Bas Tietema optimistic on eve of 2026 cycling season: "We've made huge progress"

Only good vibes at the Unibet Rose Rockets team presentation on Saturday in Calpe. The French ProTeam has taken a huge step forward this winter and the squad is confidently looking ahead to the new season, says Bas Tietema optimistically to the camera of WielerFlits.

Tietema’s team, including Josse Wester and Devin van der Wiel, signed no fewer than fifteen new riders in recent months, among them Dylan Groenewegen, Wout Poels, and Victor Lafay, but this has already become the new normal for the team. "I arrived halfway through the training camp and I wasn’t really surprised," said Tietema. "We’ve made a huge step again. Of course, we’ve added a lot of riders to our squad, but there are also many new people in the staff. Seeing how everything has taken another step forward and how we’ve developed, yes, that gave me a good feeling looking ahead to the new season."

"On the other hand, I think there’s also some healthy tension. Every year it’s the same, also for the riders. How are you standing now? But especially with the growth and the investments we’ve made in the sporting staff and riders, I hope it will pay off. But I have full confidence that it will eventually yield results, even though it’s going to be a bit tense for a while."

One of the squad’s major focal points is the new sprint project with Dylan Groenewegen. Marcel Kittel has also been hired as a coach for that. "That is, of course, a somewhat surreal feeling: someone I used to watch on TV winning bunch sprints in the Tour now leading the sprint team. That’s quite a surreal idea. But on the other hand, we just have to work together to get the best out of it, and you quickly see how everything is being integrated into the team and how all of us are involved. I am convinced there’s definitely still something left in Dylan. Last season didn’t go exactly as he had hoped himself, but now with Marcel joining and all the guys fully committed to making the sprint train a great success, I am confident."

"Being a candidate for a Tour wildcard is a huge compliment"
Tietema doesn’t name concrete goals in the interview yet. Of course, the conversation shifts to the Tour de France again. Although the ASO has not yet handed out the wildcards, things look promising for Unibet Rose Rockets. How does the team manager himself see that? "From day one, we have said that’s our biggest goal. It’s the ambition we want to realize ourselves because that’s where we started. Whether we get to race the Tour is a big question, and I think being mentioned as a candidate for a Tour de France wildcard is a huge compliment to the team."

"But I don’t think much will change this year whether we get a wildcard or not. There are lots of other great races where we have never received a wildcard, for example in the spring. The hope is that this year we will ride a much bigger spring program. We’ve simply done everything possible to be as ready as possible for this season."

"Sportingly, I’m satisfied if we’ve realized growth once again. In cycling, I find it hard to answer the question: is it about victories, UCI points, or what we’ve shown in big races? But I think UCI points give a good picture of the growth you show. Every year we’ve doubled our points tally, so if we can do that again, then we’ve had a very good season. The sprint train will be an important part of that. If we can get that on track and get Dylan to win multiple races, that would already be fantastic for us," he concludes.