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Tour De Tietema: Turning Cycling Upside Down

In just two years, Tour De Tietema has become a hit with the cycling community while taking YouTube by storm and rising to be one of the leading channels of the sport.

Now, they are looking to push cycling itself towards this level of popularity. We Love Cycling sat down with Bas Tietema, one-third of the channel creators alongside Devin van der Wiel and Josse Wester, to discuss the success of the company and what can be realised by the outfit after its incredible first two years.

Bas who has been born and raised in the Netherlands used to be a top up-and-coming rider in the youth ranks with BMC. He not only rode with the likes of Mathieu van der Poel and Sam Oomen but also had great results, most notably a third place at the Paris-Roubaix Espoirs in 2014.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tour de Tietema Cycling Team (@tourdetietema)

Despite the serious potential, the Dutchman struggled with injury and illness, which caused him to leave road racing behind a few years ago. He started by telling We Love Cycling: “I had three years with the BMC Development team with good results and the races like Paris-Roubaix really suited me. But, in the second year, I broke my collar bone. In the surgery, I got some painkillers and other medication, which gave me a skin problem. After the injury, every time I rode my bike, my skin would heat up and I would get a rash. This was every time I rode my bike so I struggled with that, less training, worse results. All of that.

“I knew my level and what I could do, and you’re riding with those big names and my level wasn’t improving, but they were. I now love what I do, but you have so many guys in cycling who don’t earn much money, don’t finish. I’m happy that I can do what I want and make money off it.”

It was in 2019 when Bas saw a gap on the market, noticing that cycling has somewhat of a problem creating fun content to connect both fans and riders together. It is a sport where fans are as close to their heroes as they could possibly be, yet a rider’s personality can sometimes be hard to decipher.

Alongside Devin (who he credits as the creative mastermind behind each video) and Josse, they looked for a new way of sharing the stories of both the athletes and the sport.

“My idea was for people to watch the videos and enjoy cycling even if they didn’t know all of the riders. I was looking for people who believed in the story as well and I came into contact with Josse and Devin, and Devin had just done an internship with Jumbo-Visma. He had never been into cycling – he came to it from football – and he didn’t have any idea who the riders were, but he was very good at storytelling. He wanted to make his own stories, so it was all the right time, right moment. That’s how the story started back at the 2019 Tour De France.”

The channel has gone from strength to strength since then. At the start, there was just three of them. Now, they are joined by two freelancers, one full-time employee, and another person focusing on their website – launched this year with an added subscription model and shipping logistics.

This is a serious venture, really looking to change the face of the sport, whether by returning home from Sicily in the same amount of time as the 2020 Giro D’Italia takes or delivering their now-classic pizzas on the Champs Elysées at the end of the Tour de France.

Speaking about those early days and his relationship with the pro peloton, he explained: “In the early days, it was tough. The cyclists see you as belonging to the journalists, they know broadcasting. It is an old-fashioned sport, and YouTube can have a negative image. People kept their distance and were wondering what we were going to do.

“Since then, the riders started trusting us and know that anything we make is always in a positive light for cycling. We are not there to make the headlines with negative stuff, we have built that trust and now we see those guys watching our videos. Around 60 to 70 of the riders at the Tour this year knew about us and watched our content, so we have that trust now.”

With the pizza orders set for a year-on-year increase, it helps that they can offset those costs with a channel that, although niche, is arguably the biggest of its kind and that growth has taken the team by surprise.

“You say we now have 120,000 subscribers and that is quite unbelievable. You know, how many people are interested in cycling content? When you are looking at YouTube, you look at lifestyle, cars, more general stuff. And cycling is still a niche. When we did the first Tour De France, the plans were to do other sports like the European Championships in football and the Olympics – a wider range.

“Because all of those events were cancelled due to Covid, that’s how the journey of us riding our bikes started. Devin and Josse bought their first bikes, and we noticed that this could be something interesting as more and more people were buying bikes. That’s how we started with the Flanders series, going from not riding bikes to riding the Tour of Flanders. What’s unbelievable is that we are getting 200,000 to 300,000 views on each video and there is no cycling-team channel that can reach those numbers.”

Now, they are also looking to achieve more on the bike through their current series, Josse Goes for Gold, seeing how far Josse can go starting as a novice rider. Škoda proudly supports Josse in his endeavour and provided him with a special team car.

He has already received help from Team Jumbo-Visma in his pursuit of glory and Bas is hoping his journey can give the team even more identity as they move forward.

