Davide Piganzoli misses white jersey dream: "One of my best performances"

Davide Piganzoli secretly hoped to snatch the white jersey from Afonso Eulálio, but the Italian proved unable to threaten the Portuguese rider in the final mountain stage of the Giro d'Italia. However, there was no sign of disappointment from Piganzoli after the race.

One minute and three seconds: that was the gap between white jersey holder Eulálio and challenger Piganzoli at the start of the decisive mountain stage to Piancavallo. This seemed manageable for the Italian, as the Visma | Lease a Bike rider had been the stronger climber in recent days. However, Eulálio turned the tables on the more than fourteen-kilometer final climb of the Giro.

"We started the stage with the intention to win the stage, secure the maglia rosa, and still claim the white jersey," Piganzoli said after the twentieth Giro stage to the Italian broadcaster RAI. "We achieved two out of the three goals. We should be very happy with that."

"Afonso rode fantastically"
The Italian revelation, however, did not have the legs anymore to pressure Eulálio. "Still, on the climb (refers to Piancavallo, ed.) I delivered one of my best performances ever on the bike. But Afonso rode fantastically. I must congratulate him."

"I struggled during the first kilometers of the climb, but I decided to stick to my own pace. That way, I managed to catch Afonso. I immediately thought: now I have to go full gas. I stopped thinking about the white jersey and just wanted to climb as hard as I could. And that’s what I did," concluded the key domestique of overall winner Vingegaard.