“It was a dream to live this whole Giro" - Afonso Eulálio secures his place among the cycling elite

Afonso Eulálio wrapped up a Giro d’Italia he will hardly forget on Sunday. The young Bahrain Victorious rider secured the white jersey, awarded to the best young rider, crowning three weeks of remarkable consistency in what was his definitive breakthrough among the most promising names in world cycling.

In the final stage, raced on the streets of Rome, Jonathan Milan was the strongest in the sprint, with no changes in the general classification. Eulálio clinched one of the Giro’s most prestigious classifications and finished the race in a notable sixth place overall.

At 24, the Portuguese rider was one of the standout figures of this edition of the Italian race. In addition to wearing the maglia rosa for nine stages, he showed he could fight for positions with some of the best riders in the world on the high mountain days, revealing a competitive maturity that surprised the peloton.

In the youth classification, Eulálio finished 1:13 ahead of Davide Piganzoli of Team Visma | Lease a Bike. Third place went to the Frenchman Mathys Rondel of Tudor, already 5:33 behind the Portuguese.

The victory in the young riders’ classification stands as one of the most striking results for Portuguese cycling in recent years, repeating João Almeida’s feat at the 2023 Giro d’Italia, and confirms the rise of a rider who only recently reached the WorldTour and left Rome as one of the revelations of the season.

At the final ceremony, which featured the presence of the great champion Vincenzo Nibali, Eulálio stepped onto the podium alongside the other winners of the Giro classifications: Jonas Vingegaard, overall winner; Paul Magnier, points classification winner; Giulio Ciccone, king of the mountains; and Jonathan Milan, who triumphed in the final stage.

At the end of the race, the Portuguese rider did not hide his emotion after completing the best performance of his career.

“It was a dream to live this whole Giro, to be here, it was simply incredible,” he told Jornal A Bola. More than the results achieved, Eulálio highlighted the joy of sharing this moment with everyone who accompanied him over the past few weeks.

“More than the pink jersey or the white jersey, my greatest satisfaction is seeing all the people around me and working with me so happy. To arrive after a stage and see everyone with a smile like that is something incredible for me. A big thank you to everyone, and now it’s time to savor it,” he declared.

With the Italian adventure over, the Bahrain Victorious rider now wants to enjoy the moment before setting his next goals for the season, which will not include the Tour de France and are unlikely to include the Vuelta a España.

“For now, I mainly want to enjoy what I’ve experienced, switch off from the bike a little, and when we resume, we’ll do it gradually before seeing what we can aim for next with the team.”

After three weeks that put him under the spotlight of world cycling, Afonso Eulálio bids farewell to Rome with the white jersey on his shoulders, a place among the top six overall, and the certainty that his name now belongs to the elite of the sport.