He explained: “Josse is riding on the lowest, lowest level in Holland, but thousands of people are watching him. If you can make a good story and that is something I see, that everyone is focused on results in cycling. You may win a stage of the Tour of Turkey for example, but as a rider you can make a story about yourself and show yourself as someone different. That’s important now.”

A new wave of people, some former World Tour riders like Laurens Ten Dam, are also jumping into this world, with his Live Slow Ride Fast channel.

Bas sees these alternatives as a way to grow and enhance the sport.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bas Tietema | Tour de Tietema (@bastietema)

“I see that cycling has a strange model. You now see some riders like Sagan, Cavendish – they know how the sport works, it’s entertainment. They are there for entertainment. People like Lachlan Morton, Ten Dam and the Legion Team in the States are not always riding at the highest level, but they have a big following and are making more money than some World Tour riders.”

With a six-digit following at the time of interview, Bas and his team are showing big companies like Ineos Grenadiers and Rapha (both have a smaller audience) the way forward in creating engaging content for younger fans.

But what does the future hold for the Dutch team?

“We still don’t know whether we are going to go into more road racing or are we going in the future to different sports? We haven’t made a decision because everything is changing so quickly. From one year ago, if you told me we were making this type of series (Josse Goes For Gold), then I would have said no, so it’s really hard. There is potential to grow this into an international team, who knows?”

Whatever the future holds for the trio, they have got into the heart of cycling fans – and riders – all over the world. Their goal was to turn cycling upside down – it seems like they are going the right way to doing just that.

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‘The past few months have felt like playing ProCyclingManager’: TDT-Unibet aim for 2026 Tour de France

Team co-founder Bas Tietema speaks with GCN about their journey to date, reflections on 2023 and heady ambitions for 2024 and beyond

George Poole

Junior writer.

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TDT-Unibet was not even a pipe dream for Bas Tietema when he set up the Tour de Tietema YouTube channel in 2019

Less than a year old, TDT-Unibet are a team unlike any other. Their roots come from the Tour de Tietema YouTube channel and their ambitions lie one day in the Tour de France , but along the way, they have trodden a never-before-walked path that has seen them grow from a gang of three to a company of over 40 employees.

For those who haven’t had their attention caught by the fluorescent bikes, viral social media posts and passionate supporters that embody the Dutch outfit, TDT-Unibet are a cycling team coming towards the end of their first year of racing. The team was set up by the three men behind the Tour de Tietema YouTube channel , namely Bas Tietema , Josse Wester and Devin van der Wiel.

Tour de Tietema has supported Wester in the past as he went from novice cyclist to amateur racer at the Dutch club level, but 2023 saw the team competing as a UCI Continental outfit with the backing of gambling company Unibet.

Not content at the Continental level, TDT-Unibet will make the step up to the ProConti ranks in 2024 - just one step below the sport’s highest tier, the WorldTour . This has meant expanding their team, learning lessons from less than 12 months of racing and setting lofty ambitions for 2024 and beyond - in an experience likened to “playing ProCyclingManager in real life” by team co-founder and boss, Bas Tietema.

The Dutchman has recently announced his own retirement from cycling but spent almost an hour speaking exclusively with GCN over video call about his enthusiasm for taking TDT-Unibet from strength to strength.

“It can be pretty cool that I finish 60th in a Pro race or whatever, but I want the whole project to succeed and that is my personal goal. I get so much joy and excitement from doing that, which made my retirement decision quite easy. It is my own team, so every race feels like I am racing for myself," said Tietema, who passed his UCI sports director exam ahead of the new season.

TDT-Unibet as a team apart in professional cycling

The Tour de Tietema YouTube channel came about as a passion project from Tietema, Wester and Van der Wiel in the summer of 2019, who had the shared ambition to travel to the Tour de France and document their experience through a series of challenges along the way. Videos such as handing out Coca-Cola cans to the peloton as they rode along, delivering pizzas to the riders after stage 21 on the Champs-Élysées and even riding a city bike up Mont Ventoux soon followed.

Given their roots as a media company, their methods remain atypical compared to the majority in cycling. Their social media presence is large, their travails are captured in the form of mini-series on the YouTube channel, and their debut season in the Continental ranks has been captured by Van der Wiel for a feature-length film that will be premiered on December 4 at the AFAS Circustheater in The Hague.

“Everything we do is pretty unusual apparently… but for us, it is usual! And it has to be usual, in my opinion,” said Tietema. “If you look at Arsenal or other football clubs, Formula 1 etc, you need to have a proper media strategy. We don’t see ourselves as quirky or unusual necessarily, this should be the standard for all teams, but it is unusual that it is not.”

