A rider who tried to become a pro cyclist with the An Post
Sean Kelly before abandoning the bike in favour of a career as a social media
personality has now made his pro debut, aged 27 years.
Bas Tietema lined out for ProContinental team Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB at the Tour of Antalya last week, some five years after riding his last full season on the bike - with the An Post-Sean Kelly team - back in 2017.
He came into the Irish team, now defunct, having finished 3rd in the U23 version of Paris-Roubaix in 2014 and having won the prologue stage of the Tour of Berlin. He had also spent a season with the BMC Academy alongside the likes of Pavel Sivakov, now with Ineos Grenadiers.
During his time as An Post-Sean Kelly rider Tietema won the points classification at the Tour Alsace (2.2) and was 3rd in the Dutch U23 TT championships.
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While he went on
to ride for the Beat Cycling Continental team the following season, 2018, he rode
very few races with them and an acute skin condition cut his career short.
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Since then he has become a social media personality on the European pro cycling scene. He has been known for his YouTube videos in which he handed out pizza to riders at the Tour de France and convinced some of them to have a wheelie competition mid-stage up a climb.
The Dutchman built a very large following and the income from it was enough to him fund him and small team of content creators to travel around Europe after pro races and making content for YouTube and social media.
But now a return to racing last year, at elite level, has seen him get back into shape, and his skin condition has cleared up. He only began racing again as an extension of his YouTube career; creating the Tour de Tietema Cycling Team in 2021 to try and win a race and film the team's exploits for YouTube. But while riding with that team he did enough to secure a place with ProContinental with Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB for this year.
“Bas told us in September about his dream to become a professional cyclist again. It was clear to everyone that there was still a lot of work to be done and frankly it seemed too far away," the team’s general manager Christophe Brandt told Wielerflits.
"But
at the training camp in December he surprised us. Bas has made huge
strides in a short time, we trust that he will be a valuable addition to our
team. He can gain weight quickly and help fast men in a final, so we are
very curious where his limits are.”
