Former Giro d'Italia race leader Afonso Eulálio was caught in a freak crash 49km from the end of stage 18.
The Portuguese racer, wearing the white jersey as best young rider in the Italian Grand Tour, was caught up in a fall that was seemingly caused by a a tangle with a musette – or feed bag – held by a soigneur at the side of the road.
The incident occurred as the peloton prepared to tackle the hilly finish of the 171km stage, with Eulálio riding on the right-hand side of the road, and falling into the bunch when his handlebar seemingly tangled in the long strap of one of the musettes being dangled at the roadside.
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Eulálio hit the ground and looked to be nursing his left arm after the fall. The Portuguese rider, who led the Giro between stages 6 and 13, got back on his feet and back on a spare bike after some time on the ground. His teammate Robert Stannard was on hand to support him as he raced back to the peloton.
He could later be seen waving his arm around as he rode along, and while he got back to the peloton, there was further trouble when the peloton split and he was caught on the wrong-side of it on the approach to the critical late climb of the Muro di Ca' del Poggio.
Eulálio bounces back
However, Eulálio bounced back in remarkable style, lighting up the finale with a series of attacks.
He was the first to make a move on the punchy climb of the Muro di Ca' del Poggio, though he was reeled in by the top as race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) surged forward.
Eulálio attacked again out of the small selection that had formed over the climb, going away with Johannes Kulset (Uno-X) and only being swept up by the sprint trains with 1,200 metres to go.
Eulálio, currently lying fifth overall at 5:40 down on race leader Jonas Vingegaard, had previously fallen on his left arm back on stage 5, the day he took the maglia rosa. He slid out on the wet roads in Potenza and eventually finished second behind Igor Arrieta.
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