'It was a crazy experience going from a dedicated mountain biker then getting a call from George Hincapie' - Ezra Caudell follows unique path to Modern Adventure team

At 19 years of age, Ezra Caudell landed his first professional job to race as a professional cyclist, earning a two-year deal with Modern Adventure Pro Cycling. He's one of nine riders between the ages of 18 to 24 on the freshly minted team in 2026, all of them in solid positions for development under the tutelage of former WorldTour pro and team co-founder George Hincapie, and a trio of former USPro national champions as team directors - Alex Howes, Ty Magner and Joey Rosskopf.

It's a bold entry into full-time road racing for the youthful BMX and mountain bike swashbuckler. His early days growing up on the red clay of Georgia were spent on homemade BMX track in his backyard and riding on rocky, rooty mountain bike trails around Lake Altoona, north of Atlanta. By 2021 at age 15 he secured 14 MTB wins and five more top 10s across 20 USA Cycling sanctioned events, most of them in the southeastern US, and at his first US Pro Cup he finished fourth.

Caudell had a breakout season in 2024, placing fourth at Pan-American Mountain Bike Championships, winning his first US national title at US Marathon MTB championships in the 17-18 division and winning his first UCI MTB races, two in XCO and one in short track.

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"Going pro was always my passion. I always wanted to make racing a bike my job. I feel when I'm riding my bike, it's not work, but if I can make it my job, I'm never going to work in my life," the gregarious US rider told Cyclingnews.

He will tower in the peloton at a height of 6'7" (2.0 metres) and his early goals are just as lofty, with aims to compete in Spring Classics and races with punchy climbs. The new year will mark his second year of living in Europe, as both his parents work for the US Department of Defense, and they will be based in Germany for several more years.

Caudell spoke to Cyclingnews just before the team gathered in early December at a team camp in Greenville, South Carolina about his different path to a pro road career and his goals for the inaugural season with the team.

Cyclingnews: A lot of people will be hearing about you for the first time with Modern Adventure Pro Cycling in the 2026 road season, but you've been cycling since you were very young. Tell us about growing up in Acworth, Georgia and how you got involved with cycling.

Ezra Caudell: When I was little, I played baseball and soccer, but around 7 years old, my parents realized I couldn’t stay focused and I hated the downtime. Just before my 8th birthday, my mom started looking for a running club or any sport that would keep me moving the entire time. She came across the USA BMX website, and we found out there was a BMX track about 7 miles from my house. I started riding a bike and dirt bike at 4 so they thought this might be a good fit. My parents took me over to Noonday Creek Park one Sunday to watch a race and I was hooked!

For my 8th birthday they got a stock Redline BMX bike and I started racing that next weekend. My sister, Emma, was 5 and wanted to do whatever I was doing, so she started racing also. We travelled all over the US in our camper racing nationals for the next three years.

CN: Did you really have a pump track in your backyard growing up?

EC: I did have a pump track in my backyard growing up! When I started racing BMX, a few of the dads told my parents it would be helpful to do some pump track practice. They told us there was one in Roswell, Georgia at Big Creek where we could practice. My parents would take us over and we would practice for hours.

Since it was a long drive to Big Creek, my dad came up with the idea of building one in our yard. We sat down and designed it, my dad ordered a couple of dump trucks of dirt, and we used my uncle’s bobcat to build it. To get speed on the first straight we would start in the corner of the back porch, and we built a ramp out of plywood to put over the porch steps.

We redesigned it a few times over the years, but I never stopped playing on it. In fact, we only bulldozed it down in 2024 just before we put our house up for sale to move to Germany.

CN: You moved into mountain bike racing as a teenager, so tell us about your development on dirt and earning spots with Team USA for international competitions.

EC: During 2023 and 2024, MTB was still my primary discipline. I raced NICA from 2018 to 2022 under the Blankets Creek Homeschool Team (in Georgia), but it was hard to fit in the proper training, so I stepped away.

I raced for Gravity Academy in 2023, and that year I was selected to race the Pan-American MTB Championships in Brazil. This was my first race in the USA Cycling National kit. Later that year, I did my first race block in Europe, and I knew then I wanted to be racing in Europe.

I raced for Gravity Collective in 2024 and hit every UCI and US Pro Cup race in the US as possible to earn UCI points in hopes of making it to Mountain Bike Worlds. I made the USA Worlds team in 2024 in Andorra and had a front row start. This was a huge moment.

CN: In 2024 you had some major off-road achievements, including your first national championship with US Marathon MTB in the 17-18 division. What were your three favorite cycling highlights from that year?

EC: Yes, 2024 was a really great year for me in mountain biking. I was selected for Pan-Ams for the second year in a row and placed fourth, just missing the podium. I did win my first national championship in the 17-18 category at the US Marathon MTB championships.

That year I traveled quite a bit and had lots of opportunities, but for my top 3 highlights of 2024, first on the list would be winning my first UCI races in Puerto Rico. I won two of the three XC races and the STXC race. Second would be taking second at the Mountain Bike cross-country US Nationals. That was a brutal race, and finishing just 10 seconds off Nico Konecky was a huge accomplishment for me.

The third highlight would be making it to Worlds in Andorra with a front row start. My family had just moved to Germany, so they were able to come watch too. I snapped my chain at the start and had to run the bike to the first tech zone to get a new chain. I was proud of myself for not giving up, though. I was dead last at that point, but I was able to finish on the leader’s lap. The finish wasn’t what I had hoped for, but it was an unforgettable experience.

