White jersey battle tightens as Davide Piganzoli gets a pat on the back from Giulio Pellizzari

It seems as if everyone at the Giro d’Italia has now found the place where they belong. but at Visma | Lease a Bike they will still be hoping on Saturday that Davide Piganzoli can take the white jersey from Bahrain Victorious rider Afonso Eulalio. On Friday's queen stage, the Italian took a big chunk of time back on his Portuguese rival.

Piganzoli finished 8th on the Dolomites stage won by his teammate Sepp Kuss, 1.14 minutes ahead of Eulalio. That cut the gap between the two to 1.03 minutes, with one mountain stage still to come on Saturday and the final stage in Rome on Sunday. After the stage, he also received a pat on the back from close friend Giulio Pellizzari.

“I was a bit tired in the final, but we all were,” the Italian admitted after the finish to CyclingProNet. “I think it went well in the end; I had a good feeling. We hope to repeat that tomorrow.” Jonas Vingegaard has also said he hopes his teammate takes the white jersey, and Sepp Kuss and Bart Lemmen repeated that at the finish on Friday.

On the other side is Eulalio, who of course hopes to take white all the way to Rome. “It was an incredibly hard stage, with long climbs all day. I had to suffer a lot, especially in the finale, but this is the Giro and these are the days when you have to keep fighting.”

“Damiano Caruso did fantastically in the breakaway, and the team stayed with me and supported me as best they could. In the end we managed to keep the white jersey for one more day, and that is the most important thing. The final five kilometres felt very long, but we are still here, still in white, and we will keep fighting until the end.”

Team manager Franco Pellizzotti added: “It was a hard stage from the start, especially because there were already some GC riders in the breakaway, and from the first climb the race was fast and difficult to control. In the end we survived.”

“We lost one position in the general classification with Afonso and some time in the white-jersey standings, but we are still in the fight. Tomorrow is the last important stage, with Piancavallo twice, and it will be the final day to battle. We have to push through to the end, because we are close — very close to Rome — and close to a great result,” said the Italian.