© Sprint Cycling Agency

Taken at the ZLM Tour, Yentl Vandevelde celebrates the first victory in TDT-Unibet history

It is not just off the bike that TDT-Unibet have been strong in their first year of competition. The team has already team picked up their first victory at the ZLM Tour in June, with Yentl Vandevelde winning stage 1. Tietema reflected on the watershed moment with pride but admitted that the preparations for 2024 often take priority over toasting each big result for the side.

“It was pretty unreal, but actually, milestones for us are not mostly results-related, because that is something we do not always have in hand,” he said. “In these moments, I am pretty introverted because I am always working on things that are happening in the future. Often, when the team wins or picks up good results, I am already focused on the next thing.”

Speaking shortly after the end of their first season, however, Tietema did allow himself to reflect on the achievements of TDT-Unibet, which don’t just focus on their three victories in 2023, but on their consistency and rider development.

‘The Tour of Britain was the perfect example of things coming together’

The year may have only yielded three victories for TDT-Unibet, but each day has been a learning experience.

“It has been a rollercoaster!” reflected Tietema. “We have had really big highs like the victory in the ZLM Tour, we have had really big lows like the Olympia’s Tour, where nobody from our team even finished the race and the series was called ‘Going for Yellow!’

“Of course, to win a ProRace as a Continental team is a big thing.​​ This season it became almost normal that we finished in the top 10 at every UCI 1.1 race, and I think that is the biggest achievement for us throughout the year, from aiming at finishing top 10 to needing to finish in the top 5 to be deemed a good race.”

In many ways, September’s Tour of Britain encapsulated everything that TDT-Unibet had been working towards from the moment the plans for the team were set in place. Throughout the eight days of racing, the team finished inside the top 10 with Davide Bomboi on the first five stages, placed Abram Stockman inside the breakaway on all but two stages, and created a plethora of engaging social media content that provided light-hearted relief in a race accused by many of being somewhat boring.

“I think that we were doing really well compared to other Conti, ProConti and even some WorldTour teams. I think that the Tour of Britain this year was the perfect example of where things were coming together,” said Tietema, with the progression of Bomboi being particularly pleasing for the team.

“I still remember last year when I sat down with him in October and he was doubting if he wanted to continue as a rider or start his studies. From there on, he transformed during the season. Of course, he had to develop on a physical level, but you see the confidence that he gets throughout this season from being in a winning team - even if we lose sometimes.”

The Belgian sprinter is still only 23 years of age, but his progression in 2023 saw him end the season with a tremendous third-place finish at Elfstedenrace, behind only WorldTour dynamites Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma).

Standing next to Olav Kooij (left) and Jasper Philipsen (Centre), Davide Bomboi was not in bad company on the Elfstedenrace podium

His development on the team highlights the possibilities for young riders under the tutelage of Tietema’s coaching setup. Growing from a squad of 13 in 2023 to one of 20 in 2024, recruitment has been vital for the team boss over the last few months, and in particular, internationalising his squad ahead of the step up to ProConti level.

TDT-Unibet prioritise talent over reputation

In 2023, TDT-Unibet only had two riders from non-Benelux countries - Harry Tanfield of the United Kingdom and Tomáš Kopecký​​ of the Czech Republic. For 2024, this number will grow to 11. Tanfield and ZLM Tour stage winner Vandevelde will be leaving in the winter, as will others, but in their place, TDT-Unibet have used a unique approach to scouting in order to source reinforcements.

“We don’t have the WorldTour budget and because we also have to decide how to split our money between the sporting and the media side, this has implications for how much we can spend on riders’ salaries or other stuff. We need to be creative and use our knowledge to get the best riders onboard,” admitted Tietema.

“It felt like playing ProCyclingManager in real life over the past couple of months. We were in a little scouting group where I was involved, Julia [Soek] as general manager and Aurélien [a statistician on X (formerly Twitter) going by the handle @LPDouces].

Tomáš Kopecký will remain with TDT-Unibet in 2024 as they make the step up to ProConti level

“From April, we were looking forward to selecting the best riders as possible for our 2024 campaign and we wanted to have Continental riders that were the best climbers at that level, the best Classics riders, and we wanted to put them together with the ideology that they all wanted to get the best out of themselves, instead of having ProConti or WorldTour riders who feel like they are stepping down.”

Read more: 'There are no words for it' - Charlie Paige bags dream ticket to pro ranks with TDT-Unibet

Prioritising talent over reputation may allow TDT-Unibet to get more bang for their buck, and Tietema explains the ability to do so is in part down to their strong media grounding, which affords them plenty of sponsor visibility without signing a supposed star rider.

