“First of all, it’s perfect to arrive at the rest day with the pink jersey,” Eulálio said excitedly in an interview at the finish line. “It was one of the objectives for the team and we all fought for this.”
“The whole team always helps me. All the guys do their job perfectly — all the staff, all the riders. In the final, Damiano was incredible. He was supporting me… he’s Damiano Caruso. In my first professional race ever [Circuito de Getxo in 2020], Damiano won this race… and now I have Damiano helping me. I don’t even have words for it.”
Time to refill the tank
Afonso Eulálio remains in pink jersey after stage 9 of the 2026 Giro d’Italia
Even though this is already Eulálio’s second Grand Tour participation, the experience is vastly different compared to last year’s Giro when the Portuguese rider raced mostly under the radar, he explains:
“We live every day under full pressure. We finish the stage, then we have all the interviews, the trip to the hotel, dinner super late… after that we wake up, open the bags, close the bags again. So first of all we need to enjoy the rest day and take it super easy. We’ll try to find a good coffee, and after that we’ll check the route with the team and go for it in the time trial. It’s not the best discipline for me, but we need to fight.”
What’s there beyond pink jersey?
Although his days in pink seem to be coming to an end, Eulálio will have many other opportunities to leave another mark at this year’s Giro with several challenging mountain stages in second and third week of this year’s edition. Is there any particular stage that ticks Eulálio’s interest?
“Two weeks are still going to be very long. Some days already feel very long, and other days you can lose ten minutes. We just need to take it one day at a time.”