Strong Van Sintmaartensdijk laughs off criticism of Girmay's morale: "Easy to say that from the sidelines"

On Sunday in the ninth stage of the Giro d'Italia, the peloton headed to Naples. The ride towards the Italian city is almost an annual event and has often provided drama. In 2022, Mathieu van der Poel and Biniam Girmay were in the breakaway until the end. However, Girmay is now back home, having withdrawn after two consecutive crashes in the fourth stage. This was a significant setback for Intermarché-Wanty, which had been built entirely around Girmay and now had to re-strategize. IDLProCycling.com spoke with Roel van Sintmaartensdijk about this switch, his own Giro, and the criticism of Girmay following his DNF.

When it became apparent that Girmay had no fractures or other major injuries from his two falls, there was quite a bit of criticism in the Dutch Eurosport studio. "That makes me wonder why he didn’t ride to the finish. I genuinely think there’s something wrong with his morale. He wanted to stop after the first fall. Intermarché-Wanty was completely built around Girmay. It’s really bitter that there was nothing seriously wrong. It sounds very negative, but it is the truth," said analyst Bobbie Traksel.

"The team manager already said that he hoped Girmay would participate in the bunch sprints, but yes, hoped… There was already a lack of conviction there," the Dutchman also said regarding team boss Aike Visbeek. Former rider Jip van den Bos agreed. "If your morale is broken after two crashes, then I wonder how strong your morale is. In the end, you want to perform. Then you should be able to keep going after two setbacks."

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Biniam Girmay

Van Sintmaartensdijk laughs at criticism of Girmay

Van Sintmaartensdijk, who is making his debut in the Giro at 23 years old, smiled after Friday’s time trial when IDLProCycling.com asked him about the criticism of Girmay. "It’s easy for people to talk from the sidelines. When you crash at seventy kilometers per hour and you see he had a twenty-centimeter protrusion on his hip... He also had a lot of trouble mounting his bike again, so it's easy to say if you're not in the situation. It’s great that he’s basically unharmed, because it was not looking good."

Yet, their team leader dropping out of the race was (and is) quite a shift for the tall Dutchman and his six remaining teammates. Intermarché-Wanty had brought a decent sprint train for Girmay, and those men are now without a job. "When the leader drops out of a team, you feel huge disappointment and need to shift gears. Fortunately, we have Madis Mihkels, another fast rider, who we could count on during days four and five for two nice top ten positions. We didn’t let it get us down, although it's a shame that Bini is gone. Even in the peloton, because when you ride around with him, the team has more presence."

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Roel van Sintmaartensdijk

Girmay's dropout also gives Van Sintmaartensdijk room

Besides Mihkels, the other men on the Belgian team are also getting more opportunities. Van Sintmaartensdijk was able to go all out in the time trial towards Perugia on Friday, where he finished 32nd. "I try to regularly train for time trials, because it's hard in cycling to distinguish yourself. In time trialing, you can develop and have control over your performance. I did plan to ride a good time trial, also for the future. There aren’t many in a year, so every chance you get to go for it with nutrition and warm-up... It was one of my first long time trials, but there was some power there."

We haven’t seen the last of the neo-pro, who just last year was in the development team of Intermarché-Wanty. "I wanted to be in an early breakaway, because I have room to do so now. That’s not a given in this peloton, though, as many riders want to go for it. The performance level is very high, so you need a bit of luck to make the break. My legs are good, and I know I don’t deteriorate much as it goes on longer. I also pushed good watts in the time trial."

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