![\"Rockets](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/corvos-rockets-groenewegen-first-win.jpg\")
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News & Racing<\/a><\/p>\n There\u2019s no room for the Rockets at the Tour de France as wildcards are handed to TotalEnergies and Caja Rural.<\/p>\n Cor Vos<\/p>\n \u201cWell there goes that dream.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n By the end of 2025, it seemed official confirmation was all that stood between<\/a> the Unibet Rose Rockets (or just \u2018The Rockets\u2019, to use the team\u2019s franchise name) and the 2026 Tour de France. However, on Friday the ASO announced that TotalEnergies and Caja Rural-Seguros RGA had been chosen to receive the two wildcards for this summer\u2019s race, ending \u2013 or at least postponing \u2013 the dreams of the Rockets and their literally fearless leader Bas Tietema.<\/p>\n The news that Spain\u2019s best ProTeam would go to the Tour in the Rockets\u2019 stead was a surprise, but frankly it shouldn\u2019t have been. There is a certain logic to this decision. But it\u2019s a logic that can be comprehensively unravelled. It\u2019s also a completely unsurprising move from Tour organiser ASO which can always be relied upon to cleave aggravatingly close to tradition.<\/p>\n Why it makes sense<\/p>\n Shortly after the news came down \u2013 softened 24 hours earlier by a report in Le Parisien<\/a> \u2013 the Tour\u2019s big boss Christian Prudhomme offered an explanation of his organisation\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n \u201cWe applied the same principle as in previous years, that is, we looked at the ProTeams’ ranking at the end of 2025,\u201d Prudhomme told the\u00a0AFP\u00a0news agency. \u201cCaja Rural was initially 25th, but due to the disappearance of\u00a0Ark\u00e9a-B&B Hotels\u00a0and the merger between the Lotto team and\u00a0Intermarch\u00e9-Wanty,\u00a0they have moved up to 23rd.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s simple logic: The Tour is the biggest race of the season, so if 23 teams are to participate, they should be the 23 best in the world \u2013 fair enough, even if that\u2019s based on a flawed system, one that isn\u2019t exactly representative of who is actually going to turn up to the race, but we\u2019ll get to that. It\u2019s worth noting that the ASO has two Grand Tours in its portfolio, and the other two (eligible) Spanish ProTeams were announced as Vuelta wildcards<\/a>, also on Friday.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t really argue with how the stats and standings guided Prudhomme et al. when they\u2019re laid out before you. Caja Rural scored 3,924 UCI points to the Rockets\u2019 3,225 in 2025, both teams logging close to 200 race days. By almost any measure \u2013 I\u2019ve exhausted plenty \u2013 the Spanish ProTeam was absolutely more successful than the Rockets last season, a point the team has been justified in emphasising when asked.<\/p>\n This post is for paying subscribers only Already have an account? Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n Did we do a good job with this story?<\/p>\n \n \ud83d\udc4dYep![\"Kit](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/profile-pic-KN-150x150.jpg\")
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