Biniam Girmay discussion thread

[Earns1985]

Laporte isn’t a world class rider, he’s a top 10 rider in classics. Let’s not pretend MVDP was in great form at the Giro. Quebec was won by Cosnefroy.

I’m not saying Girmay is a bad rider, he’s a top 10 rider, but not a WVA/MVDP rider. And that’s why last year he was lucky that he got some wins, but normally he’ll ride a good result and compete for a win but won’t in most cases.

MVDP had been in great form at the giro 2022. It was the tour 2022 where he was totally out of form..

Laporte is one of the best classic riders after van der Poel, van Aert and perhaps Pogacar right now, so a win against him surely counts.

So Girmay definitely showed more last year than this year, the question is: Which season had been the outlier. This season or the last one?

 

[yaco]

MVDP had been in great form at the giro 2022. It was the tour 2022 where he was totally out of form..

Laporte is one of the best classic riders after van der Poel, van Aert and perhaps Pogacar right now, so a win against him surely counts.

So Girmay definitely showed more last year than this year, the question is: Which season had been the outlier. This season or the last one?

MVDP was not at his top level in the 2022 Giro.

 

[Kaptain Kool]

It's not like he won 10 races last year. 4 wins in 2022 vs 2 in 2023 isn't that huge. The 2 biggest wins were bigger than this year's biggest win but that happens. A poor 2nd half of 2023. That sometimes happens, too.

 

[YavorD]

If I remember correctly, pretty much everyone in Intermatché overperformed a bit (or a lot).
Maybe that's the explanation behind his performances this year.

 

[Anderis]

It's not like he won 10 races last year. 4 wins in 2022 vs 2 in 2023 isn't that huge. The 2 biggest wins were bigger than this year's biggest win but that happens.

Looking at wins only doesn't give you the whole picture.
2022: 1103 PCS points
2023: 459 PCS points so far

2022: 12th in MSR, 5th in E3, 1st in GW, 6th in Bretagne, 3rd in Quebec
2023: 28th in MSR and 38th in Quebec his best places in any WT classic

Especially the 2nd comparison gives you an idea of how much worse he's been this year. Last year he performed in classics all season long, this year he's failed to be there or thereabouts in a single WT classic.

 

[Rackham]

I agree it's been an underwhelming season for Girmay.

Intermaché brought in Mike Teunissen to be his leadout guy this year (he was Van Aert's guy at Jumbo before Laporte sort of took his place), but so far Teunissen actually has more PCS points than Girmay does.

But the whole team has underperformed compared to last season as well, so he's not an isolated case.

 

[Anderis]

But the whole team has underperformed compared to last season as well, so he's not an isolated case.

It's interesting because in January and February they looked the revelation of the season but that fizzled out pretty quickly as soon as the spring entered it's key phase.

 

[Squire]

But the whole team has underperformed compared to last season as well, so he's not an isolated case.

Have they really?

With the notable exceptions of Meintjes who crashed out of the Tour de France and only recently got back on the bike, and Girmay who is being discussed here, almost all of their riders have similar or better seasons compared to last year. Thijssen is much improved.

The main difference is that they have lost the massive production of Kristoff and the occasional brilliance of Quinten Hermans and Jan Hirt. And Pozzovivo for the Giro. In return they have gotten Costa who to be fair to him is having a banger of a season and Teunissen who only now is beginning to come alive. So the question is can you blame a team for underperforming when the decline in results is due to certain riders no longer being there?

 

[Roku]

Ghirmay has underperformed this season, compared to last year. His climbing is worse than last year, and he has often looked cooked when starting the sprint.

 

[Salvarani]

Not the first rider to have a break-out type of season, only to fail to live up to expecations in the season after.

He is only 23 years old.

He will hopefully bounce back next season.

 

[Roku]

Have they really?

With the notable exceptions of Meintjes who crashed out of the Tour de France and only recently got back on the bike, and Girmay who is being discussed here, almost all of their riders have similar or better seasons compared to last year. Thijssen is much improved.

The main difference is that they have lost the massive production of Kristoff and the occasional brilliance of Quinten Hermans and Jan Hirt. And Pozzovivo for the Giro. In return they have gotten Costa who to be fair to him is having a banger of a season and Teunissen who only now is beginning to come alive. So the question is can you blame a team for underperforming when the decline in results is due to certain riders no longer being there?

Agreed.

They have been hampered by illnesses and crashes on spring. Goosens has been ill since Romandie (which DNFed) only to come back for Vuelta and crashing out on the 4th stage. Meintjes missed out a Top10 at Tour due to crashing out (would have easily finished Top15 at Vuelta as well). Page was also hit by mononucleosis.

The only rider that has been underwhelming is Girmay. Teunissen has had his best season ever, except of course from his astonishing 2019. I think they have assigned a poorly program (in terms of race fit) to Herregodts. He could shine in races like Benelux, Wallonie and Tour of Belgium, instead they sent him to a lot of one week WT races with tons of climbing.

Next year there should be riders that progress further (Mihkels, Page, Marit, De Pooter, i hope Herregodts himself) + also Bussatto who is ready to start scoring top placings and wins right away in hilly one day races and semiclassics.