{"id":186497,"date":"2021-09-22T08:49:55","date_gmt":"2021-09-22T08:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=186497"},"modified":"2025-12-16T09:46:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T09:46:44","slug":"tour-de-tietema-turning-cycling-upside-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/09\/22\/tour-de-tietema-turning-cycling-upside-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour De Tietema: Turning Cycling Upside Down"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CUF7VDgslM2\/<\/p>\n

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: \u201cI 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew my level and what I could do, and you’re riding with those big names and my level wasn\u2019t improving, but they were. I now love what I do, but you have so many guys in cycling who don\u2019t earn much money, don\u2019t finish. I\u2019m happy that I can do what I want and make money off it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s personality can sometimes be hard to decipher.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cMy idea was for people to watch the videos and enjoy cycling even if they didn\u2019t 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 \u2013 he came to it from football \u2013 and he didn\u2019t 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\u2019s how the story started back at the 2019 Tour De France.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 launched this year with an added subscription model and shipping logistics.<\/p>\n

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\u2019Italia takes or delivering their now-classic pizzas on the Champs Elys\u00e9es at the end of the Tour de France.<\/p>\n

Speaking about those early days and his relationship with the pro peloton, he explained: \u201cIn 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.<\/p>\n

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Zobrazit p\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek na Instagramu<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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P\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek sd\u00edlen\u00fd Unibet Rose Rockets (@rocketscycling)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n