know Bini would prefer not to be there. So he comes to us and stays in a hotel between races. We don’t want that anymore.”
“We started looking for something for him in Belgium. So that he has a permanent place between races. He will spend part of the year at home in Eritrea and the other part in Belgium. This way, we provide him with extra rest, have more information about his training and can also guide him better”, concludes Intermarché-Wanty’s performance director, Aike Visbeek.
