New Head of Racing to join Unibet Rose Rockets: 'Ambition to build something that can continue to grow'

Visbeek is more than happy with his new challenge. “What attracted me to the Rockets is that this is a team that’s still very much in the process of being built and has a clear ambition to keep making progress. I’ve been fortunate enough to work on similar projects before, where you really get the chance to build something together.”

"The Rockets have already made impressive progress in a relatively short period of time, but there is still a lot of potential. I look forward to bringing my experience to the organisation, working closely with the team managers, coaches, and performance staff, and setting a clear athletic direction together. The ambition is to build something that can continue to grow in the coming years,” said the highly regarded team director/coach.

Tietema is also pleased with this addition. “One of the things I’m most proud of is seeing the kind of people who now want to join the Rockets.” Aike has been working at the highest level of cycling for many years and has played a key role in building and developing successful teams.

The fact that he’s chosen to join us says a lot about how far we’ve come as an organisation, but even more about where we believe we can go.”

"We've never made a secret of our ambition," he says, referring to the Tour de France ambition. "From the very beginning, we wanted to build something special, and that means we need to surround ourselves with people who are experts in their fields. We’ve already made incredible strides, but we’re far from done. Bringing on someone with Aike’s experience and reputation makes me incredibly proud and shows that we continue to invest in our future.”

Eelco Meenhoorst, the team’s COO, is also pleased. “The fact that we finished the season as the fifth-ranked ProTeam shows the progress we’ve made, but we also know that continuing to improve at this level requires us to keep developing our sports organization. The competition is incredibly strong, and every next step demands more from our riders, staff, and the structures supporting them.”

"That is why we want to continue adding experienced specialists to our organization. Aike has an impressive track record in developing teams and improving performance at the highest level. His knowledge, strategic insight, and experience will be extremely valuable as we continue to strengthen our performance structure," said Meenhorst.

"We already have a talented group of people on the team, and we believe that Aike can help us get even more out of that potential. We look forward to working together and raising our standards even higher." It was also announced on Tuesday that Wout Poels will remain with the team for another year.