Having switched nationality for 2025, and signed sprinter Dylan Groenewegen and climber Wout Poels, the Rockets are in pole position for a Tour de France wildcard – only missing a big French name.
Cor Vos
In keeping with recent trends, very few top riders were in attendance for this week’s Tour de France presentation in the French capital’s Palais des Congrès; there was no Tadej Pogačar, no Jonas Vingegaard, and no Florian Lipowitz, thus making a clean sweep of non-appearances from this year’s podium. Nor did Remco Evenepoel make the trip, or 2025 green jersey winner Jonathan Milan. In comparison, ProTeams were well represented, with Michael Storer and Matteo Trentin there for Tudor, as well as TotalEnergies riders Anthony Turgis and Sandy Dujardin. But who was best represented of all? The newly monikered Unibet Rose Rockets, who sent Lukáš Kubiš, Adrien Maire and new signing Dylan Groenewegen, along with team management Bas Tietema, Devin van der Wiel and GM Josse Wester.
“It shows that it’s important to us,” Tietema told IDL ProCycling of his team’s trip to Paris. “Dylan had just returned from [holiday in] Curaçao, and Lukás had planned his vacation to Egypt around it, so it’s an important event for us. We took it very seriously.”
The once-Dutch ProTeam has never raced a Grand Tour of any nationality, but three years on from their 2023 launch, it now looks very likely that Bas Tietema’s ambitious squad will make their debut in France next summer via wildcard. And if it does, it will be as a home-country team.
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