During the ceremony on Tuesday for his win of the tenth stage, he got the cork of a bottle of prosecco hard in his left eye. The driver from Eritrea was examined in hospital. No serious damage was found there, but reportedly Intermarché-Wanty Gobert refuses to take a risk with his latest apple of the eye. The eye of the cyclist will be further examined on Wednesday.
“After the ceremony, Girmay could no longer see,” team doctor Piet Daneels of Intermarché-Wanty Gobert told Sporza in Belgium. “We went straight to Jesi’s hospital. There they found a hemorrhage in his anterior chamber. Such bleeding is not threatening to the eye itself. After a night’s rest we have to decide whether he can start. We have to be careful. As it stands, I don’t think there is any permanent damage. But we’ll have to wait and see.”
Just before the ceremony, Girmay was still looking for words to describe his stage victory. “Unbelievable,” said the Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert driver after referring Mathieu van der Poel to second place. Van der Poel reacted sporty and raised his thumb. A moment later he went to Girmay to congratulate him.
“Our team has checked the tenth stage,” said Girmay after a ride over 196 kilometers from Pescara to Jesi. “I have no words for what the team has done for me. I was helped by three teammates in the final and Domenico Pozzovivo led the sprint for me.”
Girmay finished second in the first stage of the Giro, just behind Van der Poel. He was second in the points standings, just behind leader Arnaud Démare.