Unibet Rose Rockets ā the team led by
Bas Tietema ā were already enjoying a stellar transfer window with the arrivals of
Dylan Groenewegen and
Wout Poels. Now theyāve struck again, landing none other than Rory Townsend as their latest signing. A fine transfer in itself ā but once more, the announcement video stole the show.
With Groenewegen and his trusted lead-out Elmar Reinders, Tietemaās squad had already pulled off a significant coup earlier this year. For the teamās Dutch core, Poels recently came aboard too; at 38, he makes the switch to the ProTeam-level Unibet Rose Rockets. With Townsend, the team has made its next big move.
The Irishman was one of the revelations of the ADAC Cyclassics Hamburg, where a late attack saw him hold off a charging peloton. It was the sixth victory of the 30-year-oldās career. Townsend joins from Q36.5 Pro Cycling. And beyond a fiercely ambitious cycling project, he also steps straight into a team with a top-class media unit ā something he experienced right away.
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Townsend narrowly stayed ahead of the raging peloton in the Hamburg Cyclassics
Tietema sees more experience coming in with Townsend
The team continues to underline its ambitions. About the signing of Poels, Tietema said: āWout is reasonably near the end of his career. We already knew him from the Tour de France. He was considering what he still wanted, and for him it was crucial to have something he could truly commit to. For us he is a very valuable addition.ā
In what was until recently āa fairly young and inexperienced group,ā Poels brings experience ā and of course the same applies to Townsend. āAt the same time, Wout can still win important races,ā Tietema added of the Dutchman. The Unibet Rose Rockets roster currently stands at 21 riders, six fewer than in 2025, so there is undoubtedly more to come.
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Unibet Rose Rockets are busy with championsā jerseys ā and videos
With all those fresh transfers, the teamās creatives have their hands full ā including designing a national championās jersey. At the end of June, Townsend became Irish road champion for the second time in his career. He wonāt be the only one in a special kit in 2026; Lukas Kubis was crowned Slovak champion in 2025.
In
a brilliant video from the ProTeamās media crew, those storylines are put to good use. Asked whether Kubisā jersey is already finished, the answer is that theyāre busy with something else ā which, of course, turns out to be Townsend and his Irish kit. The result is a hilarious clip ā chapeau!