A few months ago, it felt almost certain that we’d see Unibet Rose Rockets, a professional cycling team born from a YouTube channel, line up for their first Tour de France in 2026.
They’d changed their nationality to French, ranked among the top 30 UCI teams, and signed not one but three former Tour stage winners. It looked like the final wildcard invitation was in their hands.
This morning, however, it was announced that that would not be the case. The possibility had started to become clear over the week, when the Rockets missed out on wildcards to other ASO races like Paris-Nice, the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, and even Paris-Roubaix, which they were invited to last year.
Of course, an invite to the Tour is super special for Caja Rural, too – maybe even more, given they’ve been around since 2000, whilst Unibet only burst onto the scene in 2023. Caja Rural sports director José Miguel Fernández called the invitation “an honor and a thrill that is difficult to describe” and pledged that the team will “prepare for the Tour with the utmost respect and with great attention to every detail”.
It’s also not difficult to see why ASO wanted to invite a Spanish team to their Barcelona Grand Départ, particularly after the now-resolved concerns that emerged after the Vuelta that the Barcelona start was at risk.
I’m sure that Caja Rural will dutifully go in every break possible, and do whatever they can to add some intrigue to the boring transition stages, which is what ASO thinks the wildcard teams are there for. They have strong riders, and they will deliver on that role. And I really don’t want to rain on their parade, or say they aren’t deserving of going to the Tour – they absolutely are, and I’m genuinely pleased for them.
But – and of course there is a but – is this really what cycling needs in 2026? I’m not so sure.
Matilda Price
As a Gen-Z cycling viewer, I know what the younger audiences and fans want, and unfortunately it isn’t an unknown Spanish rider going in the breakaway on stage 11. Even the biggest race in the world should be thinking about how to actively engage the modern…
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