"The other riders didn't want to fight for this" - Afonso Eulalio surprised by lack of resistance as Giro d'Italia leader extends Maglia Rosa advantage on Stage 12

Afonso Eulalio found another small margin in the Giro d’Italia pink jersey fight on Stage 12, and the Bahrain Victorious leader admitted afterwards that the opportunity was almost handed to him.

On a day dominated by Alec Segaert’s late victory in Novi Ligure, Eulalio quietly strengthened his hold on the Maglia Rosa by taking six bonus seconds at the Red Bull KM. Jonas Vingegaard began the stage 27 seconds behind him overall, but finished it 33 seconds down after declining to contest the bonus sprint.

Eulalio did not overstate the move.

With the hardest mountain stages still to come, he knows the gap to Vingegaard remains narrow. But after surviving the Stage 10 time trial and carrying pink through another awkward day, every second still counts.

Bahrain - Victorious enjoyed a near perfect day. Eulalio added to his GC lead, while teammate Segaert later stunned the reduced peloton with a late attack to win the stage.

Asked by Cycling Pro Net whether the pink jersey had given the whole team extra motivation, Eulalio said: “Yeah, I think so. It is extra motivation. We fight for the pink, but we also have other objectives, and today was perfect.”

The Red Bull KM then gave Eulalio a chance to turn a quiet GC stage into a slightly more useful one. Ben O’Connor took four bonus seconds behind him, but Vingegaard and the rest of the main overall contenders allowed the Bahrain rider to take the maximum.

Eulalio said he did not read too much into Vingegaard’s lack of response, but admitted the sprint had been available because the others were not interested. “Look, for Jonas I think it is not important,” he said. “When the long mountains arrive, 30 seconds is nothing. But for the other riders, they did not want to fight for this, so I just did the sprint and that is it. It was a little bit for free.”

The six seconds do not change the wider shape of the Giro, but they add another small layer to Eulalio’s increasingly stubborn defence of pink. Vingegaard remains the overwhelming threat once the race returns to the high mountains. Thymen Arensman, Felix Gall, O’Connor and Jai Hindley are still close enough to keep the top of the standings tense. Yet Eulalio continues to answer each day as it comes, and Stage 12 gave him exactly what he needed.

“Yeah, exactly,” he said when it was put to him that the bonus could help him keep pink for another day. “It is perfect. We keep the jersey and Alec wins today. It is perfect. Perfect day.”

That was the real picture for Bahrain. Segaert took the stage, Eulalio extended his lead, and Vingegaard remained close enough to keep the race alive without landing a blow. The mountains will decide whether those free seconds truly matter. For now, Eulalio has made sure they are on his side of the ledger.