“That’s the benefit of our media presence. Normally a ProTeam will mostly need some big riders because that is their publicity, that is their media value that they can sell to sponsors. We have a media presence that can value riders even if they are still unknown. We can make that with our fanbase and with our creativity with the YouTube channel. That is way cheaper than giving, for example, Chris Froome €5 million for nothing.”

‘The 2026 Tour de France is the ultimate goal’ but progress must be sustainable

Now well into their winter team camps and preparations, TDT-Unibet are firmly looking towards their goals for 2024 and beyond, which Tietema hopes will eventually end with an invite to the Tour de France.

As they pitch themselves to organisers and racers, though, Tietema is conscious that the team should take gradual steps, not just leap at every possible opportunity.

“There is only one time that we can do the Tour de France for the first time, and there is only one moment where we can do a Monument for the first time, so what we want to do is make every year a new step and a new milestone on our journey.

“When we possibly get an invite to a Monument next year, we might have to say ‘no, next year we are going to do our first WorldTour races,’ perhaps an Amstel Gold or an Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, and then in 2025, that will be the first Monument or first Grand Tour. Then in 2026, possibly our first Tour de France. This way, we are making episodes of our journey instead of being too greedy and wanting everything already in the first year.”

It is no surprise that a team originating from a YouTube channel are tied so strongly to the idea of a narrative journey, though Tietema makes no illusions of where he wants that journey to go.

“To go to the Tour de France in 2026 - that’s the ultimate goal,” he concluded. “We want to do that with the most people from the start to the very end, I want to keep people with us on the road because that is the identity and that is how you take people on the journey with you.”

Eight of TDT-Unibet's 13 riders from 2023, including Lander Loockx, will remain on the team in 2024

Although Amstel Gold, Monuments and the Tour de France may be on the horizon for Tietema’s squad, first up is their big screen premiere in The Hague in a little under two weeks. Their journey to the ProConti ranks has been nothing short of entertaining, but it remains to be seen how the sequel will stack up.

• Nationality Netherlands
• UCI Code TDT

Bas Tietema

• Team TdT-Unibet

Yentl Vandevelde

• Team Team Flanders-Baloise
• Nationality Belgium

• Nationality United Kingdom

Tomas Kopecky

• Nationality Czech Republic

Harry Tanfield

• Team Saint Piran

Lander Loockx

Cannondale is a bicycle manufacturer based in Connecticut, USA. From road, gravel, electric and mountain bikes to equipment, clothing and components, the company produces a host of products for almost every type of cyclist.

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Based in the UK, George has been at GCN since 2021.

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Last man to the velodrome: Bas Tietema lives through ‘hell’ to finish Paris-Roubaix

Dutch youtube star turned pro racer finishes outside the time limit and rolls into velodrome dead last: 'it really was the 'hell of the north.''.

Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! >","name":"in-content-cta","type":"link"}}'>Download the app .

They say Paris-Roubaix is a race where it’s a feat just to finish.

The adage couldn’t be truer for Bas Tietema, the last rider to make it to the velodrome Sunday.

The YouTuber-turned-Bingoal Pauwels Sauces pro rolled to the historic track more than one hour down on race-winner Dylan van Baarle, and more than thirty minutes after the time cut.

He’d spent the last 95km of his senior debut at “Hell of the North” off the back and dangerously close to the “broom wagon” in what became a solo pursuit across the pavé .

“It was so hard,” Tietema told Sporza after tearfully rolling to a halt in the Roubaix track. “In the beginning, it went so fast because Ineos was making the race. I was in a group, but they gave up. But that was the last thing I wanted to do.”

Also read: YouTuber to pro racer: Bas Tietema second chance at racing

Tietema made his name with his popular “Tour de Tietema” YouTube channel after a promising junior racing career. When the Dutchman was snapped up by the Bingoal squad this summer, Paris-Roubaix was top of his agenda.

“The Hell of the North” found a place in his heart after he finished third in the Paris-Roubaix Espoirs in 2014, and eight years later, Tietema was intent on making it to the velodrome, no matter how long it took.

1 uur en 20 min na Van Baarle, zelf niet helemaal tevreden, maar wat een krankzinnige prestatie! @BasTietema is nu echt wielrenner volgens @josedecauwer en @Vannieuwkerke ! pic.twitter.com/iRzphLjK8j — Devin van der Wiel (@Devinvdw) April 17, 2022

“There were guys around me getting off, but I wanted to ride as long as possible and not swing the bike on top of the car and ride to Roubaix,” he said in a separate interview with Wielerflits .

Tietema spent the final 70km dangling dangerously close to the sweeper “broom-wagon” vehicle but was spurred on by the cobbles-loving crowd.

