Tjallingii grabs mountain jersey in Giro d’Italia’s stage 3
Maarten Tjallingii grabbed the mountain jersey during the third stage of the Giro d’Italia. The experienced rider of Team LottoNL-Jumbo was part of the breakaway for the second time this weekend and won the mountain sprint on the Posbank. Marcel Kittel (Etixx – Quick Step) won the stage and grabbed the overall lead.
What Tjallingii failed to do on Saturday, he did today. He won the mountain sprint on the Posbank and grabbed the lead in the mountain classification. “I gave it all to win that sprint,” he said, wearing the blue jersey. “The crowd encouraged me. The people were screaming so loud that I didn’t feel my legs anymore. I wanted this so badly. I was focussed on this jersey. After the top of the Posbank, I exploded. I was barely able to keep on pedalling.”
The crowd impressed the Dutch WorldTour team. “I saw all the signs of support,” Sports Director Addy Engels said. “It was wonderful. Maarten rewarded himself for these two beautiful days. This mountain jersey is fantastic for him.”
Tjallingii’s win was overshadowed partly by Primoz Roglic’s crash in the final part of the stage. The Slovenian, who was second overall at the start, was involved in a big crash on the beginning of the final local lap together with Martijn Keizer.
“His crash is a real setback,” Engels continued. “We weren’t counting on him in the general classification this Giro, but to lose those aspirations due to a crash is very annoying.”
