Afonso Eulalio arrives at Pila 2'49" behind Vingegaard and loses the pink jersey he has worn for nine stages, but the Portuguese rider from Bahrain Victorious is not discouraged, quite the opposite: he is now second in the general classification 2'26" behind the Danish rider. "That final climb was very long and very hard, and we got there after many other climbs and with a lot of effort – explains the 24-year-old Portuguese rider -. I dropped back early (9 km from the finish, ed.) but I tried to resist as long as I could, suffering all the way to the finish line".

It's the change of pace from Sepp Kuss, Vingegaard's lead-out man, that puts the Portuguese rider on his knees, but he continues at his own pace and doesn't fall apart. "Fortunately, Damiano Caruso held on once more, he did phenomenal work and gave me a lot of morale – Eulalio continues -. Damiano was exceptional with me. I really tried to defend this jersey as best I could".

The former pink jersey wearer already has a deficit of 1'12" from Vingegaard's group when, after Piganzoli's work, the Danish rider gets out of the saddle and attacks 4.6 km from the finish. He therefore loses 1'37" in the final, harder section of the Pila climb. But Caruso catches up with him: Damiano sprays him with his water bottle, encourages him like a father with a son, gives him a pat on the shoulder, then moves ahead to set the pace and escorts him to the finish line. Side by side. A gesture of friendship, generosity and leadership that only a great man, before being a great cyclist, can make: let's not forget that the Ragusa native is still the last Italian to have stood on the final podium of the Giro, finishing second in 2021 behind Egan Bernal.

Eulalio now wears the white jersey for best young rider with 1'56" over Pellizzari: "I want to dedicate these nine pink jerseys to my entire team, to every person in the team, to everyone who pushed and motivated me. I'm second in the general classification? There's still a week to go, the important thing now is to recover over the next two days (tomorrow Milan, then Monday the third and final rest day, ed.), and to keep motivating myself as best I can. I have the white jersey, let's see if this one also gives me some morale and strength like the pink one did, and then we'll see what happens".