There are many ways to become a professional cyclist, but Dutchman Bas Tietema must be unique in his path; come up through the ranks, start a YouTube channel, get a contract with a Belgian Conti team, then start your own team. We had to find out more.
By any measure it’s an unusual story; hard man, Robert Millar the Tour de France ‘King of the Mountains’ in 1984, second overall twice in the Vuelta, second in the Giro and fourth overall in the Tour de France transitions into female Philippa York. A factor in the story which intrigued me was that the lady who was Robert’s partner and the mother of his daughter, is still Philippa’s partner: Linda Ann.
There’s a boxing ring in the track centre here at the Copenhagen Six Day, apparently there are matches taking place on Saturday evening – and they present the riders up there.
Saturday morning dawned bright and mild; this gives rise to mixed feelings - on the one hand you want a freezing, wet, death race, but on the other, it's no fun standing in the cold and wet for hours. One thing is sure - sunshine would have been of no use to Viktor at the Kuurne Brussels Kuurne!