Prosecco corks axed from podium celebrations after Biniam Girmay’s freak eye injury at Giro d’Italia

Published 18/05/2022 at 16:11 GMT

A chaotic 24 hours for Biniam Girmay saw him take a wrong turn, win his first Grand Tour stage, take a Prosecco cork to the eye and withdraw from the Giro d’Italia. Now organisers have moved to prevent a repeat after one of their star attractions was forced to quit the race, with the bottles of Prosecco uncorked ahead of the Stage 11 podium ceremonies.

Watch the moment Girmay became first Black African to win Grand Tour stage

Giro d’Italia organisers removed the corks from Prosecco bottles prior to the podium celebrations on Wednesday after Biniam Girmay took one to the face after his historic win a day earlier.

Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux) was taken to hospital after being struck in his left eye – just minutes after becoming the first Black African to win a stage at a Grand Tour.

The 21-year-old withdrew from the race on Wednesday morning, saying he needed “some rest to give more power to the eye”.

Giro d'Italia

Giro 2023 route revealed: Six stages where it will be won… and lost

18/10/2022 at 15:36

Reports circulated on Wednesday morning that the race organisers, RCS, were considering tweaking the ‘Prosecco protocol’ in light of Girmay’s injury.

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) was also struck in the neck by a cork on the podium after winning the opening stage.

Stage 11 winner Alberto Dainese (Team DSM) and maglia rosa Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek-Segafredo) had the simple task of spraying the fizz without worrying about the cork during Wednesday’s ceremony.

“You see with a bit of a shake you still get the same effect and keep that tradition,” said Robbie McEwen on The Breakaway after earlier advocating for the change to the podium.

“I would like to see that stay a tradition and something so simple… it would have been good if they did it a day ago.”

The one positive for Girmay is his unfortunate withdrawal could mean a call-up to the Tour de France, with his form in Italy suggesting he is capable of starring on cycling’s biggest stage.

- - -

Stream the Giro d'Italia live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live on eurosport.co.uk.

Giro d'Italia