The 2016 Giro d’Italia is a special race for LottoNL-Jumbo‘s Maarten Tjallingii. Not only will it be his last as a professional racer, it also visited his home town of Arnhem.
The Dutchman made the most of racing in front of his home fans – which included plenty of his friends and family – by getting out in the breakaway on both of the road stages at the weekend.
>>> In motion: 12 of the best photos from the Giro d’Italia
Those excursions at the front of the pack earned him a couple of trips to the podium on stages two and three, leading the intermediate sprints classification after stage two and then the mountains classification on stage three.
And when he went up to the podium in Arnhem on Sunday he had two special guests accompanying him – his children, with his daughter particularly pleased with her dad pulling on the blue jersey.
How cute was @mtjallingii daughter on the @giroditalia podium today! #giro2016 #giroditalia #girogelderland pic.twitter.com/4dtOLMwycQ
— Jon Cannings (@jon_cannings) May 8, 2016
>>> The route of the 2016 Giro d’Italia
“To be on the Giro d’Italia podium in my town with my children around me is a unique moment of my career, and it’s come just before it is over, too,” he said
