"At the finish I got questions from the police" - Paris-Roubaix director doubles down and explains Bas Tietema criticism

Thierry Gouvenou is the director of Paris-Roubaix and course designer at the Tour de France. Hence, it was an unusual sight for him to criticize a rider and current team owner Bas Tietema on the days leading up to a race where his team Unibet Rose Rockets is at the start. He explained the comments as well as the women's shorter broadcast in 2026 as the Paris-Roubaix Femmes collides with the men's race.

“It’s true, we have a shorter broadcast, but on the other hand, there will be a much bigger audience, with everyone who was watching the men’s race," Gouvenou said in an interview with Cyclingnews. There will be around hour and a half of live broadcast from the women's race, as this year the race are taking place on the same day, with the women's being the latter finish.

Gouvenou explained that this was because there were calls to not have the race start at eight-nine in the morning, whilst it can be argued that the race could struggle having the same visibility if it clashed directly with the men's race - only one could be on TV screens live."And audiences are notably better on Sundays. We have fewer minutes, but more eyeballs. We compensate one with the other, but I think women’s cycling is winning".

The necessity to close the roads of northern France for two days in a row proved to be a huge logistical and financial challenge, which this year proved to be quite difficult to balance. Hence, the race is follow the format of other monuments with the race on the same day.

“We invested a lot in women’s cycling already. The investment is huge for organisers, but we are not always followed by sponsors - Zwift left us. We would like parity, but in reality’s not yet possible. That’s the economic reality right now. It’s difficult for organizers to balance the books with women’s cycling," he explains. "We have to be patient. Audiences are good. It’s going to come, it’ll take some time, but we shouldn’t always criticize."

However he was also asked about the comments he made on Unibet Rose Rockets Bas Tietema - without naming him - in an interview published this Saturday by L'Équipe. "A few years ago we had an idiot who wanted to ride Paris-Roubaix purely for social media" were amongst his words. Taking into consideration he is the race director, and that Tietema (who raced in 2022 and finished outside time limit, as well as several other riders), the comments felt out of place.

But Gouvenou meant them, and explains the reason for his frustration: “The L’Equipe article was clumsy. But it’s true that Tietema was riding to make content for social media. He was dropped from the first sectors. The driver of the broom wagon told me, ‘he’s never making any efforts’. He cruised round all day, made video sequences, and at the finish I got questions from the police because the roads had been blocked for an hour more than they should have been".

But the Frenchman's statement is once again having to be taken with a grain of salt. Whilst Tietema finished outside the time limit and was the last placed on that edition, he finished 19 minutes behind the closest rider - UAE's Alexys Brunel. 10 other riders finished outside time limit, and so Gouvenou's attribution of responsibility to the 31-year old look exagerated.

However Tietema, a Youtuber, was also participating after getting a contract from the Bingoal team, which saw an opportunity on the exposure he could provide. That fell on Gouvenou the wrong way. “We can’t accept that a rider comes to Paris-Roubaix and cruises around. It’s a Monument. You don’t come here for social media. Of course, if it’s cycling first and social media second, that’s fine, but when it’s the other way around…”

With the team being surprisingly kept out of the Tour de France this year, after a multitude of top signings and commercial exposure that rivals the top teams, there were many questioning as to why Spanish team Caja Rural - Seguros RGA was chosen after the French team.

However Gouvenou, route designer at the Tour and key part of the organization, puts aside the theory that he's had a personal say in the decision. “We’ve already spoken a lot. I think his project is magnificent," he admits. "At a certain moment, it’s a case of sport before media, but I think he’s in agreement with that now.”