Bas Tietema sees Groenewegen's win as confirmation of his 'unorthodox' approach

Unibet Rose Rockets has secured its first WorldTour victory. Dylan Groenewegen, who recently also won the Bredene Koksijde Classic and GP Monseré, was the best in the Tour of Bruges. Bas Tietema was understandably thrilled with his rider’s win. "What a day! What a week! What a year!", he told WielerFlits.

"Winning in Bruges at WorldTour level. They did a fantastic job. It started last year. That’s when we decided to focus on Dylan for the sprints. That’s a huge step in terms of investment, partners, and standards. You need to be able to support that. With Marcel (Kittel, ed.) and young riders, it’s sometimes trial and error, but to now beat Philipsen, one of the best sprinters in the world, is fantastic. It’s great how everything aligns," said Tietema.

The Dutchman attributes the success both to Groenewegen’s individual class and the team. "We mostly stand on the sidelines or watch on TV. We play a small role. It’s mainly the trainers and coaches doing the work now. For us, it’s more about the journey since 2019 and the moment we wanted to start a team. That we’re now at the start here and winning is incredible. It all comes together now."

Combination of media and performance
Although the peloton sometimes watched Unibet Rose Rockets with suspicion due to their media productions, the team’s role in the peloton is slowly changing. "If you enter the peloton with an unorthodox approach as a team and do things differently than others, sometimes you get those looks. I understand that, but it’s our job to show that both can work. There will be another YouTube video coming out tonight, but we also perform. We believe in that combination."

Thanks to the team’s success, the door also seems open for attracting even bigger names or expanding the race program. "I think many doors have already opened. We participate in all the big races in spring and one Grand Tour. Of course, we want to ride the Tour de France as well, but for now, the program is very good. Dylan comes from a WorldTour team, but if you look at his program, it’s already basically WorldTour-worthy for a sprinter. Some things will surely differ. We don’t have the budget of a WorldTour team," said the former rider.