Unibet Rose Rockets - News
Pro Tour Team
Unibet Rose Rockets, is a Dutch UCI ProTeam managed by Bas Tietema. The team was launched in 2023 with the goal of combining performance, fan engagement and accessible storytelling around cycling. Backed by title sponsors Unibet and Rose, the team races primarily in Europe and has it's key riders with Lukas Kubis, Dylan Groenewegen and Wout Poels.
News
Former French champion Florian Sénéchal set to join Unibet Rose Rockets
'A positive perfect storm' - Inside Marcel Kittel's first year at Unibet Rose Rockets
Wout Poels confirms final season as Unibet Rose Rockets bring in experienced WorldTour manager
Victor Lafay without contract for 2027 but refuses to call time on cycling
Mads Pedersen among 12 Danish athletes suing HBO Nordic over alleged image misuse
Unibet Rose Rockets confirm talks with Primoz Roglic as major 2027 decision draws closer
Tour de France wildcard battle heats up as Rockets face growing Spanish challenge
Ronan Augé returns to France after horror Tour de Langkawi crash
A battle for every UCI ranking point - How the final races of 2026 can decide the 2027 Grand Tour wild card teams
‘My greatest victory is simply being alive’: Augé details injuries after Langkawi crash
Bas Tietema changes role at Unibet Rose Rockets as team prepares for next phase
Unibet Rose Rockets rider Ronan Augé wakes from medically induced coma after Langkawi crash
Dylan Groenewegen injured in training collision with motorcyclist
Victor Lafay opens up on mystery illness that has wiped out his 2026 season
Airtag solves mystery of Unibet Rose Rocket’s twelve stolen bikes
Former Unibet Rose Rockets rider given four-year ban for biological passport abnormalities
Unibet Rose Rockets bikes stolen in France before Spanish race weekend
'I hope we have shown enough' - Rockets push for 2027 Tour selection after debut Giro
'We learned a lot' - Groenewegen and Rockets fall short in Giro finale
Rockets lead-out joins motorbike criticism after Groenewegen misses historic Giro sprint chance
Rockets continue Giro without Kittel as sprint coach supports from his ‘Sprint Control Room’
Marcel Kittel laughs off comeback idea: “No, no, no… not on the bike”
'We made no mistake' - Kittel defends Rockets' Naples lead-out as Giro safety debate rages
Inside the Rocket's Giro with Marcel Kittel - Domestique Hotseat Podcast
Rockets suffer more than sprint disappointment as team bus sustains damage after Stage 6
Groenewegen denied again as crashes continue to define Unibet Rose Rockets' Giro
Opinions split over atypical Naples finale - 'They are looking for trouble'
Groenewegen avoids worst-case scenario after Giro opening-stage pile-up
Unibet Rose Rockets laugh off bus detail at Giro d’Italia start
Groenewegen targets pink and Rockets history ten years after Kittel’s own maglia rosa
'If it was easy, everyone would have done it' - Bas Tietema on the Rockets’ rapid rise to the Giro
Roubaix chief hits out at Bas Tietema as rule change ends long standing tradition
Groenewegen hails ‘special’ team dynamic after historic Rockets victory
Three in a row for Dylan Groenwegen as the Rockets grab first WorldTour win
Groenewegen rockets to victory in Bredene Koksijde Classic
Better late than never: Groenewegen moved up to third in Almería photo finish review
Unibet Rose Rockets get Giro d'Italia wildcard after Tour de France snub
Unibet Rose Rockets soften Tour disappointment with wildcards for Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo
The real reason Unibet Rose Rockets isn't allowed at the 2026 Tour de France
Unibet Rose Rockets’ Tour de France dream dashed by ASO’s realpolitik
'Focus on what we can do' - Unibet Rose Rockets DS reacts to missing out on Tour wildcard
Tour director Prudhomme explains thinking behind Unibet Rose Rockets snub
Groenewegen’s first win shows why the Rockets are cycling’s team to watch in 2026
Marcel Kittel pushes Groenewegen to 'best version of himself' at Rockets
Cycling’s new wave: the 10 breakout riders that defined 2025
Unibet Rose Rockets bolster performance staff after Kittel appointment with Roubaix podium finisher
How Bas Tietema turned a YouTube experiment into a Tour-ready cycling team
‘Now I’m in Spain chasing numbers on my Garmin’ - How Lukas Kubis turned 36,000km of hard work into a ProTour contract
Unibet Rose Rockets confirm rider contract termination following provisional UCI suspension
Full official team name and common short name
Unibet–Rose Rockets is the registered name; most media and fans use Rose Rockets or The Rockets. Their UCI identifier is URR.
Team category and status
UCI ProTeam in 2026, targeting WorldTour wildcards for the spring classics and at least one Grand Tour, with an eye on WorldTeam status in the medium term.
Primary disciplines
Men’s elite road racing with a sprint-and-classics core, plus breakaway stage hunting, fast TTs and selective GC aims on climbing‑lite routes.
Country of registration and base location
Unibet Rose Rockets is French registered, with the service course based in the Dutch province of Overijssel and equipment plus engineering support linked to ROSE Bikes’ base in Bocholt, Germany.
Founding year and origin story
Born from the Tour de Tietema project (the Dutch content‑to‑competition venture) that launched a UCI Continental squad in 2023 as TDT–Unibet. The structure grew through 2024–2025, rebranding to Unibet–Rose Rockets and stepping up to ProTeam level for 2026, pairing Unibet’s continued title backing with ROSE’s elevation to co‑title status.
Current title sponsor and key partners
Title partners are Unibet and ROSE Bikes, and the team races on ROSE aero and climber platforms plus a time trial setup that uses rebranded Ridley frames.
Previous team names and sponsor history
It started as Tour de Tietema, evolved into TDT–Unibet as a Continental and ProTeam team from 2023 to 2025, and became Unibet Rose Rockets in 2026.
Key achievements (structure lineage)
From the TDT era, they banked Continental and ProSeries wins, stacked up steady top tens through the cobbled spring, and hit national championship podiums that proved the content to pro pathway could deliver real results.
For 2026, the targets step up: a first WorldTour one day win, a Grand Tour stage from a wildcard invite, and a top five finish in the classics points standings.
Leadership and key staff
Founder Bas Tietema leads the team’s general management, with a performance department built around classics know how and sprinting. To sharpen that sprint focus, they have brought in Marcel Kittel as a headline addition.
Key riders
This is a sprint first squad with real classics grit. Dylan Groenewegen is the closer, backed by a hard drilled lead out built to own the final three kilometres: Elmar Reinders, Rory Townsend, Niklas Larsen, the Kopecký brothers, Lukáš Kubiš, Joren Bloem and Owen Geleijn.
When the road tilts or the race breaks late, Victor Lafay and Odd Christian Eiking are the ones to light it up and hang on. For the rough northern days, Clément Venturini, Adam Ťoupalík and Lander Loockx bring that cyclocross sharpness that turns chaos into opportunity.
Wout Poels anchors the mountain side and adds calm decision making, with Adrien Maire, Abram Stockman and Jelle Johannink alongside him. Hartthijs de Vries, Sergio Meris and Martijn Rasenberg supply the time trial and tempo power when the race needs controlling.
And then there is the next wave: Ronan Augé, Cedrik Bakke Christophersen, Karsten Larsen Feldmann, Eivind Broholt Fougner, Wessel Mouris, Tobias Müller, Jannis Peter, Colin Savioz and Killian Verschuren, riding for chances, learning quickly, and building the future.