Eritrea’s Girmay in Top 10 of Tour de France, despite infringements.

Heading into Sunday’s 9th stage of his debut 2023 Tour de France participation, Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay will be looking to move further up into the top ten. He will be boosted by his improved performances, including a third-place finish in the 7th stage, which ensured that he achieved podium in his first Tour de France.

However, he will have to find a way to counteract the unsportsmanlike team efforts of his opponents to frustrate him from winning a stage. Up till now, veteran cyclists and their teams have singled him out as a threat, targeting him with unsporting maneuvers during the previous stages.

The most recent incident occurred during the final meters of Friday’s stage 7 to Bordeaux. Philipsen, who went on to win the sprint, deliberately cut across to obstruct Biniam Girmay, dangerously squeezing the Eritrean cyclist toward the barriers.

This not only impeded Girmay’s sprint but also put him at risk of a career-threatening crash. Footage retrieved clearly shows Philipsen changing direction from left to right, which goes against the rules stating that a cyclist must sprint straight ahead.

Philipsen’s unsportsmanlike block towards the finish line left Girmay with two options: either brake and slow down to avoid a collision with Philipsen, allowing him to take the lead, or continue cycling and collide with the barriers, potentially resulting in an injury and forcing him to drop out of the remaining tour stages, or worse, suffer a career-ending injury.

Girmay chose the former and ended up in the third position. His selfless choice not only ensured that he avoided a forced collision with Philipsen at the cost of winning the stage but also saved at least 50 other riders from crashing.

This is the second time Girmay has been targeted, with the previous incident occurring during the 4th stage of the tour when again, Philipsen’s lead-out man, Mathieu van der Poel, elbowed Girmay out of the way, impeding his sprint and risking serious injury.

In that case, Van der Poel was relegated to 22nd place, fined 500 Swiss francs, and docked 11 green jersey points and 13 UCI points for “deviating from the line during the final sprint.” However, his goal of impeding Girmay to allow his teammate, Philipsen, to win the stage succeeded, with the two shortly celebrating.

The incidents, along with a slew of others, have been a dark blotch in an otherwise eventful Tour de France so far. Many suggest that the UCI is struggling to maintain a consistent level of decision-making, while others call for more punitive measures to discourage dangerous and unsporting maneuvers.

However, considering that Girmay has now been unfairly denied a possible stage win twice, with no action taken, especially on the 7th stage where he was on track to win, one hopes that racial bias is not a factor. Imagine If Girmay were to attempt any similar risky move on Philipsen and his colleagues – he would likely be immediately relegated.

For now, however, none of that matters, and the Eritrean rider, whom the entire African continent is cheering for, still has numerous opportunities to achieve a historic first-stage victory in the Tour de France. The remaining stages are better suited to his cycling strengths.