Relief dominates at Rose Rockets after Bulgarian Giro d'Italia weekend

Smiling faces at Rose Rockets on the first rest day of the Giro d’Italia 2026. While Bas Tietema’s team struggled in the Monuments, they have held their own admirably in the opening days of their grand tour debut. After the first stage, a crash caused mainly shock, but Dylan Groenewegen was able to continue. On Sunday, he came very close to winning the stage. That is why Tietema is full of confidence, he says in an interview with WielerFlits.

It was drama right in the final kilometer of the opening stage to Burgas: a heavy crash. Groenewegen was not the very first rider to go down, but despite better braking he could not stay upright. Afterwards, he was left with shoulder complaints. “We really hope to win a stage in this Giro. On several of these stages, the chance for a sprint is very high. The first stage was such a chance, a fantastic opportunity. Then you really hope to be part of the sprint.”

“Then it is just frustrating when something like this happens,” Tietema refers to the crash. “But the most important news is that everyone is fit, without serious lasting damage. The only challenge was switching between the disappointment of not being able to sprint, to the relief that we still have eight riders left. When you see how UAE Emirates XRG looked in the second stage, that could happen to anyone. We hope to keep competing in sprints. You can get beaten, as on Sunday in stage three. Judging by the speed and how we’re riding, there is potential to take a stage win. So every chance counts. We are already thinking about Naples, Milan, and Rome.”

Invested in the support staff
For Tietema and company, this Giro is all new. The scale of the logistics is unmatched in the team’s existence since 2023. The longest race the Rockets had ridden so far was at most nine days. Now it’s nearly four weeks. “The race dynamics are completely different too. In classics or one-day races, the events stand more on their own. The first three stages were not the toughest races we’ve ever done. But when you have to be there: the level is just very high, and we rarely compete at that level.”

The impact of the Giro also impresses Rose Rockets. “It’s amazing to see how many people are following us closely when we sprint and cheering us on. Even by people who are not deeply involved in the cycling world. Also, how we experience the race from within the peloton is new. We can only learn from that and apply it later. But I also think we sprint here with confidence, and we have the same feeling in more classic stages or transitional stages. I believe we have a very strong team to perform on those days too.”