{"id":290448,"date":"2025-11-29T22:47:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T22:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/290448\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T22:47:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T22:47:18","slug":"zany-youtube-channel-may-earn-unibet-rose-rockets-a-tour-slot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/290448\/","title":{"rendered":"Zany YouTube Channel May Earn Unibet Rose Rockets a Tour Slot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published November 28, 2025 09:43AM<\/p>\n

There is a video from the Unibet Rose Rockets<\/a> team that could end up haunting an expert analyst.<\/p>\n

The journalist isn\u2019t identified but in an audio clip within this episode<\/a> of \u201cWe Are the Rockets,\u201d he gives it both barrels when dismissing the upstart team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to ride the Tour de France<\/a> in 2026. That is of course the biggest load of rubbish possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nine months on, that comment isn\u2019t looking so on point after all.<\/p>\n

Final confirmation is yet to come, but at this point in time it looks more and more likely that the wacky up and coming squad will make its debut in the world\u2019s biggest race.<\/p>\n

If so, it will mark an extraordinary rise within the sport from a project which began as a YouTube team, then became a UCI Continental outfit at the start of 2023, and\u00a0which ended that year a distant 51st in the rankings.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been quite the journey, and the best part is about to begin.<\/p>\n

Censored by the Tour
\n\"DevinDevin van der Wiel, Bas Tietema and Josse Wester have grown the team to where it is now (Photo: Dani\u00ebl Kroll\/BSR Agency\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Bas Tietema<\/a> is central to the success of the squad. The Dutchman finished third in the U23 Paris-Roubaix back in 2014, but faded out of the competitive side of the sport. He and friends Josse Wester and Devin van der Wiel were passionate about cycling and if they didn\u2019t have the talent to ride the Tour, they resolved to be present in another way.<\/p>\n

They traveled to the race in a borrowed van back in 2019, sleeping in tents and accepting zany challenges from fans and others.<\/p>\n

Towards the end of the race former pro Laurens Ten Dam dared them to bring pizzas to all the teams in the Tour. They duly did so, doling out 100 boxes to ravenous riders in Paris.
Those videos appeared on the Tour de Tietema YouTube channel, as did those from a return trip in 2020. The footage was funny, informative, and wildly popular. The 2019 pizza video got 142,000 views. Another from 2020 [called From No to Pro in 50 Days: The Tour of Flanders] has clocked up almost 580,000.<\/p>\n

However Tour organizer ASO is notoriously protective about broadcasting rights. With the videos being shared around and spoken about on TV shows, generating a bigger and bigger buzz, ASO grew cagey. The French behemoth got YouTube to take down several of the 2021 Tour videos, prompting pushback from fans, pro riders and teams.<\/p>\n

Thankfully gems such as a challenge to ride up Mont Ventoux on a city bike remain.<\/p>\n

So too another handout of 100 pizzas<\/a> in Paris. Sepp Kuss, Chris Froome, and Mads Pedersen were amongst the many riders who each nabbed a box and scoffed down the goods.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope you are back next year, with a proper license to do this shit,\u201d Pedersen smiled, shortly before cramming his chops with pizza. \u201cWe are going to support you, don\u2019t worry.\u201d<\/p>\n

ASO listened, the Tour de Tietema crew discussed details and they duly returned in 2022, accredited and raring to go.<\/p>\n

They even made a video all about an apology<\/a> to Tour boss Christian Prudhomme, handing the Frenchman a cake with \u2018Wheelie Sorry\u2019 written on it in chocolate buttons.<\/p>\n

Talk about a making a sweet impression.<\/p>\n

The X factor of a unique identity
\n\"AxelThe jersey and bikes are like the team \u2013 loud, colorful and different (Photo: Luc Claessen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Four years on, they are vying for a very different sort of green light.<\/p>\n

Tietema, Wester, and Van der Wiel have been building the pro cycling team in tandem with the Tour de Tietema video channel, cataloguing that journey in equally entertaining fashion.<\/p>\n

The squad has been gaining momentum all the time, going from that lowly 51st position in the UCI rankings to 33rd in 2024 and 26th at the end of this season.<\/p>\n

Gambling giant Unibet added financial clout and enabled the signing of bigger riders, as did other sponsors.<\/p>\n

But if, as is increasingly predicted, Unibet Rose Rockets lands a wildcard invite to the Tour de France, it won\u2019t be due to a huge budget. The team is still operating at a fraction of that of bigger teams.<\/p>\n

It will also not be due to resounding success, although it did take five wins this season, including two 1.1-ranked French events.<\/p>\n

It will be due to the soul of the squad, the bright jerseys, the glaringly painted bikes and cars, the sense of fun and the contrast to the sober seriousness of other teams.<\/p>\n

Those videos are key, presenting the sport in a very different light and having the kind of influence which could bring a whole new generation of young fans on board.<\/p>\n

In short, it\u2019s exactly what Tour organizer ASO will be dreaming of.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the ticket to selection, as much as a number of important recent signings. The videos are how Tietema, Wester and Van der Wiel first got onto the radar of ASO, and are also why ASO could well extend an invite in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve even enticed Tadej Poga\u010dar to rap in one of their videos. Who else can say that?<\/p>\n

