By Daan Hakkenberg
A few meters after the finish in Jesi, the green-red-blue of the Eritrean flag is flying. As proof that his fans follow him everywhere. From Wevelgem in Flanders to Jesi in Italy, where Biniam Girmay – born 22 years ago in Asmara, Eritrea – writes history. Again.
Two months earlier he was already the best in Gent-Wevelgem. Girmay thus became the first black African, the first black rider too, to win a classic in a sport that still looks predominantly white to this day. And now, in the tenth stage of the Giro, he is also the first black African to win a stage in one of the three Grand Tours.