Eulálio knows his chances ahead of Giro mountain stage? 'I just have to keep fighting'

Saturday is a crucial day for Afonso Eulálio. The Portuguese rider has been wearing the pink jersey for some time now, but the Giro d'Italia will test his climbing legs again in stage fourteen. The mountain stage looks tailor-made for Jonas Vingegaard to finally take over the lead. Can the Bahrain Victorious rider hold on a little longer?

Stage thirteen was not the hardest. The peloton left the breakaway to fight for the win, giving Eulálio a chance to recover. "No, the recovery will only happen in two days' time," he countered, speaking to CyclingPro.net. "But today has been a quieter day — a long day too. We managed to hold onto the pink jersey, and that is the most important thing."

It was a warm day to Verbania, and the heat could play a role on Saturday too, the pink jersey wearer knows. "When I took the pink jersey it was a full day of riding in the rain, with even some hail. It was a very tough day on the body. Now we are riding in thirty degrees. That will certainly make a difference," he explained. "We will do the best we can with our staff and our nutritionists."

Stage fourteen will strike fear into many riders, with 4,350 metres of climbing packed into just 133 kilometres. It is a brutal mountain stage with a demanding uphill finish. "It looks like a very hard stage, doesn't it? We will see how the legs are. So far they feel good. I am very happy, and I will fight as hard as I can. We start with a very long climb and end with a very long climb."

At the two summit finishes so far, Eulálio has lost time to Vingegaard both times. On Blockhaus he finished fifteenth, 2 minutes 55 seconds behind the stage winner. Two days later on Corno alle Scale he limited the damage considerably, finishing fifth, 41 seconds behind the Dane. But the stage to Pila is on paper considerably harder than that stage.

Could we expect a new attack from Vingegaard? Eulálio's answer says it all. "Jonas doesn't even need to attack tomorrow. Jonas is Jonas — the only man who can beat him is Pogačar. And he isn't here. We have to try to follow him, but if he goes hard, we'll get dropped. Then we have to fight it out behind him. I just have to keep fighting — that's it."