Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) extended his Giro d'Italia lead to 33 seconds over Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) on Thursday after sprinting for six bonus seconds at the Red Bull Kilometre on the 175-kilometre stage from Imperia to Novi Ligure.
Alec Segaert won the stage from a late attack, but the day's most telling moment for the general classification came at the intermediate sprint, where Eulálio chose to race for every available second.
It was the perfect day for Bahrain Victorious. They took the stage win with a perfectly timed attack from Segaert as well as extending Eulálio's lead in the pink jersey. "It is perfect, we keep the jersey and get the victory with Alec. It is a perfect day." Eulálio said on Cycling Pro Net's YouTube channel.
The Red Bull Kilometre awards six, four and two bonus seconds to the first three riders across the line. Eulálio took the maximum. Vingegaard did not contest it. Ben O'Connor (Team Jayco-AlUla) collected four seconds and Markel Beloki (EF Education-EasyPost) took two, minor shifts that moved O'Connor 22 seconds further clear of Jai Hindley in fifth and Beloki to five seconds of Chris Harper in the top ten.
Enjoying the lead before the mountains
Eulálio looked happy and relaxed after the finish where he told reporters that having the pink jersey makes the whole team step up. "I think it is extra motivation." He said. "We fight for the pink but we also have other objectives. Today is perfect."
When asked if he felt more confident in pink to go for the bonus seconds in the Red Bull Kilometre he played it down. "I think it not important. When we arrive in the mountains, 30 seconds is nothing." Eulálio told reporters.
"For the other riders that don't want to fight for this so I just did the sprint and we see." He continued. "I get a little for free."
Eulálio is sensible. He knows that Vingegaard is in flying form despite not pulling back all the time in the time trial. And with Saturday's stage taking on five major mountains and well over 4000 metres of elevation gain in just 133km it is almost certain that the Danish star will finally ride into the pink jersey and end this magical period in the Portuguese rider's career.
The Bahrain Victorious rider has a largely flat day on Friday with a couple of sharp kickers at the end that could provide some action but will likely see the breakaway contest for the win with Eulálio keeping pink for another day.
Saturday is almost certain to be his last day in pink. That said, he has shown that he has the legs to compete for a very good top 10 in the final GC and with Sunday bringing the second week to a close, his ambitions, which started with him as a domestique for the now abandoned Santiago Buitrago now reach heights of a very solid top 10 in the final general classification.
Cover image credit: Massimo Paolone/LaPresse
