Eulálio loses pink but gains white — Can he still fight for the podium?

The pink fairy tale of Afonso Eulálio came to an end on Saturday after nine days. The Portuguese rider had to surrender the leader's jersey to an unstoppable Jonas Vingegaard — just as he had expected. Yet his GC ambitions are far from over. The Bahrain Victorious rider spoke to Domestique Cycling and reflected on the punishing fourteenth stage.

It all started for Eulálio on stage five. In a chaotic finale involving multiple crashes and Arrieta taking a wrong turn, the Portuguese rider narrowly missed the stage win — but received the consolation prize of the pink jersey, with a handsome overall lead.

Almost nobody had expected the young Portuguese to hold the jersey for so long. During the time trial, the general expectation was that he would lose the lead — yet against all predictions he kept it, with a margin of just under half a minute. On Saturday's brutal mountain stage, the inevitable finally happened.

"We expected this," he said afterwards. "Jonas is Jonas. Yesterday I already told him that he was going to win the stage. I just tried to fight as hard as possible all the way to the finish line." Despite his brave effort, the Portuguese rider lost significant time to many GC rivals. He nonetheless remains in a fine second place overall, around 24 seconds ahead of Felix Gall.

"It was a really hard day. I had to let go quite early, but my team always believed in me — today, last week, the last ten days. I just had to keep fighting to the finish line to give something back to the team." Eulálio had already factored in the time loss, as a succession of long climbs in a single stage does not suit his profile.

"I don't know exactly what I did today, but it was not great. For me, it was fine. I don't really like a lot of long climbs, so I just had to keep fighting." His second place in the general classification also means he will not be reaching for his Bahrain Victorious race kit on Sunday — because the Portuguese rider will start in the white jersey as the best young rider in the race.

"I will fight to keep it, and I'm going for a top ten regardless. I hope to continue my fight with good legs," he said with characteristic determination. Sunday offers a brief respite before the rest day — but the third week will still bring plenty of challenges for the revelation of this Giro.