Biniam Girmay discussion thread

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Roku

Aug 1, 2016
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Monte Serra said:
Girmay wasn't able to win the Eritrean road race NC. One of the commentators of Dutch Eurosport suggested today that he spends too much time in the pub in Leuven. Slanderous rumours, a misplaced joke, or might it be an explanation for his not always stellar performances?
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I wouldn't read anything from that race. It felt scripted.

Ghirmay's brother spent ~25 kms just 10 seconds in front of him and did not stop to pull for Biniam.
 
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Squire

Squire

Dec 28, 2010
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Monte Serra said:
Girmay wasn't able to win the Eritrean road race NC. One of the commentators of Dutch Eurosport suggested today that he spends too much time in the pub in Leuven. Slanderous rumours, a misplaced joke, or might it be an explanation for his not always stellar performances?
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Idiotic comment from the commentator, if he indeed said that.

A problem with Girmay, according to his team, used to be that his training was quite unstructured when he was back home in Eritrea (where he spends a lot of time). In 2022 they apparently 'got lucky' that there was almost always good training weather whenever Girmay was in Belgium. They sent Taaramäe to Eritrea to 'babysit' him and give him a high quality training partner during the build-up to this season (apparently without making a massive difference). Visbeek at Intermarche has also said that Girmay sometimes forgets to take on fuel during races, but that should be more on the team than on the rider.

But I think he's also a bit overrated. A lot of people really want him to be a star at the highest level, but even during 2022, he didn't really do much that would put him on par with the absolute elite. In my opinion he's a very good durable sprinter with some classics potential, but not someone to take the fight to MVDP, WWA etc. At least not currently.

Edit: search actually copy-pasted the article where they talk about his training on the previous page of this thread.
 
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Samamba

Samamba

May 10, 2015
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It's indeed an idiotic comment that you just don't make as a commentator, but Girmay and his buddy's are pretty well known in Leuven... So there's probably some truth to it, but even then, that's just not the reason he's underperforming... Well if he even is, cause I just think he's a bit overrated. And the whole visum stuff and him having to travel back and forth all the time doesn't help either.
 
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RobertCrawley

RobertCrawley

Jul 3, 2022
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Squire said:
Idiotic comment from the commentator, if he indeed said that.

A problem with Girmay, according to his team, used to be that his training was quite unstructured when he was back home in Eritrea (where he spends a lot of time). In 2022 they apparently 'got lucky' that there was almost always good training weather whenever Girmay was in Belgium. They sent Taaramäe to Eritrea to 'babysit' him and give him a high quality training partner during the build-up to this season (apparently without making a massive difference). Visbeek at Intermarche has also said that Girmay sometimes forgets to take on fuel during races, but that should be more on the team than on the rider.

But I think he's also a bit overrated. A lot of people really want him to be a star at the highest level, but even during 2022, he didn't really do much that would put him on par with the absolute elite. In my opinion he's a very good durable sprinter with some classics potential, but not someone to take the fight to MVDP, WWA etc. At least not currently.

Edit: search actually copy-pasted the article where they talk about his training on the previous page of this thread.
Click to expand...
What I've seen from Bini in watching him in the past is that he does not fight enough in the sprint. He allows (allowed?) himself to get boxed out or pushed off his line. He has always had good power to compete, and today he had a nice clear lane to give it a go.
 
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A

AvA8

Sep 1, 2021
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wirral said:
And again, stage 6, coming late finishing third, second after Philipsen's relegation. Really sprinting well this tour. He doesn't have the strongest lead out, he doesn't follow his leadout well but still racks up the good positions.
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Well it also doesnt look like they are actually working for him. They are rather supporting Thijssen. Hopefully they will change that, because Girmay looks far better than Thijssen for now.
 
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R

Roku

Aug 1, 2016
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Girmay is sprinting very well. Given the results and the look and feel on the three bunch sprints and various intermediate sprints of the race, I would say he is currently the third stronger sprinter on the race, below Pedersen (which took a blow on Wednesday, so it remains to be seen how he perform on the following stages) and Philipsen. I think he has a very solid chance for winning the Green jersey

He is surprising everyone, including Wanty themselves, and the win on Monday clearly made wonders for him confidence-wise.

The plan on Intermarché was splitting the opportunities between Gerben and himself, with Thijssen for flatter stages and Bini for stages with a more demanding parcours but still suited to durable sprinters (this weekend stages look great for Girmay, especially Sunday, with a great chance of a reduced bunch sprint and a team very well suited to the gravel stage -Teunissen, Rex and Page should excel there)

Thijssen has performed horribly since his injury in Scheldeprijs. Don't know if he rushed the comeback, but he is performing like a fourth tier sprinter when he was establishing himself as a solid second Tier sprinter. With his early season form he would clearly be worthy of a dedicated lead-out and the pre-race approach. Yesterday, Intermarché was working for Bini, so it seems they have made a (wise) decision to adapt their pre-race plans.

By the way, Intermarché has a very good leadout here. Not the best, but a very solid one. Page, Rex, Teunissen is a good train for positioning the leading sprinter.
 
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