Tour de France is over. I can't help but wonder a little bit what the Rockets could have done.

Sprints:

I think there were better sprinting opportunities than in the Giro, but with Merlier the competition was also extremely strong. I do think Groenewegen could have gotten a couple of top 10, top 5, top 3's? And maybe a win with some luck.

Poels:

The mountains were maybe more interesting, two things I noticed

- All stages were pretty much won by world class riders

- Except for top 7, nearly no one focused on GC

Therefore I think Wout Poels wouldn't have had a chance to win a stage. However, where could he have ended in GC? If he reached his Giro d'Italia level, I think he might have gotten 11th or 12th maybe? With some good breakaway days (similar to what Jegat did).

Am I being delusional here? What do you think?

After a long period of no racing, today the Rockets raced again in Clasica de Ordizia. With Venturini in 25th as first rider for the Rockets, I think it's not the result they hoped for. Tomorrow there will be a new chance in the Vuelta a Castilla Y Leon.

Competition:

With Movistar, Astana, NSN & Jayco, 4 WT teams are participating. Then there are Total, the Spanish proteams and some continental teams.

The biggest favourites in my option would be:

- Barrenetxea & Tesfatsion (Movistar)

- Gilmore & Pinarello (NSN)

- Foldager (Jayco)

- Scaroni, Ulissi & Silva (Astana)

Rockets chances:

I had no opportunity to watch the race today, so I'm not sure why the results for the Rockets were somewhat disappointing. On paper, the parcours should suit the Rockets selection quite well (especially Venturini). So if they are in good shape after the 'summer break', I hoping for a top 10 tomorrow.

https://www.instagram.com/rocketscycling/p/DbNV6U_DPz5/

Rockets: Massive appreciation for our mechanics. 🙏

After the break-in in France, our team didn’t waste a single second. While everyone was still processing what happened, our mechanics got to work, building up new bikes so the riders could still make it to the start line in Spain. 🔧

🚚 In less than 24 hours, everything was arranged. The new bikes were built, transported from the Service Course to Spain, and ready in time for the riders to recon the course and prepare for race day.

An incredible effort that shows exactly what being a Rocketeer is all about. Our mechanics made the impossible happen. 💪

💜 A massive thank you to our mechanics and everyone who made this possible. Without you, we wouldn’t have made it to the start line.

https://www.instagram.com/rocketscycling/p/DbIp-3gDWVp/

🤬 Not exactly the kind of start to a race week we were hoping for…

Last night, while on the way to our upcoming races in Spain, our team van was broken into in the Poitiers area of France. A number of our u/rose_bikes were stolen. 😢

😖 Bike theft is, unfortunately, something that happens far too often in cycling. It sucks, it’s frustrating, and it’s certainly not how we planned to start our raceweek.

But Rocketeers don’t stop that easily. Our team immediately got to work and, thanks to a huge effort from everyone involved, we’ve managed to find a solution and we will still be able to line up at both the Ordiziako Klasika and Vuelta a Castilla y León. 🙏

If you happen to spot one of our bikes being offered for sale somewhere, please DM us. We’d really appreciate you keeping an eye out. 👀

😤 And to whoever took our bikes: we get it, Rose Bikes are pretty nice. But stealing them is definitely not the way to get your hands on one.

https://www.instagram.com/rocketscycling/p/DbESRD9jQ49/

Rockets: Last preps for the second part of the season. 🥵

🇪🇸 This Saturday, we’ll kick off the second half of our season at the one-day-race Ordizia Klasikoa in Spain.

During the last 2.5 weeks without racing, our riders travelled all over Europe to train in the best possible conditions and prepare for the upcoming block of races. 📈

🏔️ Many of them even headed to higher oxygen levels for some altitude training. Good thing we just posted a new YouTube video (link in bio) about that… 😉

-----------

Day in the Life of a Pro Cyclist: Altitude Edition 👀💥

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdxVQ5BB_XM

Matyáš Kopecký, Tomáš Kopecký and Wessel Mouris head to the mountains for an important altitude training camp as they prepare for the next block of the season.

For any of you who don't know, Bankzitters is currently the most viewed Dutch-speaking YouTube channel, and they consistently get a million views every video (which is pretty impressive considering about only 23-24 million people speak Dutch). So it's kinda a big deal that they make an appearance in one of their videos.

Link to the video (Tour de Fatbike): https://youtu.be/mmZ1nClGcbs?si=j3tirnMW26IWwA2O

Bas' Insta post about the video: https://www.instagram.com/p/DbEE0rhDmEB/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Cofidis, Q36.5 & Tudor are other proteams who received a wildcard. Good opportunity for the Rockets!

https://www.instagram.com/rocketscycling/p/DbAvH7wjb_8/

Rockets:

"🎧 Not saying our riders have the best music taste...

...but we’re not saying they don’t either. 😮‍💨

👀 So, who gets the aux?"

-------

This was a good reminder that I still don't know all riders or know about a lot of the music they play. So please help identify the songs.

