'Renaissance of American cycling' - George Hincapie’s Modern Adventure Pro Cycling takes shape with sights on Tour de France in five years or less

WorldTour veteran George Hincapie disclosed the foundation for the USA's newest professional men's team, Modern Adventure Pro Cycling. Hincapie will serve as the team leader for the management group, which includes former pro cyclists and industry leaders, as they pursue registration as a UCI ProTeam for 2026.

Modern Adventure, a travel company based in Portland, Oregon, received naming rights as the title sponsor for what was called "a renaissance of American cycling". The length of the multi-year deal with Modern Adventure was not disclosed, but Hincapie said that along with founding sponsor Factor Bikes and official kit provider Hincapie Sportswear, a solid footing will move the team towards a goal "of racing in the Tour de France in five years or less".

According to the team's new website, other sponsors include SRAM as a key technology partner, Ekoï for 'performance gear including helmets, The Feed as the nutrition partner, Finish Line as their bike care partner as well as support from Harder Mechanical Contractors and the podcast The MOVE.

"I'm very excited, nervous, anxious to be embarking on this project, but most of all, very passionate to be starting what we feel like to be a renaissance of American cycling and building what we hope to be America's Dream Team Racing in the Tour de France in hopefully five years or less," Hincapie stated in a virtual press conference June 18 for select media, including Cyclingnews, to announce plans for the team's launch.

Hincapie spearheaded a gathering of team leadership last week in Boulder, Colorado, joined by his brother, team general manager and co-founder Rich Hincapie, who oversees operations for family businesses that include Hincapie Sportswear and Hincapie Events. Also on the team are Performance Director Bobby Julich, who has a 17-year pro cycling career and was an assistant sports director for the Hincapie-owned Pro Continental squad in 2018; team owner and "number one fan" Dustin Harder; and the three former US national champions and road pros who will serve as the team's triumvirate of sports directors - Alex Howes, Joey Rosskopf and Ty Magner.

Luis Vargas, the CEO and founder of Modern Adventure, and former British road and track champion David Millar, now the brand director for Factor Bikes, joined remotely to speak with media, with Vargas admitting that the timeline of racing in the Tour de France in five years "ambitious".

The concept for the team, which will be registered in the US and have operations in Greenville, South Carolina and Girona, Spain, began to sprout with a "dream of starting an American cycling team" when he was on a trip to Paris-Roubaix with George last year. It took root over the winter, according to George Hincapie, when Dustin contacted him about the solid interest from Vargas.

"Dustin just kept knocking on my door for the better part of a year, saying, 'I'm serious''," George recounted. "My brother and I had a team several years ago, where we had one to two-year commitments. I couldn't work the way I have before with our past team [started in 2012 as BMC-Hincapie Sportswear and concluded in 2020 as Hincapie-LEOMO p/b BMC]. I wanted a long-term plan and a long-term commitment from my partners and Dustin agreed to it.

"The title sponsorship came along with Dustin and Luis being good friends, and Dustin an investor in Modern Adventure. It just made a lot of sense. Here we are. We are well underway and starting this very ambitious project. We have no illusions that it's going to happen overnight, but we have a long runway to get it done, and we're going to work our asses off for the next several years to make it happen."

The Vargas-owned travel company specialises in customising adventures for small groups and private retreats across South America, Europe, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. Sport is not a focus with the itineraries at the current time, but that could change with a pro team racing around the world.

But before WorldTour races enter the conversation, Julich said the aim was already high to begin at the second tier of pro cycling. A minimum of 20 riders will be needed, per the UCI, for the first year of racing in 2026 as a ProTeam.

"Ultimately, racing at the ProTeam status is probably the hardest area you can race in all of Europe, all the world, really. You're not WorldTour, you're not Continental, you can kind of do any kind of race anywhere, and it's really easy to get lost. So we have to learn a lot from years past, and kind of stay the course, I think," Julich added, noting that many of the leadership team members came through several tiers of teams and can go back in their memory banks to not repeat mistakes.

The braintrust of team directors were charged with selecting at least the first 10-11 riders, and creating a roster made up of at least 50% US athletes. A multi-step interview process was being used before any athletes received contract offers, as the directors were not looking to raid established rosters. As veteran riders not far removed from their own road careers, they will look at the personalities of potential teammates and consider the culture when individuals come together as a team.

"We want to build a culture. It's not just results and watts, but about the person," Rich Hincapie told Cyclingnews.

The chemistry of the team begins with the shared duties of the three team directors, who all have won multiple US national titles each during their careers. All three, in their mid-30s, have also raced 12 or more years professionally, Magner and Rosskopf sharing two years on the Hincapie Sportswear Development squad.

Magner currently competes with L39ION of Los Angeles while Rosskopf is currently a team director with Project Echelon Racing. Howes is still active as a privateer in off-road events.

"USA Cycling is in sort of a weird spot, in terms of races and places for riders to go. So far it's a lot of fun [going] through all the US talent, seeing who's out there and I think there's a lot of diamonds in the rough. So it's been a fun opportunity, calling up some of these kids and saying, 'hey, want a job?'," Howes said in the press briefing.

Rosskopf, who worked with a Continental-level team this year that competed on the international level, added, "We're not pulling them from ProTeams. We move forward with talking to riders, getting the first batch of guys lined up. It [is] a big culture focus to set in motion going forward, and build on that every year."

George Hincapie added that Harder would continue to search for outside funding as the team grows. However, the most important task at hand was confirming contracts with riders, with a roster announcement expected in the coming weeks.

"Our mission right now is to hire riders and try to get into the best races that we can. Obviously, there are no guarantees, but organisers are very interested in our concept and the fact that we're an American team, and I've gotten positive reactions."