“The truth is that I don’t know myself” - Afonso Eulalio untested but ready to suffer as Giro d’Italia lead poised for Vingegaard test on Blockhaus

Afonso Eulalio has carried the Maglia Rosa safely through his first day in pink at the Giro d’Italia, but the Portuguese race leader now faces the question that could define his entire race.

After surviving Stage 6 into Napoli, Eulalio still holds a sizeable advantage over Jonas Vingegaard and the rest of the pre-race GC favourites. That gap, however, will be placed under its first major mountain examination on Stage 7, when the Giro heads to Blockhaus for the first summit finish of the race.

Eulalio earned pink after his dramatic duel with Igor Arrieta on Stage 5, where the Bahrain Victorious rider crashed, remounted and still finished second on a brutal day of rain and chaos. Speaking to Cycling Pro Net after Stage 6, he admitted the following day had been far calmer, even if the effects of that battle had not disappeared entirely.

“Yes, it was better than yesterday,” Eulalio said. “Yesterday was very hard with the rain, with the day in the breakaway, but we have got through a calmer day. We saved the day, always moving the legs a little bit at the front, and the most important thing is that we saved the day and recovered a little.”

Asked how his body had reacted after the previous day’s crash, Eulalio replied: “Yesterday I thought I was perfect, but when I woke up I had a bit of pain. But nothing more.”

The tone now changes sharply. Stage 7 is the longest day of the Giro and ends on Blockhaus, where the race is expected to deliver its first clear reading of the true GC hierarchy.

Vingegaard has already acknowledged that six minutes cannot simply be taken back from Eulalio in one stage, but the Portuguese leader knows the pressure will come. The climb is a very different test from the rolling and chaotic opening week that has reshaped the race so dramatically.

“Tomorrow will be a very long day, very long,” Eulalio said. “It is the first summit finish and for sure everything will be fought out. All the GC riders will play tomorrow and I will try to suffer as much as I can to try to keep this very good and very beautiful jersey.”

That final phrase captures the scale of the opportunity. Eulalio is no longer just the survivor of a dramatic breakaway. He is now the rider the Giro favourites must chase, with Bahrain - Victorious suddenly defending pink after arriving at the race with Santiago Buitrago as their original GC reference before his early withdrawal.

The most revealing part of Eulalio’s interview came when he was asked about his own high-mountain ability. Rather than offer bold predictions, he admitted that Blockhaus will also be a test of discovery for himself. “In the high mountains, we will see tomorrow,” he said. “The truth is that I don’t know myself that well, so we will see tomorrow. It will be a surprise for you and for me.”

That uncertainty is exactly what makes his position so intriguing. Eulalio has time in hand, but not yet the three-week evidence to prove he can defend it against riders such as Vingegaard, Jai Hindley, Giulio Pellizzari, Egan Bernal, Thymen Arensman and others once the Giro reaches its first serious mountain finish. The six-minute buffer gives him room to absorb damage. It does not remove the danger.

Asked directly whether such an advantage would be difficult to erase, Eulalio kept the same cautious tone. “It can be very easy and it can be very difficult,” he said. “We will see how tomorrow’s day goes.”

Blockhaus will now give the first answer.