Afonso Eulálio suffered “the most” until he ‘exploded’, but retained the ‘pink magic’ of the Giro after arriving at the Blockhaus, in which Jonas Vingegaard completed the trilogy of stages in grand Tours and got closer to the Portuguese cyclist.
In the first high mountain round, the 24-year-old from Figueirense resisted the powerful pace imposed by Visma-Lease a Bike until the last six kilometers of the seventh stagegiving way almost at the same time as the Vuelta2025 champion attacked to debut by winning the Tour of Italy, although without the authority of other times.
“I tried to suffer as much as I could. In the end, I exploded. If I hadn’t had Damiano [Caruso] behind me, I think I would have lost another minute or two. These guys flew the entire climb. I just tried to survive”, admitted Eulálio after finishing 15th, 02.55 minutes behind the Visma-Lease a Bike leader, who completed the exaggerated 244 kilometers from Formia in 06:09.15 hours.
Outstanding favorite to triumph in the 109th edition of the Giro, Vingegaard came ‘dangerously’ close to the Portuguese cyclist from Bahrain Victoriousnow second overall, at 03.17 minutes, with the unexpected Felix Gall closing the podiuma 03.34.
O Austrian Decathlon rider was the surprise of the first mountain stagesetting off on the heels of the two-time winner of the Tour (2022 and 2023) to finish the day in second place, just 13 seconds behind, and demonstrate that Giulio Pellizzari, who was fourth behind his colleague Jai Hindley (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) – the two lost just over a minute -, is not the only candidate for the final second place.
“I’m happy to have made up time [para Eulálio] and have bought my opponents time”assumed Vingegaard, for whom only victory in the stage mattered.
A reconfigured general classification continues to be headed by Euláliowho lost the time he had predicted at the start of the stage, but puts the candidates for the general in their place: Hindley is fourth, 04.25 behind the Portuguese, Pellizzari is fifth, at 04.28, with Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla) and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) occupying, respectively, sixth and eighth places.
On the eve of the eighth stage, a 156 kilometer connection between Chieti and Fermo, without major difficulties, the record holder Nelson Oliveira occupies 60th place overallat 34.35, while debutant António Morgado is 142nd, at 01:14.42 hours.
