Tsgabu Grmay Represent Ethiopia on the Biggest Tour de France for the First Time
Ethiopia has been sending cyclists to the Olympic Games since the 1950s but has never sent a rider to the Tour de France. Until now. 
Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay is competing this year before racing in the Brazil Olympics next month. “I'm so excited because I've never done this race,” he says with less than 24 hours to the first stage. “For me the Tour de France is not just about finishing 21 stages. It's about doing something special. I'm ready to do something in this tour.
“I'm ready to fight.”
He's riding in the Italian team Lampre-Merida that includes the powerful Rui Costa and the young South African Louis Meintjes. The squad will be chasing stage wins and a good showing in the general classification.
Tsgabu Grmay has been spoken about as one of the top cyclists from Africa for some time. Before he turned 20 he took a fifth place at the Tour of Rwanda. In 2013 he was fifth in Gabon's prestigious Tropicale Amissa Bongo and he picked up a stage win and a second place overall in the Tour of Taiwan.
Last year, in his first season with Lampre-Merida, he completed the two other big European tours, the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana, and he won the individual time trial at the African Championships.
“I did the Giro and the Vuelta and I finished. I have the experience. My legs know how to ride for 21 days,” he says. “On the Giro and the Vuelta, in the third week I was getting better. My recovery was good. I learned a lot.”
