Arnhem resident Maarten Tjallingii (LottoNL-Jumbo) had the best of homecoming presents on stage 3 of the Giro d’Italia as the 38-year-old Dutchman stepped onto the winner’s podium as the new King of the Mountains leader just a few metres from his front door.
Already in the breakaway on stage 2 but unable to stop Omar Fraile (Dimension Data) from claiming the top spot on the stage’s lone fourth category climb and move into the Mountains lead, on Sunday it was a very different story for Tjallingii, born in north Holland but now resident in a more southerly part of the country.
Tjallingii was once again in the break of the day, but on Sunday on the stage’s lone classified climb, the Posbank, the LottoNL-Jumbo rider was fastest to the top. As a result, in Arnhem, even though Tjallingii finally was dropped from the leading break in the last hour’s racing, as the new King of the Mountains leader, the Giro's regionale de l’etape - as the French call the local rider in a bike race - made it onto the winners’ podium in the Dutch town.
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“When I accelerated away on the Posbank, I pushed so hard, I forgot that I had another 45 kilometres to race,” Tjallingii, a heftily built Classics and time trial specialist who plans to retire after the ZLM Tour later this summer, said. “I thought, ‘ouch, that’s going to be a problem.’
More on this story:
• Giro d'Italia: Kittel wins stage 3
• Giro d'Italia stage 3: Finish line quotes
• Lefevere blasts other sprint teams at Giro d’Italia
“But then the realisation I would have the King of the Mountains jersey in my own town whatever happened made me cheer up a bit, and I forced myself through the pain.”
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