It is not far from the Capitol to the Tarpeian rock. In cycling language, the Roman saying could be translated as: on a grand tour, you can lose everything on a detail. The 105th Giro d’Italia has just given an unexpected and cruel example. By way of Capitol: the podium erected in Jesi, arrival city of the tenth stage, on which the Eritrean Biniam Girmay climbed late Tuesday afternoon. At the end of a victorious sprint, the 22-year-old rider had just struck the spirits and the history of his sport by becoming the first black African to win a stage of a grand tour.
The rise on the platform was therefore to crown a very symbolic day of glory. But now, instead of Tarpeian rock, a nasty cork of prosecco came to spoil the party. When uncapping the giant bottle of a sparkling sponsor of the Giro, poor Girmay saw the piece of cork jump in his face, right in the left eye socket. At the time, he was still able to raise his arms, but we saw him rubbing the impact zone several times. Then it was learned that he was being taken to the local hospital. The concern grew and the sentence finally fell on Wednesday morning: the Eritrean will not take the start of the eleventh stage. He is suffering from internal bleeding which obscures his vision. His team, Intermarché, did not want to take any risks.
Other ophthalmological examinations are planned in the short term for Girmay, who left the hotel this Wednesday morning with his manager after greeting teammates and staff. “The examinations revealed lesions in the left eye, which require the greatest precaution and rest”, explains the Belgian team. His doctor, Piet Daneels, points out that “Examinations revealed hemorrhage in the anterior chamber of the left eye. The evolution of his injury is going in the right direction. But medicine is formal: “In order to minimize the risk of hemorrhagic expansion and intraocular pressure, it is strongly recommended to avoid intensive activities. Our priority is a full recovery from the injury.”
The fable is terrible for a rider who could claim to win the cyclamen jersey – that of the best sprinter – on the arrival of the Giro in Verona, in ten days. But also for those who have been lighting up their sport since the beginning of the year. At the end of March, Girmay had already been the first black African rider to win a classic by winning Ghent-Wevelgem in Belgium. What earn him the respect of the peloton, like a Mathieu van der Poel, second yesterday, who greeted his competitor’s victory with a thumbs up when he crossed the line. Moreover, the same Van der Poel had already almost been the victim of a capricious traffic jam during the ceremony which had followed his victory on the first stage of the Giro. But he had received it at the level of a shoulder, not compromising his chances of continuing the test.
Guilty of recidivism, the giant bottle of prosecco however joins the pantheon of improbable pitfalls of the Giro, a race which has stood out in recent years for its ability to send some of its most illustrious competitors to the mat. Two recent examples for the same victim: the Welshman Geraint Thomas, a regular at falls. In 2017, he had to abandon the Tour of Italy after hitting a badly parked carabinieri motorcycle. In 2020, it was not a bottle of sparkling wine but a can of water that slipped under its wheels, sending the rider onto the asphalt at high speed and forcing him, again, to throw in the towel. We hope the same black cat doesn’t chase Girmay, who we might see in France this summer. The manager of his team, Jean-François Bourlart, did not close the door this Wednesday morning on Eurosport: “Everyone dreams of seeing “Bini” on the Tour de France. It’s a little early, but we’ll see.”