Rob Gitelis’ Tour 21

Rob Gitelis loves bikes. He loves them so much, he’s turned pro, twice, and founded two brands, Factor and Black Inc, that are committed to creating the highest-quality, fastest racing bikes in the world.

His commitment to his companies, though, often means that he doesn’t have as much free time to ride his bikes as he would like. That sometimes forces him to find challenges to motivate him to carve out the time he needs to ride. For 2026, Rob determined to find the biggest challenge he could to force him into fitness that he will plan to maintain. He has chosen to take part in the Tour 21, where amateur cyclists ride every stage of the Tour de France one week before the event. It is a charity initiative to raise money for Cure Leukaemia. In 2026, Rob will be joined by ten other cyclists, each of whom has committed to raise £30,000 for blood cancer research.

“Every year I like to target one cycling challenge to motivate myself to get fit. In past years, I have tackled the Migration Gravel Race and Unbound 200, but always knew that I had enough muscle memory from my years racing professionally to get through those types of shorter events,” Rob explained.

“For this year, I knew I needed a challenge where I couldn’t fake it. Something that would really force me to get into proper shape. Riding the 21 stages of the Tour de France is the biggest challenge I have ever set for myself. But it’s not only for myself.”

Personal connection

In searching for his 2026 challenge, Rob was interested in doing something that also had a deeper meaning or wider impact beyond just getting himself into shape. He learned about the Tour 21 efforts to help Cure Leukaemia through a Factor ambassador. “I saw him posting a lot about it last year that he had done this ride and that it was for charity, and I was like, wow, that seems kinda crazy, but perhaps that’s what I need to get me into gear,” Rob said.

“When I started looking into the Tour 21, I realised I could help do a lot of good for people suffering from Leukaemia and other blood-based cancers. It’s something that I have direct experience with since my ex-wife has been suffering from multiple myeloma for 20 years. To be able to help raise funds that will go directly to research projects to fight this terrible disease seemed like a really worthwhile cause.”

Cure Leukaemia is a charity that focuses on increasing funding for blood cancer research while also funding research nurses and clinical roles at blood cancer centres across the UK to provide blood cancer patients with access to innovative and potentially life-saving treatments through clinical trials.

“We believe in their efforts to fund the innovations that can eventually cure leukaemia, so Factor will match every donation that anyone makes to my Tour 21 ride,” Rob said. “So if £30,000 is donated to my ride, then Factor will put in £30,000 as well. That basically means any donation will be doubled. We’ll go one step further, in that anyone who donates more than £100 ($135 or €115) will be entered into a raffle to win a Factor bike.”

The longest race of his career

Anyone who knows Rob’s story is probably aware that he turned pro first when he was a young man in his 20s, then segued into working for carbon fibre manufacturers in Taiwan, only to turn pro again in his 40s before he decided to found Factor and Black Inc. But he never had a chance to race a Grand Tour. In 2020, he and John Ebsen, Factor Global Sales Manager and five-time winner of the Taiwan K.O.M., hosted a Strava Challenge where they pledged to ride 100 km every day in the month of December. “That was 3200 km in 31 days. So, I think Tour 21 will be the longest I’ll have ever ridden in such a short space of time. I’ve never ridden a Grand Tour. I’ve only ever ridden two week-long tours, so yeah, this should be the longest.”

A portion of the motivation for tackling this challenge this year is an increasing realisation that he does not want to let any opportunity slip away. “I have been riding bikes since I was 13 years old, and I am 59 this year. I have been a professional twice in my life, once when I was young and then again when I was older. But I definitely have an ability to really let myself go as well,” Rob explained.

“I want this to be a positive experience. So that’s why I really trained well ahead of the event, trying to be as fit as I can so that every day is not like a disaster. I want it to be that I’ve done the work and now I can enjoy the days. And I want to be able to communicate on a daily basis with our Factor community, whoever is following this journey, and be positive about it. I want to come away feeling that it was a really beautiful experience. And importantly, going forward I won’t allow myself to detrain.”

For Rob, taking part in the Tour 21 also represents his personal commitment to maintaining his fitness as he ages. “I am really hoping that part of what I come away with is, like I said, I’ll be 59, and I am definitely starting to feel like I probably can’t do this forever, as far as a challenge like this,” Rob explained. “I maybe only have a few more years of being able to do something this big. That thought is starting to weigh on me. This used to come a lot easier than it does now. I hope I can inspire people that 59 is not that old, but also at the same time, I know that probably in five years, I can’t do this. I need to enjoy it as much as I can now.”

It’s not too late to donate

If you have been inspired to help Cure Leukaemia and donate to Rob’s Tour 21, you can still do so by going to Rob’s donation page: ROB'S TOUR 21 DONATION PAGE

Rob will also be documenting his and his fellow Tour 21 teammates' ride around France through daily Instagram posts. So be sure to follow him at: @robgitelis

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