Anxious Girmay grabs lifeline Teunissen, Girmay's hometown Asmara completely turned upside down in Eritrea

Biniam Girmay triumphed for the third time in the Tour de France on Thursday. The Eritrean defeated Wout van Aert and Arnaud Démare in the sprint. With this victory, he did an excellent job for the points classification, in which he now has a lead of more than a hundred points over Jasper Philipsen.

For the third time in the flash interview, Girmay emphasized how important his faith is to him. "First of all, I thank God for the strength he gives me. Without God, we can do nothing," the green jersey wearer began the conversation, "I also want to thank my teammates and the staff. Without them, it is not possible for me to prove that I am the fastest. I am super happy."

"Since the start of the Tour, I knew I could achieve good results if I had the right wheel and the timing was good. I have now proven three times that if I have the right wheel, I can win," continued Girmay, who did not expect a sprint. "We thought this stage was for the breakaway riders. So we felt no stress. But when everything came together, I said on the radio to the guys: I feel super good, give me your support, and I can deliver," Girmay was full of confidence in a good outcome.

Girmay's abundance of self-confidence also comes from wearing the green jersey. "Absolutely, since I have been wearing this jersey, I feel super fast. I believe I can be the best." However, the rider also emphasized that he has not changed much. "If I find myself in a good position, I always do well. The last two years have been full of ups and downs, many crashes. I couldn't always show myself because of that. However, this year I completely changed my training. That is working out very well, and I hope to continue like this."

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Girmay finds Teunissen: "That's when I knew I could deliver"

The finale was very chaotic, especially after the crash. I was so scared, it was going downhill very fast, and there were many turns. I mainly wanted to stay safe, but in the last six hundred meters, I suddenly found Mike (Teunissen, ed.). He did an amazing job. He brought me from fifteenth place to the top three. From that moment, I knew I could deliver," concluded a grateful Girmay.

Teunissen, who played an important role for Girmay, spoke to NOS afterward. "We were all involved in that crash, except for Bini (nickname for Girmay, ed.). That was chaotic. Eventually, I found him in the final straight line. I could sling him forward just enough," Teunissen laughed.

"I brought him to third position," the Dutch rider continued. "It was another impressive sprint, also with Wout (Van Aert, ed.). He (Girmay) shows it again and again. It's really top class," said Teunissen, who also gave his view on the stage. "It was warm, and the breakaway rode hard. That was good for us because green is ultimately the big goal. Of course, sprinting and winning again is super nice. Our priority now is green. But this way is also good."

It all sounds so normal already, Girmay with three stage wins. That this is not the case was shown by images from his birthplace Asmara in Eritrea. The streets filled up after another Tour stage win. Beautiful!