Dimitri Claeys<\/a> was open about that intention. \u201cOf course, we are lining up at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana with the objective of stage wins, and we have a strong sprint train around Biniam to try to achieve that goal,\u201d Claeys said.<\/p>\n\u201cBut, as it is Biniam\u2019s first race with the team and with this lead-out group, one of our biggest goals is to really gain racing experience as a group, improve teamwork, integrate the new riders, and learn how best to race with each other,” he adds. \u201cFocusing on these aspects will be crucial as the season continues, and we want to build that strong foundation already.\u201d<\/p>\n
The emphasis is telling. This is not framed as a one week result chase, but as the beginning of a longer process.<\/p>\n
The first step in a bigger 2026 story<\/p>\n
Girmay himself is clear about the immediate objective. \u201cThe first stage is definitely my main objective. Stage three will be tough, and it depends on the way the GC guys are also racing it, but on a good day, I can survive the climb and be there for the sprint, as it\u2019s another good opportunity. We will take things day by day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alongside the sprint focus, Riley Sheehan and Pau Mart\u00ed have been given freedom to pursue the general classification without pressure, another sign that the primary tactical focus of the week sits around the sprint project.<\/p>\n
For Girmay, this debut is less about the calendar date and more about what it represents. After a winter of anticipation and a transfer that raised expectations across the peloton, the first race in NSN colours finally provides a glimpse of how the project around him begins to take shape on the road.<\/p>\n
Valenciana may only be five stages in February, but for Girmay it marks the true start of a new chapter that has been months in the making.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Those words carry more weight than a routine pre-season update. They speak to a rider who arrives…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[39164,4985,151215,117391,101,56,54,55,140919],"class_list":{"0":"post-405658","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-biniam-girmay","9":"tag-cycling","10":"tag-dimitri-claeys","11":"tag-nsn-cycling-team","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom","16":"tag-volta-a-comunitat-valenciana"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}