Leader of the Tour de France points classification three days after his historic victory, the Eritrean rider from the Intermarché-Wanty team kept his jersey at the end of stage 6, where he came second on Thursday July 4.
In this stage reserved for pure sprinters between Mâcon and Dijon, with no breakaway, Biniam Girmay was able to count on the full support of his team-mates, who protected him from curbs and brought him to second place in the intermediate sprint early in the stage, adding 17 points to his tally.
In the chaotic final sprint, Girmay pulled out all the stops to take third place at the finish line, and second after Jasper Philipsen’s downgrading.
In the green jersey standings, Girmay leads for the second day running and now has 149 points, consolidating his 38-point lead over runner-up Mads Pedersen.
Biniam Girmay:
“It was an excellent day, where I was able to be successful by taking points in the intermediate sprint and at the finish. The feeling was on my new CUBE Litening bike in the colors of the green jersey was amazing. I still feel fresh thanks to the support of my team-mates. Preserving the green jersey is a difficult mission at the start of the Tour, as the points gaps aren’t huge, so I’m very happy to keep it for a second day in a row. At the start of the Tour, the green jersey wasn’t an objective. Now it is, and I want to fight to keep it. Because we’re seeing that no sprinter stands out above the rest, and the stages that are coming up suit me better.”
