After the rankings 3 and 2 on the first two stages of Tropicale Amissa Bongo, it was so small that luck would finally smear the race's most famous name, the 36-year-old German spurt king André Greipel (Arkéa-Samsic), on it 98 km journey from Leconi to Franceville.
Greipel even moved down the hierarchy this time, having to settle for the 5th place, while the half-old comet Biniyam Ghirmay from the Eritrean national team won in a razor-sharp duel with the experienced Algerian Youcef Reguigui, who on this occasion the national team and daily represent the Malaysian 3rd division team Terrangganu after several seasons at Team Dimension Data.
Out of the picture in the overall ranking
There had to be a goal photo to determine that the 18-year-old Ghirmay was first over the line, and he thus enrolled in history as the first from the year 2000, listed for a victory in the race on the international futures list.
Following Ghirmay and Reguigui, the Italian owner of the yellow jersey followed Niccoló Bonifacio (Direct Energie), the Frenchman Lorrenzo Manzin (Vital Concept) and thus André Greipel.
Ghirmay is out of the picture in the standings, yesterday adding 54 minutes.Bonifacio still leads a total of 13 seconds ahead of the Eritrean Sirak Tesfom, who also holds the mountain jersey, while Greipel on the 3rd place is 14 seconds behind.
Attractive to the professional crews
However, there is no doubt that Ghirmay will be ripped off by the professional crew, but so far there is nothing to say that he should have signed a contract with a larger company team.
Although he only started his senior career at the turn of the year and is thus a relatively unspoken magazine at that level, he aroused at least in Belgium in early August at the beginning of August.
On the first stage of the junior race Aubel-Thimister-Stavelot, the Eritrean defeated the great cycling nation's superstar shooter Remco Evenepoel, when the two came together for goals.
The young Belgians who debut for Deceuninck-Quick Step in Vuelta a San Juan on Sunday also had to thank second place on the second stage when he was defeated by Danish Frederik Thomsen.
The Belgian phenomenon hit both Ghirmay and young Danes
On the other hand, Evenepoel took a thorough win on the final day when he came alone to finish, and he ended up winning overall 3.44 minutes ahead of Ghirmay and with Frederik Thomsen, who this year runs for Team Waoo, as No. 3 with a minus of 4.08 minutes.
The Eritrean was, moreover, triple African junior champion, winning both in line race, team race and on the start.Biniyam Ghirmay also participated in the junior world championships in Innsbruck and became No. 13 in the line race and 15 on the single start - in both cases with Remco Evenepoel as winner.
Eritrea with four men in the top 10
In Tropicale Amissa Bongo, Biniyam Ghirmay is the youngest man in a strong squad, clearly emphasizing Eritrea's position as Africa's second best cycling nation only surpassed by South Africa.
Eritrea is led by the experienced Daniel Teklehaimanot in Gabon in the seven-day strength test in Gabon.