“On the way, I had to stop once for a train that comes by, that was another three minutes away. But there were still plenty of people standing to help me,” he said. “I got water and drink from police officers and people on the side. At some point I got myself through it. I never thought about getting off, but it really was the ‘Hell of the North.’”

Van Baarle would have taken the flowers, done the press conferences, and had his first post-race beer by the time an emotional Tietema rolled into the velodrome while barriers were being dissembled and the last boozed-up crowds were filtering away.

“If you’ve been riding alone for so long, you also have time to think about things,” he said. “That came together as I rode in, up the velodrome. I find it difficult to talk about emotions now … I don’t normally have that. But if it’s there when crossing the finish line, then that’s sincere.”

The one consolation?

Tietema had the iconic showers all to himself, and the water was still warm.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tour de Tietema Cycling Team (@tourdetietema)

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Tweets of the week: A Sepp Kuss and Tour de Tietema special

It might be hot as hell in the UK this week, but that does not mean the social media content stops

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In all honesty, this year's Tour of Britain has not been the most electrifying so far: five stages, four sprints, five Jumbo-Visma wins. That's no criticism of the organisers , who have a very hard job, just a reflection on a repetitive week from Manchester to Essex.

Forget about the racing, though. Maybe it's not about the racing. If it is about the social media game, then the stage race around England and Wales is providing the goods.

The biggest providers of social media gold this week have been Tour de Tietema, the online phenomenon which started out around Bas Tieteman, grew into a YouTube channel, and now a whole cycling team - TDT–Unibet Cycling Team. They are known for their quirky clips, like trying to get riders to do wheelies or dunk basketballs at the Tour de France, but are also a serious cycling team.

The Dutch squad are using their travels around this fair isle to to just post though, it seems, and I think we can all respect that. If you're not going to win a stage or come close, why not make sure you're taking home combativity awards and tweeting the hell out of your week?

From Simon Cowell jokes to an instructive video on how to make a proper cup of tea, the TDT lads know how to make a splash - including, by making an actual splash.

Away from heatwave central, AKA the UK, to a more traditionally hot place, Spain, where Sepp Kuss has been in the red jersey at the Vuelta a España for a week, and has been the subject of much excitement online. He is the first American to lead a Grand Tour in ten years , so we get the craze, especially as he isn't Chris Horner. How he works alongside Jumbo-Visma's two other leaders, both of whom are defending Grand Tour champions, in Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard, is a whole other question.

Elsewhere, there's Ellen van Dijk continuing to get mileage out of being pregnant for posts, Jesús Herrada's Jesus-like collapse, Thomas De Gendt's jersey offer, and Demi Vollering meets the King (of the Netherlands).

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1. We start with the crazy guys at Tour de Tietema, with Harry Tanfield showing their audience how to make a cup of tea. One can't help but wonder why, if Yorkshire Tea is so important to the Yorkshireman, he doesn't take the tea around with him? Maybe he ran out

A post shared by Tour de Tietema-Unibet (@tourdetietema) A photo posted by on

2. Harry Tanfield, not only a content machine for Tour de Tietema, but a very good bike handler too

😳 😳 😳Nice save, @Harrytanfield94! #TourOfBritain 🔴🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/Mv7JLFFyvG September 3, 2023

3. This is the meme of the week as far as I'm aware, and it comes with so much self awareness too. Well done TDT

Everytime we win a Combativity Award: pic.twitter.com/Qs2QXHuHzB September 5, 2023

4. Tour de Tietema have been the entertainers at the Tour of Britain, even if Jumbo-Visma/Simon Cowell do not approve

The #TourofBritain so far: pic.twitter.com/Vi2XkLl92z September 8, 2023

5. Harry Tanfield cannot stop having fun, and who can blame him?

Post-race cool down, the old-school way 🌊#TourOfBritain 🔴🔵⚪ pic.twitter.com/uB2OqZnY5A September 7, 2023

6. Talking of having fun at the Tour of Britain, it's good to see people getting stuck into our cuisine like this. The good old fashioned English dish of a Frankfurter in a baguette

Hotdog at the ready 🌭Our motorcyclist is a bit peckish at @TourofBritain 😅 pic.twitter.com/llfB6YOjMx September 7, 2023

7. If anyone deserves to meet the King of the Netherlands, it's probably Demi Vollering. I have struggled but I can't name anyone else in the photo, and to that end, I would like to apologise both to the Netherlands and the Dutch royal family. Damn my ignorance.

A post shared by Demi Vollering (@demivollering) A photo posted by on

8. I know Ineos want us to make it seem like Ben Turner is doing karaoke here, but to me, it seems like he's halfway through a stand up routine. 

