Caja Rural-Seguros RGA clinches 2026 Tour de France wild card as YouTube-inspired Unibet Rose Rockets delivered a surprise snub.
There were some surprises in Friday’s confirmation of the 2026 Tour de France invitations. (Photo: ASO/Spcial to Velo)
Updated January 30, 2026 05:19AM
Tom Pidcock and Spanish stalwarts Caja Rural-Seguros RGA punched their tickets to the 2026 Tour de France, with the surprise exclusion of Unibet Rose Rockets.
Pidcock’s Pinarello-Q36.5 team was all but a lock after a superb 2025 campaign, but the formality is still a huge moment for the squad that put the 2026 invite at the center of its medium-term ambitions.
All of the 18 WorldTour teams earned automatic starts, with Pinarello-Q36.5 joining Tudor Pro Cycling and Cofidis as the top-ranked ProTour teams to secure spots based on rankings.
The big shocker was the inclusion of Spanish squad Caja Rural-Seguros RGA and TotalEnergies ahead of feel-good fan-favorite Unibet Rose Rockets.
Perhaps in a nod toward the Spanish start in Spain’s Catalunya region, ASO decided to give the final spot to Caja Rural-Seguros RGA. TotalEnergies, being a major French squad, was all but assured of a spot at the July 4 start in Barcelona.
Caja Rural-Seguros RGA — founded in 2000 as a club team — was over the moon.
“Even in cycling, sometimes dreams come true,” read a press note from the team.
Unibet Rose Rockets will also miss Vuelta a España
Groenewegen delivered an early win, but Unibet Rose Rockets will miss out on the Tour and Vuelta. (Photo: Antonio Baixauli/Getty Images)
Unibet Rose Rockets, which started as a YouTube project by team founders, loaded up on WorldTour-level talent coming into 2026, including Dylan Groenewegen, Victor Lafay and Wout Poels, all former Tour de France stage winners.
The team was the perceived wild-card favorite. A win last week to open the 2026 season boded well for Unibet Rose Rockets, at least until Friday’s surprise announcement.
To add insult to injury, the team also missed out on the Vuelta a España, with wild cards going to Burgos-Burpellet-BH and Equipo Kern Pharma.
Team management was diplomatic in its response Friday.
“Today we got the news that we did not receive a wildcard,” a team note read. “2026 is still going to be an incredible year, and we’ll do everything we can to keep improving ourselves.
“The Tour de France is and always will be our dream race,” it read. “So please, keep dreaming with us. Because there is still so much coming our way.”
Prudhomme: ‘We looked at the rankings’
Caja Rural-Segros RGA earned a surprise invite for the 2026 Tour. (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images))
Tour boss Christian Prudhomme laid out the rationale for the picks.
First, he said the leading factor was the end-of-season team rankings. Caja Rural-Seguros RGA snuck into the top-23 on world standings following the shakeout of the Intermarché-Lotto merger and other factors.
Then he cited the Barcelona start as another reason for Caja Rural’s selection. They also tipped rising Spanish star Abel Balderstone, who finished 13th at the Vuelta and hit 10th on the brutal Angliru stage.
Finally, despite Unibet Rose Rockets racing with a French license, he suggested the team isn’t French at its core, but rather Dutch.
“It’s a team that dreams of the Tour de France in the long term,” Prudhomme told AFP. “We’ll be looking at all of this for the coming years.”