Tsgabu Grmay

Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay (Tigrinya: ጽጋቡ ገብረማርያም ግርማይ; born 25 August 1991) is an Ethiopian retired professional road cyclist from Tigray, who last rode for UCI WorldTeam Team Jayco–AlUla.

In 2013 Tsgabu became the first Ethiopian to win an international cycling event when he won the fifth stage of the Tour de Taiwan.

He comes from a sporting family, with a father and a brother who competed in local bike races in Ethiopia.

[1] As an amateur rider he received training at the African UCI Continental Center in Potchefstroom, South Africa and the World Cycling Centre in Aigle, Switzerland.

[7][8] In November 2010 Tsgabu came sixth at the African Continental Cycling Championships individual time trial in Kigali, Rwanda.

[11] He then travelled to Quebec in June to race the Coupe des nations Ville Saguenay which he finished in 18th place overall.

[12] He also came fourth in the young rider classification, 19 seconds behind winner Nikita Stalnov of the Continental Team Astana.

[12] Tsgabu raced the Kernen Omloop Echt-Susteren as a warm-up for the 2012 UCI Road World Championships in Valkenburg, Netherlands where he was the only Ethiopian competitor.

[22] In February Tsgabu participated in the 2013 Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia finishing ninth overall, 2' 58" behind winner Julián Arredondo.

[24] In March 2013 Tsgabu became the first Ethiopian ever to win an international cycling event when he won the fifth stage of the Tour de Taiwan in Taoyuan County ten seconds ahead of Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan.

[30] Tsgabu ended his season in Europe with three one-day races in Italy during October, abandoning two of them and finishing 78th in the Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli.

[20] He then rounded off his season in December at the African Continental Championships, where he finished seventh in the time trial and 28th in the road race.

[32] At the end of May he participated in the Tour des Fjords, finishing 70th overall and coming in second in the mountains classification only seven points behind winner Amets Txurruka of Caja Rural–Seguros RGA.

[36] Of the six other Italian one day races Tsgabu entered in September and October he only finished the final one, ending his time at MTN-Qhubeka with a second-to-last place in the Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli.

[32][37] Tsgabu left MTN–Qhubeka at the end of 2014 and joined the highest level of professional cycling at the Italian UCI ProTeam Lampre–Merida, becoming the first Ethiopian to ride for them.

[38][43] He started the 2015 Giro d'Italia in San Lorenzo al Mare, becoming the first Ethiopian rider to compete in a Grand Tour.

Tsgabu wearing his national champions jersey
Grmay (far left) as part of the MTN–Qhubeka team at the team presentation at stage one of the 2014 Tour des Fjords .