Rockets: Kittel’s comeback in cycling: with the hype team on the tour

The Kittel family was overjoyed by Dylan Groenewegen’s victory in a race somewhere in Belgium. The Dutchman is a protégé of Kittel. Germany’s most successful professional cyclist in the Tour de France has been back in the racing circuit since the beginning of the year. His role: Sprint coach for the Unibet Rose Rockets team.

After the end of his career, Kittel took a different look at sport and worked, among other things, as an expert for TV stations. Now he sits in the support vehicle behind the racing action. “It’s the last perspective I was missing. This brings me full circle,” says the 37-year-old.

Hype um die Rockets

Kittel’s new job is not just any job. Because there is a lot of hype surrounding his team, the Rockets are currently one of the hottest topics outside of results and world rankings.

Why is that? On the one hand, there is the unique origin story. Three friends from the Netherlands share the joy of cycling. They go to the Tour de France, come up with all sorts of crazy things – and film them. So on the rest day they organize a competition among the professionals to see who can ride the rear wheel the longest. Or they hand out pizza to the drivers after the final stage on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

They publish their adventures on YouTube and quickly gain a large fan base. Four years after their first YouTube adventure, the trio is launching their own team. In the lowest category. With a big dream. To take part in the Tour de France myself.

Tietema as the face of the team

“In the first year there was actually nothing but the idea and a Powerpoint presentation,” says Bas Tietema. The 31-year-old is, so to speak, the face of the team. They had exposure through YouTube, but when they approached drivers, doubts arose. Is this all a serious project?

Tietema and Co. organized the training camps themselves and sat in the car as sports directors. “Today we are an organization of about 100 people,” says Tietema. “Since the beginning, since the first YouTube video, we have been outside our comfort zone every minute.”

The growth is rapid. After a year, the team was promoted from the third to the second cycling league, the ProTour. You’re still there today. Last year, the team made it into the top 26 teams in the world – and was thus included in the raffle for wildcards for major races. But the Tour de France didn’t feel ready for the team with the eye-catching pink helmets. The Rockets will start at Milan-Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders and the Giro d’Italia.

Structure must grow quickly

Seasoned professionals like Groenewegen were brought in and Kittel as a prominent coach. “The big challenge is the organization behind the team. This involves a lot of growing pains because the cycling season is long and the winter is short,” explains Kittel. That’s why you can’t yet have the stability of large teams. “But professional sport also means developing from year to year and finding the next higher level.”

What sets the Rockets apart from all other teams is their business model. Firstly, there is the name. “We will always be the Rockets, no matter who our main sponsor is,” says Tietema.

The calculation behind it: While the other teams are named after their major donors and this automatically becomes their identity at some point, the Rockets brand will remain. Tietema explains: “In the short term, you might get more money if you sell your entire identity. In the long term, we see our path as more sustainable.”

Rule change helps with the tour dream

An important source of income is the activities on YouTube and Co. Both directly and indirectly. “Normally sponsorship is based on performance, results and visibility in the races,” says Tietema. “We’re changing that through our own content and our own media. We’re visible all year round.”

The goal is to build the largest fan base in cycling. This is difficult to measure; Tietema describes it as an “endless goal”. The next sporting goal is clear. The Tour de France should work out next year. Tietema doesn’t want to have to rely on wild cards, but wants to make it sportily.

A rule change will help. The three best ProTour teams this year will automatically receive an invitation to the elite races of the WorldTour in 2027 – this includes the Tour de France. The Rockets are currently in fourth place, but the jump into the top 3 is enormous given the competition. You don’t want to let that stop you. “We always reach for the stars,” emphasizes Tietema. “And so far we have always delivered.”