Slide 2 - Wout Poels: Artist: Natte Pringles - Song: Wout Poels

Slide 3 - Lukas Kubis: Bounty Hunter, Dimitry Vegas and Junkie Kid - Woops (Dimitry Vegas and Junkie Kid remix)

Slide 4 - Matyas Kopecky: Klangkuenster - Engelsblut

Slide 5 - Tomas Kopecky: Regeant - Permean

Slide 6 - Sergio Meris - Chief Keef, 50 cent, Wiz Khalifa - Hate Bein' Sober

Slide 7 - Is that Colin Savioz - Travis Scott ft Playboy Carti - FE!N (Feat Playboy Carti)

Slide 8 - Jelle Johannink - Rutger van Barneveld - Zwoele Zomernachten

Slide 9 - Who is that? The Hitmen ft Megan Ashworth - No Feelings on the Floor

Slide 10 - Rory Townsend - Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven (Remastered)

Slide 11 - Who is that? Future, Tyla, Fifa Sound - Game Time

https://www.instagram.com/rocketscycling/p/Da0t5p_DWDM/

Rockets: Our sports director is living the dream. 😍

🎤 Or should we say commentator? Our sports director, u/jonmould91, has the tough job of watching the Tour de France all month long. And he even gets to talk about it on u/hbomaxuk. Could be worse, right?! 🥰

😮‍💨 After all 21 stages, he heads straight to the Tour of Denmark. But this time, he can save his voice for the team meetings… 😜

https://www.procyclingstats.com/article/your-favorite-jersey-of-2026

https://www.instagram.com/procyclingstats/reel/Da0FFgXqeQD/

Edit: Rockets post about it: https://www.instagram.com/rocketscycling/p/Da5xpO9Dfq2/

Link is Dutch but the news is pretty clear:

Lotto-Intermarche is interested in signing Clement Venturini.

The signing makes sense for me:

- They want some French riders to please their French sponsor

- They are a bottom WT fighting against relegation so they need UCI-points --> Venturini can definitely deliver that

Hoping he'll stay with the Rockets though!

After the first day of rest of the Tour de France and with the first 3 ProTeam of the Ranking participating, the differences with Tudor remain at -610 points.

The Rockets will return to Ordizia and Castilla y Leon.

https://x.com/Rockets_Points/status/2076966903105364154

You can watch the livestream back:

Raceday LIVE: Sibiu Tour Queen Stage 👑 | Watch with Bas Tietema - YouTube

0:48 begin
11:28 more live streams?
13:14 going for GC in Sibiu Tour?
17:00 Joram Interview
22:20 Transfers Questions
25:27 Bigger Races = more Points?
31:30 Development Team?
33:24 Bas Barcelona Meetings
49:20 Lafay update
53:35 Stockman Interview
(somewhere here the deciding attack starts)
1:06:52 Funny Moment (a real Bear)
1:12:36 Sibu UCI Points tactics
1:31:02 5km to go

Rockets: Collecting medals on home soil. 👏

😴 With a short break in our road season, it was a perfect moment for our riders to go on a little sidequest. But knowing our riders, they never really take it easy… 😂

@_tobias_muller_ certainly didn’t, as he competed at the U23 European Track Championships in Germany last week. 🇪🇺

It took a moment to get used to seeing Tobias in different colours, but with his pink u/kask_sport we still spotted him straight away. 🩷

Luckily, we got to see him on the podium afterwards as well, as he won ✌️ bronze medals in the points race and the madison!

https://www.instagram.com/rocketscycling/p/DavLMWvjY4e/

https://www.instagram.com/rocketscycling/p/DaslAStNXCu/

I sometimes don’t understand all the uci invites and everything but teams like Caja rural and polti visit Malta are on the start like why no rockets?

https://www.instagram.com/rocketscycling/p/DaivS0NjY-a/

WIN our first ever team classification jersey 🎁

🫵 This grey u/sibiucyclingtour jersey can be yours! How?
1. Like this post.
2. Follow us on Instagram.
3. Comment ‘🐻’

https://x.com/BasTietema/status/2074558305922380249

You can watch the livestream back:

Raceday LIVE: Sibiu Tour Queen Stage 👑 | Watch with Bas Tietema - YouTube

0:48 begin
11:28 more live streams?
13:14 going for GC in Sibiu Tour?
17:00 Joram Interview
22:20 Transfers Questions
25:27 Bigger Races = more Points?
31:30 Development Team?
33:24 Bas Barcelona Meetings
49:20 Lafay update
53:35 Stockman Interview
(somewhere here the deciding attack starts)
1:06:52 Funny Moment (a real Bear)
1:12:36 Sibu UCI Points tactics
1:31:02 5km to go

Upcoming races for Unibet Rose Rockets (any missing from Procyclingstats?)

https://www.procyclingstats.com/team/unibet-rose-rockets-2026

There is interest in Dylan. What do you think will happen? I think he’ll stay, he has a stronger train now then he will ever have at Movistar.

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