Cyclist: How was your recovery after the Giro?
Afonso Eulálio: The recovery after the Giro was quite good as I was at home. I did one week just super-easy without the bike, which was nice. Then I restarted, it was quite easy still but I became quite sick, which was not the best.
Since then I have been spinning the legs a little, and I am now at the Tour de Suisse with the aim of helping our team leaders here to try to achieve a good result.
You held the race lead for several stages and got to wear the pink jersey for a long time. What did you learn from that experience?
It’s difficult to say at the moment. I am normally just a support guy and there at a big race to help my teammates, you know, so it was a completely different experience for me and you need to think about so much more when you have the pink jersey.
One thing is that you must think about trying to save as much energy as possible for the final each day – this is what I noticed. It’s not possible to just try to help the others when you are in the pink jersey; you risk getting dropped in one moment, and that’s it.
As well as your time leading the race, you also won the white jersey as the best young rider. What do you think contributed to your success and helped you achieve that?
I don’t really know to be honest, but I managed to keep a good level throughout the race and I wasn’t completely dead on all of the days.
After wearing the pink jersey I tried to find new things in me, and that was mainly in the mountains on the days with longer, harder climbs. On those days I just tried to continue to fight and survive with the best guys in the race and give it everything. Then, of course, I just tried to go completely full gas in the time-trial, which helped me at the end. That changed me a lot.
Damiano [Caruso] also helped me a lot, but not just in this race. We’ve spent a lot of time together recently as we did the preparation together for the Giro on Mount Teide and we’ve done a lot of races and training camps together before that in the winter. I think I did at least half of my calendar last year with Damiano and Antonio Tiberi – I spent more time with Damiano in the last two years than I did with my family.
Because of the time we’ve spent working together I think Damiano and I have quite a good connection in races; we’re similar riders, he’s like me and not a crazy guy for numbers like some of the newer generation. Damiano is also quite tough off of the bike and I think this is good for me.
I can’t say just one example of advice that he has given me as he just tells me to continue to enjoy the moment then everything else will come. I can’t really explain our relationship, we just understand each other when we race together and he helps me know what to do at the right moment. That is exactly why Damiano will stay with our team next year as a director.
What are you going to do with your white jersey?
I have already put one of my pink ones on the wall next to my bed in my room at home, so I think I will put my white one next to it.
You’re currently at the Tour de Suisse. What will your next goals be for the rest of the season?
I am just here in Switzerland to try to help the other guys and support them. I’m still trying to enjoy the moment, but next month I think I will start to prepare for the Canadian and Italian Classics in the final months of the year.
Everything is still being decided by the team, so I don’t know yet what the perfect plan will be for the last part of the season, but I think I will know during the Tour next month.
I know for sure that they will decide and make the best calendar for me, so that should mean that I will go to Canada for the Classics there, and I will then stay and do the World Championships in Montréal. I did both of the classics in Canada last year – they’re both really hard. I know the first one in Québec is often considered not as hard but I thought it was very difficult.
So is the GP Montréal better suited to a rider like you?
We will see later this year! But no, I think it is so so hard. I remember last year I dropped from the front group with 50 or 60 kilometres to go, I think it was UAE that were pulling hard on the front and I remember there were only about 20 guys left in that main group towards the end. At 60km to go my head just dropped. When you’re in that position when there are just 20 guys left with that far to go then you know you are in a really hard race.
How did you first become interested in cycling?
I started out on the mountain bike at home in Portugal – just for fun, nothing more. Some friends asked me to join them and try to do some races on my mountain bike, which I did just to see if I enjoyed it. After one year doing that I finished in something like the top five best mountain bikers in Portugal. The road bike then started to come into it and a team said to me, ‘come, try to do one year with us’, which I did and I started to enjoy that. I won three races when I started and then a Continental team in Portugal said I should come and join them.
It was difficult at the start as I began in 2020, during Covid, and in 2020-2021 we didn’t have many races so things started quite slowly for me, but I won the National Championship in 2022, then things just started to go up and up and up for me.
Suddenly I arrived in the WorldTour and it was crazy. I didn’t think it was possible because my career had been quite fast and I never expected to get to the WorldTour. I always just rode my bike for fun, I’ve never been like some of these other younger guys who have always ridden their road bike and their dream has been to end up on the WorldTour. I just rode for fun, in my village in Portugal, and that’s it.
Can you remember the first race you ever watched?
I started to watch more road cycling when Rui Costa won the World Championships in 2013. When I was younger I just remember that race when Costa won and then after I would watch more to see guys like Chris Froome, Nairo Quintana, and all of these other guys in races like the Tour de France.
So would you say Rui Costa was your role model when you began in cycling?
Yes, he was. I was never this young guy who was always watching cycling because I was a big fan or something, I just started to watch cycling because Rui won the Worlds in 2013 and everyone in Portugal was talking about it because he was better than two Spanish guys [Joaquim Rodríguez and Alejandro Valverde]. I started to watch cycling a lot more from that moment and really liked it.
What do you like to do in your free time when you’re not away at a race or training?
After last year, I really just like to spend any time back at home. In the WorldTour you spend a lot of time away from home, out of Portugal, away from your family and friends. For me, I love holidays when I can go home – that’s the best time when you can just be with friends and family at home and enjoy it.
What are your long term career aspirations and if you could target one race what would it be?
I cannot just choose one. The World Championships are the World Championships, but I think it is quite hard to win the Worlds now because of Pogačar. But for now I just want to focus on the moment, focus on working hard in training with my team and we will see what the future will give to me one day.