INTERVIEW | Afonso Eulálio shares in detail how a brilliant 2024 and Volta a Portugal landed him in the World Tour

The Portuguese peloton in the World Tour has grown this year, with the surprising entry of Afonso Eulálio to Bahrain - Victorious. Signed by the A&J All Sports agency (who also have Tadej Pogacar, among others, signed) the talented climber is taking the step to the top of the cycling world. Talking to CyclingUpToDate he discussed some of his key moments in the Portuguese peloton, the 2024 Volta a Portugal in detail, goals for 2025 and adjusting to a completely different structure.

Eulálio was part of the ABTF Betão - Feirense team, a small continental team in Portugal which looked to rival Sabgal - Anicolor, his former team. In 2022 he became under-23 national champion and admits the team recognized his talent, but he moved away in search of more opportunities.

"The talent was recognized, we both knew I was doing well, I had been national champion that year and they knew I was young. The team joked that I would one day win the Volta a Portugal. The team knew about my talent, but both the team and I knew that to have more opportunities it was necessary to leave the team because there were many leaders," he said to our microphones. "The team was very strong so it was very difficult to find opportunities there".

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2023 passed along where he got more experience and results, but it was in 2024 that Eulálio truly broke through and captured international attention. He was fifth at the Vuelta Asturias, won by UAE Team Emirates' Isaac del Toro; won the queen stage of the Troféu Joaquim Agostinho where he finished second overall... And then put on a staggering performance at the Volta a Portugal.

"That year, of course, in my race at Joaquim Agostinho, I ended up winning, I was very happy with that. It was my first victory in an international race, then in the Volta a Portugal it always ends up being different because the television broadcast always ends up being different, you have more supporters and more people watching". On the first high mountain stage up the famous Serra da Estrela, the race blew up early with plenty attacks in the first half of the climb. He attacked with 13 kilometers to go, but admits actually that it was actually thinking of his teammate and supposed leader António Carvalho:

"I went to the Tour of Portugal a little without pressure, having already won the Trofeu Joaquim Agostinho, now we were going with António Carvalho's main idea. I'm young, I never knew how I would be over so many days, I don't have as much experience as him," he explains." But he ended up giving me 'carte blanche'. Then on the day of the Torre (Serra da Estrela climb, ed.) I always ended up attacking not thinking about victory but thinking about wearing out Colin Stussi who was in yellow, having to chase me and then Antonio following him". What ended up happening was that he put in a stunning climb, catching the remnants of the breakaway to finish second on the day, and jump into the race lead after winning over 1:30 minutes on Stussi.

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"Things ended up being like this, I ended up wearing Yellow. Then throughout the Volta we ended up sharing things well, we always talked well, we always got along, things always turned out well. Then on the last day things ended up not going as we liked but that's cycling". The 'last day' was one where Eulálio showed himself very strong, but the team was completely overwhelmed by a large and strong breakaway that included several GC riders, amongst them Artem Nych who ended up winning the overall classification.

Eulálio attacked in the penultimate climb of the day, in hopes of making the difference to Stussi, even though he was leading the race. A risk, he recognizes, but he explains the idea behind it: "I knew I had Pedro Silva ahead, he was waiting for me and had already talked to the team about it. As soon as I started the team told Pedro to wait, the idea was that we had no more to lose. I knew I had to take time on Colin Stussi, I saw that I didn't have António Carvalho (he had been dropped earlier, ed.) with me to play attack later so I decided to attack there".

The attacked exploded the peloton, but then in the descent the attack was neutralized. On the final climb of the day the then-22 year old struggled and was dropped. He dropped to sixth in the GC, eventually falling to 10th in the final time-trial. "... I had already agreed with the Kern Pharma cyclist that he had a rider in front and was already isolated with me. It always ended up being extra help but then his colleague ended up getting dropped going down, we lost some help, then there was only Pedro pulling, the other guy didn't want to pull with me so it ended up getting more difficult. The idea was to attack 50 kilometers from the finish line and then isolate myself with Pedro, then gain enough time from Colin Stussi for then the time trial".

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All of these performances were enough to bring serious attention. Eulálio reveals that already before the Volta, he had several teams interested in him. "My agency has always been very calm with me so as not to put too much pressure on me, before the Volta they had already spoken to me saying that there were some teams interested, and that at the end of the Volta a Portugal we would talk, some video calls with some teams but they never told me that teams were, never anything like that so as not to put pressure on me and be calm in the Volta. But after that, I talked to Bahrain, everything was already aligned". Were there other World Tour teams interested? "It's not worth mentioning names, but yes," he assures.

This week in Altea the temperatures have dropped, but the sun is out and the riders are enjoying their first training camp. In the same hotel as Bahrain - Victorious is the Italian Bardiani team, but also rumours of others like Axeon and FDJ-Suez... Just a few kilometers down the street, several other World Tour teams, and on the road that passes through the Spanish town, dozens of pros pass through in the matter of minutes. A completely different reality for the Portuguese rider. 

"It's all very different. Just the fact that you go from having 10 teammates to having 30 ends up being a big difference. So here in Portugal we have 10 cyclists and they all speak Portuguese, or there is someone Spanish or something like that. Here we have half of the nationalities that are all different, it’s all very different," he explains. "The staff in Portugal ends up being a very small staff, here there are more staff than cyclists. It's a lot of difference. Then my English isn't perfect, it ends up being a little difficult to talk to them and communicate but they have helped me a lot and it's been really good working with them".

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Eulálio is one of the many young signings the team has put their chips on this winter, and one focused on the mountain races. He tells us where he will start his 2025 season, although further details are yet to be decided: "I'm going to start the Tour Down Under, I hope it's going to be a good race, it's going to be very hot".

At the Volta a Portugal he thrived in extreme heat, but he actually explains that he hates racing with it, and always prefers the cold and rain. "On the ascent to Serra da Estrela, I started the climb from the bottom with three ice socks, one at the front and two at the back, because I feel ill in the heat and that's something I'm afraid of," he recalls. "So I'm always prepared to prevent it and the team was incredible with me and always understood me as much as possible".

A Grand Tour in 2025? These are plans that are still being discussed with the team. We'll see in the future". Finally, he shares as well that he has been working on his time-trial bike, something that he had completely put aside in 2024.

"Of course, I'm already working on the time trial, I'm really weak. I've been working harder, I didn't even used to work in Portugal or train on a time trial bike, now I'm doing it, exercises to improve, and that's how I've been doing it so far. Always working and trying to improve in this case what I'm not so good at, and improving the other parts where I can make a difference," he concluded.

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