"It's now up to us to show them": Unibet Rose Rockets determined to prove they belong at Tour de France

At an unusual Grande Partenza venue in Bulgaria, an unusal team will make its Grand Tour debut - Unibet Rose Rockets. An adventure which started four years ago as something in between fun and a serious project turned into one of the leading ProTeams under the guidance of Josse Wester and team founder Bas Tietema. For the latter, it's a childhood dream come true to be at a GrandTour, even if he didn't quite make it there as a cyclist, as he might've hoped back when he climbed onto Paris-Roubaix Espoirs podium twelve years ago.

The Rockets project took off in 2023 as a continental team and since then, the team underwent massive changes; both at staff level with former sprinter superstar Marcel Kittel on board as a sprint coach, but also roster-wise. While poster names such as Dylan Groenewegen have joined past winter, only five of TDT-Unibet original riders remain. And... two of them - Tomas Kopecky and Hartthijs de Vries - will be at team's first Giro d'Italia this May!

"Was it realistic back at the time? Probably not," Tietema told Domestique about his thoughts of making it to a GrandTour four years ago. "But I think that's how we are starting. Mostly it doesn't make really sense to others, but it's something we truly believe in, and step by step, we ultimately got to the point where we are starting now our first Grand Tour."

Of course, as a French-based team, Rockets hoped to debut at Grande Boucle, but that doesn't make the Giro invitation lesser in any sense: "In general, it's still pretty difficult as a pro team that doesn't have the automatic wildcards from being top three," Tietema sighed. "All those wildcards are quite related to each other. The Tour de France wildcards opened up a gap in the Giro. We had already talked with all the organisers. So it was a bummer not riding the Tour at that moment, but that also opened up the possibility for the Giro."

While Rockets left it up to luck and good will of Tour directors with regards to invitation, the team around Bas Tietema vows to do everything in their power so that ASO cannot look past Unibet Rockets anymore when selecting teams for 2027 edition. And in the meantime, what better platform is there for Rockets to show that they belong at the world's biggest stage than the Giro?

"Now looking back, I see it more as a really great opportunity to learn and to perform, hopefully eventually for the Tour de France," Tietema said. "It's now up to us to show them that we can be among the top three pro teams."

Even though the Rockets arrive to Bulgaria with a prolific climber in Wout Poels, the goal is not really to be visible in the mountains. As much is clear from a quick peak at the selection where sprinter train around Dylan Groenewegen takes up most of the spots. With Niklas Larsen, Matyas Kopecky, Lukas Kubis and trusty right-hand-man Elmar Reinders, it seems almost impossible, if not highly unlikely, to win at least once, right?

"For a cycling team, we are quite outspoken about it," Tietema said about goals. "We are not going to win the GC. Specifically, our goal is to win one stage in the Giro. The first stage has a nice addition with the pink jersey, that's a great opportunity. But the real goal is to win one stage."

Tietema, asked which stage he had personally pencilled in, demurred. "I don't have a real one really circled," he said. "Us winning one is already a great objective."