tour de france 2024: stage 8
by Rémy Rossi
Just deux it
Doubling down on stage wins, Girmay makes it two victories in this Tour de France with of one the most competitive sprint fields we’ve had in recent memory. Such success isn’t exactly surprising for Girmay but I think it’s fair to say that few people before the Tour’s depart had him on the books to win a pair of stages so quickly.
Stage 8’s grueling uphill finish matched Girmay’s skillset and has been on the team’s radar for many months. Arguably, the pressure was off for the Intermarche sprinter thanks to earlier Stage 3 victory, but the Eritrean icon was hungry to add more Tour wins to his palmarès.
Gives you wings
The only green bird I can think of is a parakeet. And well, blistering speed is not quite the first thing that comes to mind when we think about those cute tropical parrot-wannabes. Ornithology was never my speciality.
Biniam Girmay is riding like a bird possessed, spreading his wings to confidently position himself as the current Tour’s leading fastman. We’ve all heard the adage that “the yellow jersey gives you wings” or bestows the strength of two men but I’ve never thought about a similar effect emanating from the leafy green zip-up. Having claimed a somewhat unexpected (but not no surprising) victory early on in the race, Girmay has consistently performed well and appears to be improving throughout this year’s Tour. A second Bini win is proof and a big statement, especially for a team who had never tasted Tour de France stage victory before. Let’s see how far he can fly from here.
The seeds of green
If the green jersey has superpowers, where do they come from? Superman’s kryptonite is green but I think that poisonous crystal probably wouldn’t make a sprinter any faster anyway. We have to reveal the emerald jersey’s true origin story.
The green jersey was first introduced in 1953, the Tour’s 50th anniversary, with the chosen hue matching the logo of the jersey first sponsor, La Belle Jardinière, a chain of clothing stores. Other cycling publications (that shall remain nameless) cite the La Belle Jardinière as a company that peddled lawn-mowers (I wonder where they got that idea). Being the resourceful and thorough researcher that I am (a trait reserved for only the most trivial of facts), I can say with certainty that I am correct. To drink the factual milk from the race organizer’s teet, here’s the official page on the green jersey, if you really need to waste two minutes.
Note: The jury is still (slightly) out on this whole lawn mower manufacturer vs. department store kerfuffle. L’Etape, a sportive events organizer officially sponsored by the Tour de France, claims the jersey’s original sponsor was that lawn mower manufacturer. It’s a tempting story, but I’m inclined to trust the TdF’s official page. I think the final straw was L’Etape’s wild imagination explaining the sponsorship as “linking the colour to speed and the sprinter's explosive energy across the green landscapes of France”. Yeah, that’s exactly what the world’s best sprinters are: really fast French lawnmowers...
God, you can write anything on the internet these days. P.S. Self-reflection is not welcomed at this point in time.
“La belle jardinière” simply means "the beautiful gardener”. And if you think a chunky lawn mower is more beatiful than some French 20th century tailored suits, then you’ve got some serious work to do.
The more complicated reference is that it also Raphael's famous painting of the same name, currently located at the Lourve. Known as the Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist, Mary is seen as especially protective of Christ while the two infants look up with expressions of dependency and childlike trust. Now, that’s right up a sprinter’s alley. Hope for protection and pray your fellow sprinters are trustworthy and won’t bust you into the barriers. Probably best to sprint with clothes on, though. Riding commando may offer aero gains, but any road rash is gonna really hurt otherwise.
Oops, I think I deviated from my line of thought there. What are you gonna do, relegate me?
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