Not even a late crash on a dramatic day in the Giro d’Italia could stop one of the most recent newcomers to top-level racing, Afonso Eulálio, from claiming the pink jersey on Wednesday. And now the next big question is, having gained it by a massive margin on the major GC favourites, how long can he keep it?
Just 24 years old and with a mountain bike background before joining the WorldTour in 2025 with Bahrain Victorious, Eulálio was lying 31st overall, 1:11 down on race leader Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) before his stage 5 breakaway. This is only his second Giro d’Italia and second Grand Tour.
After closing in on earlier attacker Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) at the top of the category 2 Monte Grande di Viggiano, Eulálio moved ahead on the rain-soaked descent when Arrieta crashed – only to fall himself and allow the UAE racer to regain contact.
After the Spaniard then went off course, however, the stage plot line altered yet again, and it looked as if both the stage win and the overall lead could be in Eulálio’s grasp. After all, Lidl-Trek and the previous GC leader, Giulio Ciccone, had already abandoned their pursuit of the Portuguese racer in the rugged finale to Potenza, and the GC group was seemingly more concerned with not crashing than chasing too hard.
After Arrieta regained contact and won the sprint for the stage, Eulálio was left to settle for the pink jersey. But if the lead in itself is no mean achievement even for one day, his considerable advantage on GC means it’s a major consolation prize for the mid-to-long term as well.
“The plan was initially only to go for the stage victory, but I knew I was only one minute behind the maglia rosa, so I tried for that as well,” Eulálio told reporters.
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…