"These days, you can't say you're  English  without  being arrested  and  thrown in jail"

A post shared by INEOS Grenadiers (@ineosgrenadiers) A photo posted by on

9. Jake Scott, that guy on a club ride who always has to be extravagant for no reason

Mondays be like… @Jakerscott14 sending it 🏄‍♂️📸 Alan Napier#TourofBritain 🔴🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/jQuGtpiKzW September 4, 2023

10. Poor Remco has been through a lot in his short life and the Vuelta to date

A post shared by Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstepteam) A photo posted by on

11. This photo just screams cycling across the USA to me. Who's giving out free hugs that late at night, though? Hmm

A post shared by EF Education–EasyPost (@efprocycling) A photo posted by on

12. One of these Lidl-Trek women is not like the other. Yes you're right, it's Brodie Chapman, cos she's in the Aussie champs kit

I think I had a few beers too much lately🤔 pic.twitter.com/j6xuPabVAA September 5, 2023

13. Are we still doing Barbie memes? Really?

We’re ready to do it all over again on stage 2 of the @TCFIA 🚀 #TCFIA pic.twitter.com/dkJi0u5bWu September 6, 2023

14. How far do you think you would get up the 40% climb? I'm thinking absolutely nowhere

A post shared by Phil Gaimon (@philgaimon) A photo posted by on

15. Magnus Sheffield is absolutely thrilled by the idea of the Crucible Theatre, the Winter Gardens, Park Hill, the Super Tram, errrr Jarvis Cocker

That feeling when you realise you’re the closest to Sheffield you’ve ever been!😀#TourOfBritain 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/MewpWjjXCm September 6, 2023

16. A really good tweet. No further comments.

I was just reading about the rise in bike thefts this morning. This is blatant.#Lavuelta23 https://t.co/mjwMxbmWh0 September 6, 2023

17. Onto the Sepp Kuss section of TOTW! The man from Colorado looks like he has just realised what is happening to him here. Good luck, Sepp

When you’re going to your third GT of the year to have a chill ride with your team leaders and then you accidentally have to win this thing pic.twitter.com/cJeQkmGZf0 September 5, 2023

18. Sepp Kuss, of course, is hampered by not having Sepp Kuss as a domestique 

Sepp Kuss' biggest weakness is he doesn't have Sepp Kuss to pace him up Angliru September 6, 2023

19. Good luck to anyone who wants to get in the way of the Jumbo triumvirate 

Like this. pic.twitter.com/ZnVt8p1tyo September 7, 2023

20. Thomas De Gendt has a very attractive offer here

On stage 13 you can win my signed jersey. All you have to do is write your name and phonenumber down on a paper and put it in my backpocket while you push me up Tourmalet. September 7, 2023

21. The Cofidis soigneur just wanted to celebrate his charge's win, but instead faced the full force of the famously soft Spanish police

La Guardia taking down the soigneur is a new one for me. Probably Remco's fault. pic.twitter.com/PQWVd7Y3WA September 6, 2023

22. Finally, we end with some art history from the Low Countries

The Pietà, by Anthony van Dyck, 1629, 📸 by @TDWsport pic.twitter.com/lLvQJ02h38 September 6, 2023

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Adam is Cycling Weekly ’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling on tarmac, he's happy. Before joining Cycling Weekly he spent two years writing for Procycling, where he interviewed riders and wrote about racing. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds. Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to cycling.

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🎥 A mix of laughter and tears for Tour de Tietema following Amstel Gold Race: "The last time up the Cauberg was lights out for me"

I n the Amstel Gold Race, a true David-against-Goliath scenario unfolded for Tour de Tietema-Unibet - also known as TDT-Unibet Pro Cycling Team. This Sunday, the Dutch team competed in their very first WorldTour race in Limburg, the Netherlands, and they certainly made their presence felt. IDLProCycling.com was there to witness it!

The 'underdog against a much stronger opponent' narrative started right from the beginning. British rider Zeb Kyffin managed to join the breakaway of the day, which was caught with 75 kilometers to go. Among the favorites, Jelle Johannink held on until twenty kilometers from the finish, placing 55th, three minutes behind winner Tom Pidcock. "This was the first time I raced over 230 kilometers," Johannink shared with NOS right after the race. "And I just didn’t have the legs today, which is unfortunate. But I was in a good position. Two years ago, I was still a club rider. This is a different ball game."

