Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert driver Biniam Girmay made history at gent-Wevelgem the other day as the first black driver to win the classics. But then Ring Flanders is not on his plans to compete, and he will choose to go home to reunite with his family.
Thanks to his brilliant performances in Ghent Wevelheim, the team may re-sign him to a new contract with an annual salary of almost one million euros, doubling his original salary and making him the core of the team's classics.
The team saw his potential last year and signed him from the then-troubled Delko Intercontinental Pro, on a contract until 2024. But after he had fully demonstrated his potential this time, team manager Jean-Francois Bourlart was ready to raise his salary with the support of his sponsors.
Gilmay made history at Ghent-Wevelheim and is said to be happy in the team due to the team's great support for him, thanks mainly to technical manager Aike Visbeek and experienced sporting directors Hilairevan der Schueren and Valerio Piva. In the race, Gilmay won the victory in Ghent-Wevelheim with the help of Adrien Petit, Alexander Kristoff and Andrea Pasqualon. The team plans to further strengthen their Classics line-up, give Gilmay more support in subsequent races, and further plan for the 2023 Classics season.
It is understood that after signing the new contract, Gilmai's revenue per season will exceed one million euros, and the deadline will be until the end of 2024.
Blatter will meet with Gilmay's agent, Alex Carera, to negotiate a new contract and sign a new contract when Gilmay returns to Europe for Germany's Eschborn-Frankfurt. Next he will target Huanyi and complete his Huanyi debut.
Gilmay will turn 22 this Saturday, more than three months after he left home, and will celebrate his 22nd birthday with his wife and children at his home in The Eritrean capital, Asmara.
Asked at a press conference before he returned home on Monday why he didn't attend the Ring Flanders, he said: "For me, family comes first, even more important than the bike, so I have to take care of them. For three months my wife has been alone in taking care of the kids and taking care of everything in the house. Although I am in good shape at the moment, I am not going to disrupt my plans. This is just the beginning, there will be more opportunities to participate in the Ring Flanders later. ”
Gilmay showed his talent in cycling as a teenager and joined the UCI World Cycling Centre development in 2018. In the junior group, he was one of the few drivers in Europe to beat Remco Evenepoel. In 2019, he beat Niccolò Bonifazio and André Greipel in the La Tropicale Amissa Bongo dash and won in Tour du Rwanda, catching the attention of delko ProTeam.
Boss Philippe Lannes entertained Gilmay for some time at home, but when the team suffered financial problems and turmoil in 2021, the boss agreed to let him go when the summer transfer window opened, and only received a symbolic penalty of 70,000 euros.
Gilmay chose Vanti over the bigger ones so that he could get more chances to race. At The Vendi Team, the team let him participate in the Tour de Boron and a series of small single-day races that helped him gradually find his form. In 2021, he lived in Tuscany for some time with other Eritrean and other African riders, but recently moved to the small country of San Marino, near the Adriatic coast, where the athletes' tax is only 7%.
Gilmay won the Classic Grand Besan on Doubs in France on September 3 last year and then sprinted behind Filippo Baroncini to win the silver medal at the World Championships, becoming the first Eritrean and black African driver to win a medal at the UCI Road World Championships.
He won the S2 stage of the Challenge in Mallorca, Spain, and was also impressive at the Paris-Nice race. He finished 12th in Milan-San Remo and 5th in the E3 Saxo Bank Classics this season, before winning Ghent Wevergham with his exquisite tactics and strong sprinting ability, a series of records that attest to his talent.
Gilmay's goal this season is to win the stage championship in the Tour de La Tour de La Tour d'Or and do his best to fight for the honor shirt.
This is only his second season with the World Tour, so he will most likely not participate in this year's Tour de France, but he may compete frequently at the end of the season to earn enough ranking points for the team to help the team ensure that it will remain a World Tour-level team in the 2023 season.
Edit: Johnny
Image source: Infographic Gallery