Girmay leant over to grab the giant bottle during his podium presentation on Stage 10, only for the cork to launch upward and hit him in the eye.
The Eritrean suffered a haemorrhage to the anterior chamber of his left eye and was forced to abandon the race, a cruel end to a race that had showcased his immense talent up to this point.
This meant organisers moved swiftly to make changes, and they were reflected immediately post-Stage 11 with the prosecco bottles uncorked prior to riders taking to the podium.
A tradition long synonymous with podiums in cycling, Girmay's injury sparked calls to scrap the celebration altogether or find a way to better protect the riders, which Giro director Mauro Vegni adressed prior to the start of Stage 11.
"We're considering what we can do to avoid anything similar," Vegni told CyclingNews.
"An injury like that hasn't happened for years.
"Mathieu van Poel experienced something similar in Hungary [Stage 1] but that was when he shook the bottle.
"Everyone could see that Biniam Girmay was quite emotional after he'd won and wanted to celebrate after winning the stage. He leant over the bottle and the cork came out at exactly the same time.
"We'll look at how we can improve things and make them safer, without affecting the rider's moment of celebration on the podium, the sponsors and the sport."
Such improvements were reflected instantly, as winner Alberto Dainese (Team DSM) was greeted by an already opened bottle of prosecco with the cork lodged back in.
Dainese only had to pull the cork out, albeit carefully to carry out the tradition of spraying it to the crowd.
When it was maglia rosa Juan Pedro Lopez's (Trek-Segafredo) turn to take the podium, his bottle was open with no cork at all.
As Vegni mentioned, Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) was the first of the riders to experience a close call when he popped the prosecco cork into his shoulder celebrating his opening stage win, and echoed calls for change to the tradition.
"I saw it afterwards. I had the same on the first day but luckily it didn’t go in my eye," Van der Poel said after Girmay's incident.
"I think the organisation must maybe take the cork out a bit already, or something like that, because it comes out really easily. It’s actually a little dangerous. That’s not the way you want to leave the Giro."
The Giro d'Italia continues on SBS with Stage 12, a 204 kilometre stage from Parma to Genoa, the longest in the 2022 edition of the Italian Grand Tour. Watch the full stage from 7.40pm AEST on SBS On Demand, with SBS coverage starting from 11pm AEST. WA viewers can watch from 9pm AWST on SBS VICELAND.
