On Wednesday, August 28th, Intermarché-Wanty will start at the only WorldTour stage race on Belgian soil, the Renewi Tour. Notable among their ranks is Biniam Girmay, the green jersey winner and triple stage victor in the last Tour de France.
The Eritrean rider is making his return to the WorldTeam after his memorable Grand Boucle and a historic first participation in the Olympic Games in Paris. This is also his first time competing in the Renewi Tour, which this year offers a five-stage route, including a brief passage through the Netherlands.
The race opens with a hilly circuit through Limburg to Bilzen, followed by a 15-kilometer flat time trial between Tessenderlo. This is followed by two stages favoring sprinters towards Ardooie and Aalter, subject to wind, and finally the traditional closing stage towards the slopes of the Mur de Grammont, where Mike Teunissen won last year on his birthday.
The Dutchman Teunissen, fifth in the race in 2023, will be at the start again this year. He is part of a strong selection led by Dimitri Claeys and Adriaan Helmantel, with, in addition to Girmay, Gerben Thijssen, Adrien Petit, Gijs Van Hoecke, Laurenz Rex and Dion Smith.
Dimitri Claeys (sports director):
“This year, the Renewi Tour offers a course that should favor the fast men, which explains the exceptionally high-level peloton at the start, with the best of the world sprint peloton. Within our selection, we have two fast men with Gerben Thijssen and Biniam Girmay, supported by a very experienced sprint train. After a demanding Tour de France and the Olympic Games, Biniam is resuming competition at this Renewi Tour with the aim of finding his rhythm and starting his end-of-season campaign. Together with Gerben, Biniam can play a role as both a helper and a free rider. In the Tour of Poland, Gerben demonstrated that he could compete with the top of the sprint peloton, we can’t wait to see him compete against the strong competition again this week, surrounded by a solid selection.”
