Last spring, Flanders Classics CEO Tomas Van Den Spiegel made a bet with the Unibet Rose Rockets: if their sprinter Lukáš Kubiš finished in the top 10 at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, he’d give the team a wildcard for the Tour of Flanders.
The Rockets’ owners had already been asking for an invite for years. They knew it was far-fetched – the team was only founded in 2023 as the fruit of three friends’ YouTube channel – but they made a joke of it every time they saw the event organiser. Omloop was only their third WorldTour race. Van Den Spiegel probably felt safe that his deal would go unfulfilled; so safe, in fact, that he closed his offer with a hearty laugh. But when Kubiš went out and finished sixth, on his WorldTour debut, Van Den Spiegel suddenly had to take things more seriously.