Johannink struggled on final climb up the Cauberg, but is proud as a peacock of TDT-Unibet's performance

Later, the 27-year-old Dutchman also spoke to our website. "It was really amazing. Everywhere you rode, there was tremendous support from the sidelines. There were a lot of familiar faces. It’s fantastic, truly a dream. This was our first WorldTour race, so that was special in itself. Especially to still be in contention at the end. The last time up the Cauberg was just a bit too much. That was lights out for me. Unfortunately, I just missed that final push to really break through that wall. But I got everything I could out of it."

Johannink's ambition is evident, and he likely speaks for the entire team. "It would be great if we could participate in more major races next year, like the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. The ultimate dream is the Tour de France, which would be amazing. And we’re going to work hard for that. I myself also dream big," he refers to the team’s motto. "Like I said, two years ago I was still riding criteriums among amateurs. It’s a major victory to see where I am today."

According to Johannink, Bas Tietema has significant impact on team performance

Earlier that week - before the Flèche Brabançonne - we also spoke with TDT member Hartthijs de Vries, who was off to a strong start to the season for the team that now holds a ProTour license. "Bas really pays attention to detail. He likes to have everything under control, which is of course a great thing," De Vries said when describing the management style of sports director and founder Bas Tietema. Johannink agreed, "Bas is hugely enthusiastic. He gives the guys a lot of confidence. In that regard, he’s really passionate. He prepares everything very well and is definitely a major influence on our performances."

Czech Tomas Kopecky then finished seven minutes behind, number 116. "It was a bit of a relief," he said in a mini-documentary by the Dutch Broadcasting Corporation. "Not because of disappointment, just because of everything combined. It’s super beautiful to climb the hills and see everyone cheering. After 220 kilometers, my lights went out, but I am super proud of what we have done. We’ve been looking forward to this for a long time. On the morning of the Amstel Gold Race, I woke up with butterflies in my stomach, and they only got worse from there. At the Geulhemmerberg, thousands of fans, friends and family members were there cheering for us."

Continue reading below the tweet!

Bas Tietema sees his team make huge strides... and literally got a wheel from Intermarché-Wanty

"If you look at it in terms of budgets, we are in the little leagues, but in terms of fanbase, we can compete with the biggest teams," Bas Tietema says of his team, which he officially set up at the end of 2022 and has since garnered fans from all over the world. "The fact that they come from so far, like from Brazil, for example, doesn’t happen very often," he says with a laugh. "Usually, they come from the Netherlands, Flanders or elsewhere in Europe. This is by far the biggest race we've ridden so far. We're making huge strides."

Former rider and TDT-Unibet team manager Rob Harmeling devised a plan to ensure his riders would animate the race. "Every one of our riders knows exactly what to do in which part of the race. After the race, we want people to say that we participated in a beautiful, entertaining way. For that, you need to ensure you are up there. When the big guys attack, we can't keep up. But we want to show ourselves," he said before the race around Valkenburg.

Finally, we'd like to share an interesting message from Bas Tietema. Apparently, the team manager from Zwolle in the Netherlands had a flat tire (or a similar mishap). Not with his bike, but with his follow car. The people from Intermarché-Wanty helped him out, he indicates in his tweet. "A huge thanks goes out to Intermarché-Wanty for literally handing off a wheel, otherwise this team manager would have had a DNF behind his name in the Amstel Gold Race!" wrote Tietema.

Moscow Metro Tour

• Page active

Description

Moscow metro private tours.

• 2-hour tour $87:  10 Must-See Moscow Metro stations with hotel pick-up and drop-off
• 3-hour tour $137:  20 Must-See Moscow Metro stations with Russian lunch in beautifully-decorated Metro Diner + hotel pick-up and drop off. 
• Metro pass is included in the price of both tours.

Highlight of Metro Tour

• Visit 10 must-see stations of Moscow metro on 2-hr tour and 20 Metro stations on 3-hr tour, including grand Komsomolskaya station with its distinctive Baroque décor, aristocratic Mayakovskaya station with Soviet mosaics, legendary Revolution Square station with 72 bronze sculptures and more!
• Explore Museum of Moscow Metro and learn a ton of technical and historical facts;
• Listen to the secrets about the Metro-2, a secret line supposedly used by the government and KGB;
• Experience a selection of most striking features of Moscow Metro hidden from most tourists and even locals;
• Discover the underground treasure of Russian Soviet past – from mosaics to bronzes, paintings, marble arches, stained glass and even paleontological elements;
• Learn fun stories and myths about Coffee Ring, Zodiac signs of Moscow Metro and more;
• Admire Soviet-era architecture of pre- and post- World War II perious;
• Enjoy panoramic views of Sparrow Hills from Luzhniki Metro Bridge – MetroMost, the only station of Moscow Metro located over water and the highest station above ground level;
• If lucky, catch a unique «Aquarelle Train» – a wheeled picture gallery, brightly painted with images of peony, chrysanthemums, daisies, sunflowers and each car unit is unique;
• Become an expert at navigating the legendary Moscow Metro system;
• Have fun time with a very friendly local;
• + Atmospheric Metro lunch in Moscow’s the only Metro Diner (included in a 3-hr tour)

Hotel Pick-up

Metro stations:.

