Biniam Girmay Leaves Intermarché: Eritrea’s Trailblazer Steps Into a New Chapter

Biniam Girmay’s departure from Intermarché–Wanty marks one of the most consequential moves of the cycling transfer season—not only for the sport, but for African cycling as a whole. After three seasons that rewrote the record books and reshaped the identity of a modest Belgian squad, the Eritrean superstar has reached a mutual agreement to end a contract that originally stretched several years into the future. Intermarché confirmed the exit this week, closing a chapter defined by breakthrough wins, improbable comebacks, and a Tour de France campaign that placed Girmay at the very center of global attention.

The decision comes against the backdrop of the upcoming merger between Intermarché–Wanty and Lotto, a structural overhaul that would have placed Girmay inside a new sprint hierarchy and under a recalibrated budget. For a rider who has carried the team’s biggest victories—from Gent–Wevelgem to a historic Giro d’Italia stage to three Tour de France wins and the green jersey—uncertainty around leadership roles made the early termination almost inevitable. His camp made it clear: if he was going to continue shaping cycling history, it had to be in an environment built fully around his ambitions.

He appears to have found that space. All signs point toward Girmay becoming a headlining figure for NSN Cycling Team, a new project aiming to establish itself as a modern WorldTour contender. Unlike the rumours swirling around its roots, NSN’s management is promoting the outfit as a forward-looking structure—fresh investment, a new identity, a European base, and long-term ambitions to build a complete sprint program. The project needs a leading man. In world cycling today, few are more suited than the 24-year-old from Asmara.

For NSN, securing Girmay would be a strategic coup: a rider who doesn’t just win, but wins with impact. For Eritrea and the wider African cycling community, it is another reminder of how far the sport has come. A decade ago, the idea of an African sprinter dominating the Tour de France points classification belonged to fiction. Today, Girmay has done it—three stage wins, the green jersey, and an authority in the sprints that forced the entire peloton to reorganize itself around his wheel.

His move also signals something subtler but deeply important: African athletes are no longer joining teams to fill symbolic roles. Girmay is negotiating from a position of strength, choosing a project where he can shape strategy, dictate his calendar, and build a dedicated sprint train. He is not a passenger in someone else’s story; he is the story.

Intermarché’s farewell message—warm, emotional, and unusually personal for a WorldTour announcement—reflects just how transformative he was for them. The team took a chance on him when he was still a teenager with raw potential. He repaid that faith with victories that brought the Belgian outfit into the mainstream spotlight. Now, as he prepares to leave, there is a sense of pride as much as loss.

What happens next will become clear once NSN unveils its full roster and technical structure. But the direction of travel is unmistakable. A rising team with modern ambitions wants to build around a rider who has already changed the face of cycling once and shows every sign of doing it again.

For Eritrea, this is another milestone. And for Biniam Girmay, it is the beginning of a new arc—one where he carries not only the green jersey on his shoulders, but the expectations of a sport that has learned never to underestimate him.