Biniam Girmay's brother joins top development team
Mewael Girmay signs for Wanty-ReUz-Technord and hopes to emulate his brother's classics and sprint success
Wanty-ReUz-Technord, the under-23 development team of WorldTour squad Intermarché-Wanty, have signed 18-year-old Eritrean rider Mewael Girmay.
Mewael is the younger brother of Biniam Girmay, the first ever black African winner of a classic at the 2022 Gent-Wevelgem and of a grand tour stage at the Giro d’Italia in the same year.
The teenager becomes the third Eritrean to race within the structure which also includes 19-year-old Aklilu Arefayne, who impressed at the recent Tour du Rwanda.
Little is known about the younger Girmay, although the team describe him as a rider with “profile for the sprint and the classics,” which sounds familiar. Previous to this year, his only available results are a 4th place in the time trial at the junior national championships in 2022 - won by Arefayne - and 18th in the road race the same year.
Mewael joined up with the team in February, competing in his first race at the Villers le Temple in Belgium, where he finished 55th. Last weekend he took part in his first UCI race, the 1.2 GP Lillers, where he came 88th.
There is good reason to be encouraged by these results. With such little experience and such vastly different conditions to deal with, it’s impressive to see Mewael finishing races of this calibre and length - Lillers was 183km - at this early stage. Many fail to do the same.
Mewael Girmay said this in a team press release about signing for the team:
“I started cycling around three years ago, inspired by my brother Biniam and the Tour de France. Since then, I try to watch as many races as possible on television and I was hoping to follow Biniam to the European cycling scene.
Last week I arrived in Belgium and my dream came true. I was immediately invited to accompany the pro riders of Intermarché-Wanty during their recon of Omloop het Nieuwsblad. It was a warm welcome and I really appreciated discovering the Flemish cobbles. I then met the staff and my teammates of Wanty-ReUz-Technord in Brussels-Opwijk, where I witnesses the second place of Zeno Moonen from the sports director’s car.
By leaving my country for the first time, I immediately understood that the adaptation to life in Belgium would contain many challenges. I will have to adapt to the cold and wet weather circumstances, for example. I went hypothermic during my first race. But I’m very motivated to succeed and I can rely on the support of the team to get there.
I have daily contact with my trainer Christophe Prémont and Kévin Van Melsen. Meanwhile, I already did some quality training sessions with my teammates Willam Graff and Tim Rex. I’m also looking forward to the arrival of my housemate Aklilu Arefayne in Belgium.
My aim is to learn as much as possible this season, hoping to obtain results for Wanty-ReUz-Technord from next year.”
Two years ago, when Biniam Girmay rose to the upper echelons of the sport with his Gent-Wevelgem and Giro d’Italia wins, a flood of talent was anticipated from Eritrea and around Africa.
Alongside Girmay and Arefayne are also the prodigious Eritrean talents of Yoel Habteab and Nahom Zerai, riding for Bike Aid and Q36.5 Continental respectively this season. With the Kigali Worlds 18 months away, these riders have the opportunity to be the new faces of cycling’s push for diversity in the years to come.
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