Komsomolskaya

Novoslobodskaya

Prospekt Mira

Belorusskaya

Mayakovskaya

Novokuznetskaya

Revolution Square

Sparrow Hills

+ for 3-hour tour

Victory Park

Slavic Boulevard

Vystavochnaya

Dostoevskaya

Elektrozavodskaya

Partizanskaya

Museum of Moscow Metro

• Drop-off  at your hotel, Novodevichy Convent, Sparrow Hills or any place you wish
• + Russian lunch  in Metro Diner with artistic metro-style interior for 3-hour tour

Fun facts from our Moscow Metro Tours:

From the very first days of its existence, the Moscow Metro was the object of civil defense, used as a bomb shelter, and designed as a defense for a possible attack on the Soviet Union.

At a depth of 50 to 120 meters lies the second, the coded system of Metro-2 of Moscow subway, which is equipped with everything you need, from food storage to the nuclear button.

According to some sources, the total length of Metro-2 reaches over 150 kilometers.

The Museum was opened on Sportivnaya metro station on November 6, 1967. It features the most interesting models of trains and stations.

Coffee Ring

The first scheme of Moscow Metro looked like a bunch of separate lines. Listen to a myth about Joseph Stalin and the main brown line of Moscow Metro.

Zodiac Metro

According to some astrologers, each of the 12 stops of the Moscow Ring Line corresponds to a particular sign of the zodiac and divides the city into astrological sector.

Astrologers believe that being in a particular zadiac sector of Moscow for a long time, you attract certain energy and events into your life.

Paleontological finds 

Red marble walls of some of the Metro stations hide in themselves petrified inhabitants of ancient seas. Try and find some!

• Every day each car in  Moscow metro passes  more than 600 km, which is the distance from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
• Moscow subway system is the  5th in the intensity  of use (after the subways of Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai).
• The interval in the movement of trains in rush hour is  90 seconds .

What you get:

• + A friend in Moscow.
• + Private & customized Moscow tour.
• + An exciting pastime, not just boring history lessons.
• + An authentic experience of local life.
• + Flexibility during the walking tour: changes can be made at any time to suit individual preferences.
• + Amazing deals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the very best cafes & restaurants. Discounts on weekdays (Mon-Fri).
• + A photo session amongst spectacular Moscow scenery that can be treasured for a lifetime.
• + Good value for souvenirs, taxis, and hotels.
• + Expert advice on what to do, where to go, and how to make the most of your time in Moscow.

Write your review

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• Le Villefranchois

Le Tour Auto fait étape à l'Abbaye de Beaulieu

Cette année, c’est sur l’Autodrome UTAC Linas-Montlhéry, lors d’une épreuve spéciale, que les compétiteurs ont entamé lundi ce 33ème Tour Auto. Ils se sont lancé ensuite sur les routes de France en direction de la côte basque, et vont parcourrir 2000 kilomètres de routes pittoresques parsemées d’épreuves chronométrées sur circuit et routes fermées, tout en faisant des haltes dans des lieux d’exception. C’est à Biarritz que prendra fin ce samedi le 33ème Tour Auto, ayant fait escale à Tours (La Grange de Meslay), Limoges, Carcassonne et Pau. Organisé par Peter Auto, ce rendez-vous annuel réunit pas moins de 240 voitures historiques, dont le modèle a participé au Tour Auto de 1951 à 1973, pour célébrer la plus ancienne course automobile au monde encore en activité. Assurément, un évènement majeur dans le calendrier des compétitions historiques internationales. Pour les Villefranchois, c’est notamment la troisième étape Limoges-Carcassonne qui va se tenir ce jeudi 25 avril qui retient l’attention.Ce troisième jour de rallye sera l’étape la plus longue de la semaine avec 550 km à travers les paysages du Languedoc. Une journée sans circuit, mais avec trois belles épreuves spéciales sur route, ponctuées par un déjeuner à l’Abbaye de Beaulieu-en-Rouergue. Il sera donc possible d’admirer ces véhicules d’exeption lors de leur étape dans le cadre majestueux de cette abbaye située à quelques encablures seulement de la ville de Villefranche. E.L.

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