Biniam Girmay of Eritrea wins Gent-Wevelgem for Intermarche–Wanty–Gobert Materiaux

Updated 27/03/2022 at 15:37 GMT

Biniam Girmay is a rising star in the ranks of cycling and the 21-year-old took another step up the ladder by beating Christophe Laporte of Jumbo-Visma to claim Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday afternoon. The youngster had the best legs in a four-man sprint to take down Laporte, Dries Van Gestel and Jasper Stuyven.

'Wow, wow, wow! Amazing' - Biniam Girmay makes history with Gent-Wevelgem win

Biniam Girmay (Intermarche–Wanty–Gobert Materiaux) produced a perfect sprint finish to continue his climb up the ranks with a historic victory at Gent-Wevelgem.

The 21-year-old Eritrean got into a four-man breakaway inside the final 25kms and he was able to get the better of Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma), Dries van Gestel (TotalEnergies) and Jasper Stuyven (Trek–Segafredo).

Jumbo-Visma were strong favourites to take race - with Wout van Aert in the team - but Laporte was not able to finish it off at the end after being left to lead out the sprint in the final kilometre.

Gent - Wevelgem

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Van Aert lit up the 84th edition of Gent-Wevelgem when he launched a ferocious attack with 35km to go and it split the leading pack. He had two Jumbo-Visma team-mates with him and it appeared a move to test the legs of the big guns.

The main group came back together, and shortly afterwards Van Aert’s team-mate Laporte launched an attack - taking Girmay Van Gestel and Stuyven with him.

The gap extended to 40 seconds with a shade over 10kms to go, at which point teams who had missed the break put riders on the front to try and bring the break back.

The front four began to look at each other inside the four-kilometre mark, and the chasers ate into the advantage.

However, they had enough in the tank to hold off the chasers - and it was Girmay who timed it to perfection to claim the win.

“It is unbelievable, amazing,” Girmay said on Eurosport. “I cannot expect this.

“We changed my plan a few days ago, Friday night. I was coming for a good result so this is amazing.”

'I did not expect this' Girmay reacts after historic Gent-Wevelgem win

Commenting on the sprint, he said: “There were strong guys with me so I was afraid, but I went back and had confidence and in the final 250m I was confident.”

Reflecting on the race, he said: “In the first section, the cobbles, I was not comfortable, but after I felt better and just rode smart.

“In the end everyone was waiting for Van Aert, so I went.”