Dylan Groenewegen ready for fresh start with Unibet Tietema Rockets after early exit from Jayco AlUla

The 32-year-old Groenwegen rode for Jayco AlUla and BikeExchange from 2022 to 2025, completing his final kilometers for the team on September 24 at the Omloop van het Houtland. That was earlier than initially planned. “I still had Münsterland on the schedule, but I got an ear infection and had to end the season early because of it.”

“Those last few months are always a bit difficult,” Groenewegen says, referring to the period until January. “That's true for everyone who joins a new team. You're still under contract with your current team, but you're actually doing more things with your new team. That includes checks, team building, and then a training camp in December: the standard things.”

“On the one hand, it was a shame that I had to stop early, but on the other hand, it was only one race. I started the season early, but it also ended early,” said Groenewegen, who indeed started his year in January in the AlUla Tour. He won three times in 2025: once in Hungary and twice in Slovenia.

At the end of the season, Groenewegen and his family went to Curacao for a vacation, while the Tour of Holland was still underway. Nevertheless, he did notice that his new team performed very well—and attractively—there.

“There was a six-hour time difference with Curacao, so the finish was often just when I was having lunch or playing with my little one. But I did follow the results, and they did very well.”

That's also the Unibet Tietema Rockets that the sprinter wants to see next year, he says. “The way they raced there is also the way it should be done and how they want to approach it next year. We want to win sprints, and then we'll have to take the initiative, as Lukas Kubis has done pretty much every week this year. I'm really looking forward to it, I must say.”

Meanwhile, ROSE has also been announced as a new sponsor for the Rockets. “It sounds good. Unibet ROSE Rockets sounds good, haha. Besides that, it's a large, beautiful family business that has been around for a long time. Now they are looking to the future and want to improve their products further. That's something the Rockets want too, so that we can help each other.”

“Behind the scenes, I've seen the bike, of course,” says Groenewegen about the ROSE bike. “That's one of the things you want to see when you sign somewhere, just like the fact that the team has now attracted another big name in Wout Poels. ROSE has worked very hard on a very nice bike, which you will see next year.”

In the Tour? “That's not up to us. When I look at the team, I see that we're ready. It would be a great honor, and I really hope so, but all we can do is hope for the most beautiful race of the year,” said the six-time stage winner in the Tour de France.