CYCLING – TEAM Bahrain Victorious rider Afonso Eulalio kept the Maglia Bianca, or white jersey, for best young rider after stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia yesterday, coming through one of the hardest mountain days of the race with two days of action remaining.
The 151-kilometre leg from Feltre to Alleghe brought the race deep into the Dolomites, with almost 5,000 metres of climbing packed into the route.
Passo Duran, Coi, Forcella Staulanza, Passo Giau, Passo Falzarego and the final climb above Alleghe, at Piani di Pezze, made it a day with almost no space to recover.
For the team, the main focus was once again on Eulalio and the defence of the young rider classification. The Portuguese star had to manage a difficult day in the high mountains, with the general classification (GC) group reduced again over the final climbs, but he reached the finish safely and kept hold of the white jersey.
Eulalio is now sixth overall and continues to lead the Maglia Bianca standings by a minute and three seconds, keeping the jersey ahead of the final mountain stage and tomorrow’s finish in Rome.
Damiano Caruso was also active again for the team, spending the day in the breakaway before finishing seventh on the stage – a minute and six seconds behind the winner. The Italian remains ninth overall after another solid ride in the mountains.
The stage victory went to Sepp Kuss of Team Visma-Lease a Bike, who attacked late and took the win ahead of the Lidl-Trek pair of Derek Gee-West and Giulio Ciccone. Behind them, Jonas Vingegaard of Team Visma-Lease a Bike kept the Maglia Rosa after a very hard day in the mountains.
“It was a super hard stage today, with long climbs all day,” said Eulalio. “I had to suffer a lot, especially in the final, but this is the Giro and these are the days where you need to keep fighting.
“Damiano did a super job in the breakaway, and the team stayed with me and supported me as much as possible.
“In the end, we kept the white jersey for one more day, and that is the most important thing.
“Tomorrow is another hard stage, and we know it will be one more important day. The last five kilometres today felt very long, but we are still here, still in white, and we will keep fighting until the end.”
Bahrain Victorious sports director Franco Pellizotti commented: “Stage 19 was the queen stage of this Giro d’Italia, and in the end we came through it pretty well.
“Damiano was in the breakaway and we tried with him to go for the stage, while with Afonso the goal was to defend his GC position and the Maglia Bianca.
“It was a hard stage from the start, especially because some GC riders were already in the breakaway, and from the first King of the Mountains climb, the race was fast and difficult to control.
“In the end, we survived. We lost one position on the GC with Afonso and some time in the white jersey classification, but we are still in the game.
“Tomorrow is the last important stage, with Piancavallo twice, and it will be the final day to fight. We need to keep going until the end because we are close – very close to Rome – and close to achieving a great result.”
The Giro continues today with the 20th and penultimate stage, covering 200km from Gemona del Friuli to Piancavallo – the final mountain stage before reaching Rome.
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