Grandma and granddaughter Kerstholt

The organization of the Jeugdtour Assen runs on volunteers. We are very happy with that. The Jeugdtour virus often runs in the family and has been for generations. Brothers and sisters, fathers and daughters, but also grandmother and granddaughter Kerstholt since this year. Lineke Kerstholt has been associated with the event for many years and is responsible for sponsorship and PR. Granddaughter Rosalee is there for the first time, as a mini-miss. She is eleven and will go to the last class of primary school in Beilen after the summer.

“I always thought it would be great fun to be a mini-miss,” she says with a broad smile. “I love being on the podium and giving the medals to the riders. I also meet other people and that is very nice. I already know a little bit of English. Aniek and I were allowed to choose new clothes together. That was of course very cool. What I don’t like about this ‘job’ is the long wait for the next ceremony.”

There are four misses and one mister: Caden and Emma from Denmark for the older categories and Quinten, Aniek and Rosalee for the younger categories. Lineke takes care of the clothing, the sashes, the coordination behind the podium of all the leader’s jerseys, but especially the refreshments.

“I brought a lot of candies and brownies for the girls,” she laughs. “We all had lunch with fries. This year it is a nice team with the Danish girls who are a bit older. I really enjoy working with Rosalee. She is calm and listens carefully to the instructions. It’s nice to have girls and boys who really enjoy doing this but who also like cycling. Rosalee herself does some mountain biking, but she mainly does gymnastics. You could clearly see that at the opening on Monday because she immediately posed like you do in gymnastics. As a grandmother, that was a joy for me, to see her shine on that stage.”