Not even a late crash on a dramatic day in the Giro d'Italia could stop one of the most recent newcomers to top-level racing, Afonso Eulálio, from claiming the pink jersey on Wednesday. And now the next big question is, having gained it by a massive margin on the major GC favourites, how long can he keep it?
Just 24 years old and with a mountain bike background before joining the WorldTour in 2025 with Bahrain Victorious, Eulálio was lying 31st overall, 1:11 down on race leader Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) before his stage 5 breakaway. This is only his second Giro d'Italia and second Grand Tour.
After closing in on earlier attacker Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) at the top of the category 2 Monte Grande di Viggiano, Eulálio moved ahead on the rain-soaked descent when Arrieta crashed - only to fall himself and allow the UAE racer to regain contact.
After the Spaniard then went off course, however, the stage plot line altered yet again, and it looked as if both the stage win and the overall lead could be in Eulálio's grasp. After all, Lidl-Trek and the previous GC leader, Giulio Ciccone, had already abandoned their pursuit of the Portuguese racer in the rugged finale to Potenza, and the GC group was seemingly more concerned with not crashing than chasing too hard.
After Arrieta regained contact and won the sprint for the stage, Eulálio was left to settle for the pink jersey. But if the lead in itself is no mean achievement even for one day, his considerable advantage on GC means it's a major consolation prize for the mid-to-long term as well.
"The plan was initially only to go for the stage victory, but I knew I was only one minute behind the maglia rosa, so I tried for that as well," Eulálio told reporters.
By taking pink in such dramatic fashion, Eulálio has succeeded far beyond anybody's expectations. Eulálio is now heading the overall classification with an advantage of nearly three minutes on his closest chaser, Arrieta.
Portuguese fans will not have forgotten how their country's previous leader in the Giro d'Italia, João Almeida, conquered the pink jersey in 2020 in almost equally unexpected circumstances and then held onto it for two weeks, far longer than expected. They will now be hoping history can repeat itself, six years on.
After all, Eulálio now has a considerable advantage on GC, of 2:51 on Arrieta, his closest rival and a whopping 6:22 on the top pre-race favourite, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike). Dislodging him from the lead could prove a lengthy and challenging task.
Furthermore, while Eulálio's stage racing credentials are nothing in the league of Ben O'Connor, that kind of margin from an early first week breakaway does spark memories of when the Australian claimed the red jersey ahead of Primož Roglič in the 2024 Vuelta a España after the top teams failed to chase down a long-distance move on a transition stage.
"I don't know how long I can keep the jersey. I think the time trial will be very hard for me," was all Eulálio said in his post-race press conference. But if the question of how long he can maintain the top spot overall remains to be seen, just one day in the lead is already a major success - and for a team that had lost its GC leader by the worst kind of bad luck, it's just the kind of comeback they needed to kickstart their Giro aspirations again, too.
