"My teammates probably suffer more than me": Afonso Eulálio savors pink jersey support as he survives stage 8

Afonso Eulálio enjoyed another relatively smooth day in the pink jersey on Stage 8 of the Giro d'Italia. While Jhonatan Narváez took the stage victory from the breakaway, the overall race leader showed impressive tactical maturity, as he safely navigated a tricky cobbled finale, relying heavily on his teammates to keep the jersey on his shoulders for another day.

Stage 8 presented a technical finish that required sharp focus to avoid crashes or time gaps. Instead of sitting back, the young Portuguese rider made a deliberate move to the front of the peloton as they hit the cobbles and sharp corners.

"I did something like an attack in the final, but it was not really an attack, just to start at the front in the corners," Eulálio explained in a post-race interview. "For the finale, I studied the last few kilometers carefully and stayed a little further back to read the race. In the last kilometer, I made that move to get to the front of the cobbles and pick up speed, because with all those corners, it's much easier when you're riding at the front. We saved the jersey, which is the most important thing for us."

"Tomorrow is more about surviving again, and in the final, I hope, like yesterday, I can survive. We will work as a team like we did the last few days. When I see the whole team do this great job: all the staff, all the directors, all the riders... My teammates probably suffer more than me. Seeing all of this during the day gives me more confidence, more power, and in the final, I just try to maintain the jersey."

For Eulálio, wearing the maglia rosa has completely flipped his role within the team. Accustomed to working as a domestique for others, he is now experiencing what it is like to be the protected rider.

"Yes, it's crazy for me because normally I'm like a worker man. Now, seeing my teammates working for me, it's crazy," he reflected. "They arrive twenty or thirty minutes down, and in the final, I just want to maintain the jersey to give something back to my teammates."

Looking ahead, Eulálio knows his time in pink might be limited. He hopes to survive tomorrow's difficult mountain test and carry the jersey into the rest day, but he is brutally honest about his chances on the time trial that follows on Tuesday.

"First of all, I want to keep and maintain the jersey tomorrow. After that, I think we will say goodbye to the jersey, because I'm not good on the full flat," he admitted. "No corners, no up and downs, it is the worst for me. It's the worst ever for me, it is impossible that I keep the jersey."

As for the looming presence of general classification main favourites like Jonas Vingegaard and Giulio Pellizzari, Eulálio is keeping his feet firmly planted on the ground.

"I don't think I'm at all a marked man," he stated. "There are still two weeks of racing left, the very long climbs are coming up, and it's certain that I can't follow those guys. As for keeping the pink jersey until the rest day, I hope so, but we'll see tomorrow."