CN: You began some road racing as a junior. Tell us about that and riding the first time at the Athens Twilight Criterium.

EC: In 2022, mountain biking was my focus, with Cadence Devo. During that time my parents bought me a road bike to train on and some of the coaches were big road riders. They worked with the kids that were interested in road by taking us to group rides with Free Flite Bike shop, Tuesday night crits in Marietta, 'Airport Ride' for the first time, WBL [Winter Bike League out of Athens - op ed].

Once I learned about Athens Twilight, I was super excited to race it. I was stoked to win the 15-16, but the main goal was to make it into the Cat. 1,2,3 race that night and just hang on as long as I could. I made it in, I didn’t last long, but it was chaos and I loved it!

CN: In 2025, you had a number of top 10s with Team California in Belgium and Spain, including a victory at Campeonato de Navarra road race. Tell us about being part of that programme, since you did not go through a typical road development team for racing.

EC: I was still committed to MTB in 2025, but I had hoped to get an opportunity to race on the road with USA Cycling when they came over to Europe and I was now living in Germany. That opportunity came in March of this year after Alex Pasqualina (USA Cycling Mountain Bike Director) put me in contact with Tanner Putt (USA Cycling Road Director). I was able to do a race block in Belgium with the USA Team and made some great connections. I continued to race MTB and did three World Cup races with USA Cycling.

I got connected with Team California and was invited to race in Spain over the summer. I had been feeling like I wanted to move to road, and the race block with Team California solidified that for me.

CN: What did you like about racing in Europe, and what was most challenging?

I have always preferred to challenge myself. So, an easier race that I place well in doesn’t feel as rewarding if I can’t see how it made me better or pushed me. What I have found racing in Europe for the past year and a half is the depth of talent is insane. There are no 'easier' races. At every race there are heavy hitters from different countries. It really gives you respect for the culture and how seriously they take the sport of cycling.

I feel like it’s the equivalent of how American football is in the US where it’s such a mainstream sport that the pool of talent is just massive. The other aspect I like but it is also a challenge is the fact that they race hard the entire time, and there is never a dull moment. There’s action the whole time and you have to be ready to react quickly.

When I called my parents after my first European race in 2024, they asked how it was. I said 'it was crazy'! It was a super aggressive race and it felt like mass chaos, but I could not wait to do it again!

CN: Modern Adventure Pro Cycling has three team directors, and each was asked to find US talent. Did you have a connection with Magner or Rosskopf in particular, since they are both from Georgia? How did you get an invitation to join the team?

EC: I didn’t have a close connection with Ty or Joey, but once I got into road, I knew who they were. They probably wouldn’t remember it, but I met them a few times at group rides in Georgia. I actually have a picture of me with Joey in his national championship jersey the first time I met him. I think I was like 15, so it feels like a full circle moment.

Joey was the first one to reach out to me back in May to tell me about this new team the Hincapies were starting. It was something that really interested me as well. They were looking for young American riders with a good personality and potential in the sport.

We kept chatting for a couple of months and one day I got a text saying George would be giving me a call with an offer as a rider for the next two years. It was a crazy experience going from a dedicated mountain biker at the beginning of the year who trained on the road primarily, having some good results on the road, and then getting a call from George Hincapie for this new American ProTeam. I am super grateful for the opportunity and looking forward to growing over the next two years.

CN: What are your goals for the first year with the team?

EC: My main goal for 2026 is getting experience in the pro peloton, learning my role in the team, and keeping myself healthy and fit throughout the year. I really want to focus on the road, and then there might be some gravel opportunities. I think maybe in the future, it'd be cool to try to do some mountain bike stuff as well.

CN: How would you describe your style of road riding, and what is the biggest positive you bring to the team right now, well ahead of any races?

EC: I would say I am more of a breakaway rider, to be honest. And Classic style is what I could see myself doing really well.

I guess you could say confidence. I've always loved the road because I feel like there's such little pressure. I've always felt so much pressure with mountain biking, I guess just because I've just been doing it for so long, and I feel like I almost have something to live up to. With road, I feel like I have nothing to prove, but I can just, you know, go out there and do really good and nobody knows me. So, I can really not worry about being stressed for getting a specific result. And I feel like that's a big advantage.

CN: If you could select two 'must-do' races for your calendar in the next two years, what would they be?

I would love to do Paris-Roubaix; that would be a huge one. I think that would be insane, a bucket list item for sure. And Strade Bianche. Those two are the huge ones in my mind.

CN: What would you like to accomplish as a U23 rider?

EC: My top three goals as a U23 rider would start with just learning as much as I can from the older riders and the staff who have the experience and knowledge to help teach me to be the best rider I can be.

Another big goal for me would be getting some time on a TT bike and seeing if I could do well there. I think my physiology is really suited towards a TT effort being a bigger rider. I’m interested to see how I would do since I’ve never touched a TT bike before.

And lastly, I think a big goal for me would be to show there’s more than one path to becoming a pro cyclist. I wasn’t on one of the big road development teams, but if you work hard and don’t give up, you can cross over and still have success.

CN: When you aren't on a bike, what do you enjoy in your free time?

EC: Back in Georgia, building trails with my friends was what I enjoyed most in my free time. We would spend hours in the woods just making short little loam trails or jumps and riding them. Since we moved to Germany, travelling is something I love to do in my spare time. We are always looking for a good castle, the best café, and this time of year the Christmas markets.

I also like to hike and see places from a different point of view than I would get while riding. My sister and I like baking too, even though I don’t think it counts to say that I’m the one baking, I’m just her helper.