Maarten Tjallingii

Maarten Pieter Tjallingii (born 5 November 1977) is a Dutch former professional racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2003 and 2016.

Career
Maarten Tjallingii was born in Leeuwarden. He lost one of his kidneys as a child.

Tjallingii's biggest win was the 2006 Tour of Belgium. A frequent participant in breakaways in major races, his other most notable performances include a third place at the 2011 Paris–Roubaix and spending four days in the King of the Mountains jersey in the 2014 Giro d'Italia.

Tjallingii was selected to ride the 2012 Tour de France, but crashed on stage 3, he continued for another 40 km and finished it over ten minutes behind the winner Peter Sagan. However he did not start stage 4, reportedly with a fractured left hip, becoming the third retirement of the 2012 Tour.

Tjallingii raced at the 2016 Giro d'Italia, which started in the Netherlands, and he made an impact on the early stages, winning the award for most aggressive rider on Stage 2 before taking the lead in the King of the Mountains competition on Stage 3, which finished 250 metres away from his home in Arnhem. He had previously announced that he would retire from racing in June, having signed a six-month contract extension with for 2016.

Major results

 * 2001
 * 3rd Overall Tour du Faso
 * 1st Stage 2


 * 2003
 * 1st Overall Tour du Faso
 * 1st Stage 1
 * 1st Rund um Rhede


 * 2004
 * 2nd Cross-country, National Mountain Bike Championships


 * 2005
 * 5th Overall Tour of Qatar


 * 2006
 * 1st Overall Tour of Belgium
 * 1st Stage 1
 * 1st Overall Tour of Qinghai Lake
 * 1st Stage 7
 * 7th Overall Tour de Picardie
 * 10th Overall Tour of Britain


 * 2007
 * 2nd Overall Tour of Belgium
 * 4th Overall Danmark Rundt
 * 6th Grote Prijs Gerrie Knetemann
 * 7th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk
 * 7th Overall Tour of Britain
 * 7th Rund um den Henninger Turm
 * 9th Omloop van het Houtland
 * 10th Nokere Koerse
 * 10th Ronde van het Groene Hart


 * 2008
 * 5th Profronde van Fryslan
 * 6th Overall Tour of Belgium
 * 7th Overall Tour of Qatar


 * 2009
 * 4th Grand Prix d'Isbergues
 * 5th Overall Sachsen Tour
 * 8th Overall Eneco Tour


 * 2010
 * 7th Overall Eneco Tour


 * 2011
 * 3rd Paris–Roubaix


 * 2013
 * 1st Stage 2 World Ports Classic


 * 2014
 * Giro d'Italia
 * Held Jersey blue.svg after Stages 2–5


 * 2015
 * 1st Grote Prijs Beeckman-De Caluwé


 * 2016
 * Giro d'Italia
 * Held Jersey blue.svg after Stage 3

Personal life
During his career, Tjallingii was one of the few known vegetarian cyclists.