'I’m going into this year’s race full of confidence' – Biniam Girmay leads NSN Cycling at Tour de France aiming for sprint success
Marco Frigo debuts at the French Grand Tour
Biniam Girmay said he is "full of confidence" as his NSN Cycling team announced their lineup for this year's Tour de France.
NSN are the third team to reveal their eight riders for the French Grand Tour, which begins next Saturday, 4 July, and will primarily be looking for sprint success with Girmay.
The Eritrean won three stages and the green jersey in a historic 2024 edition, but didn't get closer than second last year. Now with a new team, he is looking to once again shine on cycling's biggest stage. It will also be the first Tour for NSN, the team which was formerly Israel-Premier Tech.
"Everybody who knows me understands how special the Tour de France is to me – but I’m more interested in creating more special moments than looking back on what I’ve achieved in the past," Girmay said in the team's press release.
"I know my form is good, but it’s also great knowing that I have a really committed team around me. We have worked hard since the start of the season to discover the best ways to work together, to build trust in each other, and to score the best results possible.
"I’m going into this year’s race full of confidence and with a real sense of anticipation for the first sprint opportunities."
Girmay has won three times this season, including a stage of the recently-completed Baloise Belgium Tour; his first shot at victory will come on stage five to Pau. However, the race beings in NSN's home city of Barcelona, where they will be looking to make a mark.
He will be joined by Lewis Askey, George Bennett, Marco Frigo, Matîs Louvel, Krists Neilands, Jake Stewart, and Tom Van Asbroeck.
"We’ve got a good group of riders for the race, focused predominantly around Bini and the sprints," head sports director Sam Bewley said.
"But the race is 21 stages. We want to have a purpose and a goal across the entire race, so it’s important to have guys like George, Krists, and Marco in his first Tour there so we can keep NSN in the race across as much of the three weeks as possible.
"We feel confident with the guys we have to be able to deliver some good stage outcomes from breakaways, mountain stages, or how the Tour plays out, in addition to our primary focus of the sprints."
