Biniam Girmay made history as the first black African winner of a Grand Tour stage – but then had to go to hospital after an accident while celebrating.
During his celebrations, the Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert rider was struck in the eye with the cork while opening the bottle of Prosecco presented to stage winners. He missed the planned post-race press conference with the media in order to be attended to by medical staff, after suffering the injury to his left eye. Race organisers said that the Eritrean was checked over by race and team doctors and then taken to a local hospital following the incident.
Eritrea’s Girmay, 22, beat Mathieu van der Poel in a sprint for the line to win stage 10 of the Giro d’Italia. Girmay is making his Grand Tour debut at this year’s Giro. As he raced for the line to win the stage, he received a congratulatory thumbs-up from Dutch superstar Van der Poel as the Dutchman conceded defeat.
