Not after all? ‘Unibet Rose Rockets surprisingly set to miss out on Tour de France wildcard’

From the moment the project was founded, Tietema made it clear what the ultimate target was: a start place in the Tour de France. With TDT-Unibet beginning at Continental level, it initially seemed close to impossible. Yet after one season the squad reached ProTeam status, and a year later the team had already started making serious moves. In 2025, the Rockets collected enough points to be eligible for a wildcard.

The stars also appeared to align thanks to major shifts in the ProTeam and WorldTour landscape. With Arkéa-B&B Hotels disappearing and Lotto and Intermarché-Wanty merging, the dominoes started to fall: Uno-X Mobility moved up into the WorldTour, while Tudor, Cofidis and Q36.5 ended up just outside it. Those teams would still receive automatic invitations to WorldTour races, leaving a limited number of wildcards still on the table.

That number increased from one to two after the UCI announced that an extra team would be added to all Grand Tours in 2026. With two places available, the Rockets looked well positioned: TotalEnergies had strong credentials thanks to results and its French licence — but Tietema’s team also races under a French licence, and with an excellent 2025 behind them, the sporting case seemed solid too. Tietema himself certainly believed it.

Add in the signing of proven winners like Wout Poels, Dylan Groenewegen and Victor Lafay — all of whom have already won Tour stages — and the outlook appeared extremely positive. However, Le Parisien reports that the hopes of Tietema, Josse Wester and Devin van der Wiel could still be dashed: the final available place would surprisingly go to Caja Rural–Seguros RGA — a Spanish team that would make its Tour de France debut.

It would be a shock of major proportions. Caja Rural rode the Vuelta a España last season, and has strengthened its international core with riders such as Fernando Gaviria and Stefano Oldani, but many would still consider it an unexpected choice — especially with Unibet Rose Rockets seemingly next in line. Perhaps ASO simply opts not to give access to two French-licensed ProTeams. According to Le Parisien, we should know for sure on Friday.