\u2018You guys are brilliant\u2019<\/p>\n

But what of those new signings?<\/p>\n

Well, the team has inked deals with Wout Poel and Victor Lafay, past winners of Tour stages. Irish champion Rory Townend has signed up, and will bring publicity from his long range breakaway moves.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also brought former Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es sprint winners on board, namely Dylan Groenewegen and Marcel Kittel.<\/p>\n

14-time stage winner and former Tour green jersey Kittel stays retired, but has just inked a deal to be the team\u2019s new sprint coach. And Groenewegen will aim to add to his six Tour stage wins next season.<\/p>\n

The latter\u2019s signing is a very big deal for the squad, and the manner in which it came about typifies the team\u2019s unconventional journey to this position in the sport.<\/p>\n

\"(L-R)Groenewegen will swap his Jayco AlUla jersey for that of Unibet Rose Rockets next season (Photo: Rhode Van Elsen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Six years ago Tour de Tietema released a song about Groenewegen<\/a>. In 2024 Josse dressed up as the Dutchman at the Tour, wearing the national champion\u2019s kit, a replica of his batman glasses and even sporting a near-replica of the lion tattoo on his right forearm.<\/p>\n

The related video shows them laughing together, with Groenewegen arranging to meet again.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that Dylan actually invited me to make a new video together after the Tour de France,\u201d Josse said in a recent video. \u201cHe wanted to make me puke during a sprint training session.\u201d<\/p>\n

That meetup never happened, but something even better took place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a message from Dylan Groenewegen. \u2018Ha ha you guys are brilliant,\u2019\u201d Josse continued.<\/p>\n

Groenewegen later sent another message saying \u201cwe can always have a talk, ha ha.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nine days later Josse went for a coffee with him. That turned into a two and a half hour conversation, during which the sprinter said something which blew his mind: \u201cI want to win your first Tour de France stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team were pinching themselves, not daring to believe the possibility. They met with him again when they were invited to the Tour de France route presentation in October 2024, and later sat down with Groenewegen and his agent.<\/p>\n

They talked salary, looked somewhat panicked about the financial commitment, but got the money together.<\/p>\n

In February 2025 they did a video call, Groenewegen at home, Christmas decorations still in place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are just going to do it. We\u2019re going for it,\u201d the sprinter said, committing to the deal.<\/p>\n

Things were about to get a lot more serious. While remaining zany, of course.<\/p>\n

Nine months later, the team is awaiting for the official invite from ASO.<\/p>\n

What Tietema and his partners in mirth have done thus far is remarkable. He\u2019s still just 30 years of age, but has built what was a club team into a UCI-registered outfit, and then into something far bigger again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe formal answer is that we still have to wait and see,\u201d he said recently on the \u201cDe Laatste Etappe\u201d show.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it looks good, so I have a lot of confidence. I hope we are allowed to start in Barcelona. And I hope that we can say that in three years\u2019 time we have gone from the Ster van Zwolle [a UCI 1.2-ranked event \u2013 ed.] to the Tour de France. That would be an enormous reward.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a long, long way from handing out pizzas at the Tour de France. But, thankfully, the sense of fun and experimentation remains.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a video from the 2021 Tour de France where Tietema is challenged to ride up Mont Ventoux on a city bike. He does so, suffering like a dog the whole way. \u201cI can\u2019t go any more,\u201d he says at one point, as bemused recreational cyclists speed past him.<\/p>\n

He persists, inches past the Tom Simpson memorial and falters again. \u201cI\u2019m not gonna make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It looks like game over but Van der Wiel is close by filming him and pushes him a while.<\/p>\n

Tietema gets another helping hand on the final crest inside the last 100 meters, finally making it to the top, achieving his goal with the help of his friends.<\/p>\n

In many ways, that video epitomizes the team. It\u2019s zany, funny, brave and, above all, entertaining. It also symbolizes their journey, doing things in an unconventional manner, showing a lot of grit, and finally reaching the target together.<\/p>\n

If they do indeed ride the 2026 Tour de France and\u2014better still\u2014if they manage to take a stage with Groenewegen, they will have done it in their very unique way, cheered on through millions and millions of video views, and showing the sport in an entirely new fashion.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s precisely why ASO will be keen to have them on board.<\/p>\n

\u2014-<\/p>\n

A flavor of the Tour de Tietema and Unibet Rose Rockets channels<\/p>\n

Can you ride up the Ventoux on a city bike?
How we signed Dylan Groenewegen
Wheelie record on Tour de France rest day 2022
Football record
Can we climb faster than the Tour de France Femmes?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published November 28, 2025 09:43AM There is a video from the Unibet Rose Rockets team that could end…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,45284,101,117680,60972,117681,45288,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-290448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-parent_category-road","tag-sports","tag-tag-bas-tietema","tag-tag-tour-de-france","tag-tag-unibet-tietema-rockets","tag-type-article","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}