Alex Howes made the trip to Bentonville, Arkansas for a fourth Big Sugar Classic gravel race but is no longer targeting results or the Life Time Grand Prix series overall. Instead, he has been busy working with a trio of veterans to co-direct a proposed new UCI ProTeam.
Modern Adventure Pro Cycling was confirmed among the teams applying for a ProTeam licence for 2026 on Monday. Howes, WorldTour veteran George Hincapie and his brother Rich Hincapie of Hincapie Sportswear have worked together on the project. A travel company based in Portland, Oregon is the title sponsor.
"We've been working really hard the last four months to put together the new Modern Adventure team. And so, yeah, training has definitely gone by the wayside," Howes told Cyclingnews at Big Sugar.
"We've been pushing really hard with that new project. And frankly, it's super exciting, fun to put together a new team, grow something, give some of these young guys a shot. And for guys like Ty Magner, Joey Rosskopf and myself, it's a big new challenge for us and something that I think we're all really looking forward to."
Having met the UCI deadline, Howes and the start-up pro team's brainstrust have to wait until December 10 for the UCI to confirm that they have met all the UCI criteria and be awarded their licence.
"We were trying our best to do everything by the book and play nice with all the appropriate authorities and such. We're a new team, and we're gonna screw up a lot of things, and we want to screw up as little as we can possibly can," he said ahead of Monday's announcement by the UCI that Modern Adventure had made the deadline.
"I think we've done everything right, and the money's there in the bank, and the riders are all signed. It's gonna happen."
The names of the 20 riders on the inaugural roster would be announced soon, Howes said. However, the schedule was still a work in progress, as they needed to secure invitations to events for next season. He said they would try to fit as many US races into the calendar as possible, including some gravel.
"We're pretty excited about Philly. Obviously, there's a lot of things they need to do before it is all said and done, but it sounds super promising," he said about the prestigious Philadelphia Cycling Classic returning on August 30, 2026.
"George [Hincapie] has a lot of connections, and that's working pretty well for us. We're hopeful that we can get a good schedule. I mean, we're gonna be on the road a lot, so trying to find a balance, especially when you have three directors that have never made a schedule before, we're gonna be learning fast out there.
"We're gonna be in the states as much as we can. Most of our races will be in Europe, and then a bit of a presence in Asia, and then hopefully South America. But it's kind of hit or miss," the former US Pro road champion assessed.
"And we're gonna have roughly three at Unbound [Gravel]. We've got a pretty annoying looking spreadsheet right now - Ty Magner is really good at spreadsheets, frankly. But yeah, we want to do some things like Unbound, SBT GRVL. I've been talking to Michael Marckx about Belgian Waffle Ride California. We need to see if we can sync it up well with something like US Nationals."
He said the roster was a difficult summer project and he was excited for the group to make that announcement. Each co-director had input with athletes, the trio making final decisions on a dozen of the riders.
"Making the roster was really hard, frankly. There's a lot of talent and a lot of guys that were close to making the cut that didn't make the cut. And for better, for worse, we want to give them a chance to kick our butt and prove us wrong."
Howes finished his fourth Big Sugar, although the forecasted severe storms shortened the 100-mile race on Saturday to 50 miles and he was afraid there would be severe enough winds for a "Wizard of Oz 2.0". He stayed ahead of the broom wagon in the end, and now switched on to being a full-time team director.
