'People want to see an American team back in the big show' – George Hincapie says reception to new US team Modern Adventure has been 'incredible' amid flying start and first WorldTour appearance

Modern Adventure are currently racing at the UAE Tour, offering a first hit-out in cycling's top level of racing, against all 18 of the first-division teams and some of the best riders in the world – Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), no less.

"It's wild. We're really grateful to be here. I spent a lot of last year travelling back and forth, meeting with organisers and pitching our vision and our dreams for this team," he told Cyclingnews before stage 3.

"The reception we've gotten so far has been incredible, and for us to just be here, at our first WorldTour race, is really, really exciting. We don't take it for granted one bit.

"People want to see an American team back in the big show. And we started off with sort of a long-term view of getting there in five years or less, but the fact that we're here in the UAE already is a huge accomplishment for the team. Hopefully, we can keep growing from here."

After completing their time in the UAE, Modern Adventure have big appointments to look forward to at the Volta a Catalunya in March and then a first Monument at Paris-Roubaix a month later, a race which Hincapie constantly lit up during his career as a racer.

"We heard that sometime in January that it was a possibility, and it got announced last week. It's obviously a big level in terms of stepping up to that sort of race for us, but the story is huge that ASO has given us that sort of attention in our first year as a team," said Hincapie.

"Of course, we're going to do what we can when we get there, but just the fact that we're there is already a major, major step for our team, and we're really excited and motivated to do what we can there."

Building a culture of fun and promoting 'clean sport'

For the moment, results aren't the absolute priority, with Hincapie detailing how he first wanted to create a culture that mirrors elements of the good times he experienced racing on HTC and BMC in the latter period of his 19-year-career, with fun, trust and a family-feel ambience being as essential as the pursuit of victories.

In spite of that conscious decision, the riders have been performing even with the high-level opposition they are faced with. In the AlUla Tour, South African pair Byron Munton and Stefan de Bod were among the strongest riders, the former finishing second on the final stage and the latter taking fourth on GC.

Heading to the UAE, Hincapie stressed how the focus remains the same, though again, the riders are delivering. Riley Pickrell finished seventh on the tough uphill sprint won by Del Toro on stage 1, and Munton climbed to 15th on the hardest climb of the race on stage 3. On stage 4, Stefan de Bod was caught in sight of the line as the four-man breakaway almost held on for a surprise victory.

"Even from the early onset at camp, I told the guys I just wanted them to race together as a team, trust in each other, learn how we all ride together as a group, and they went above and beyond in AlUla," said Hincapie.

"Not only did they do that, but we got a great result in the last days, so we're coming off of that race with excitement and confidence, and we're hoping to obviously do a good race here, too.

"Although we know this is a higher level, and we're not gonna put a bunch of pressure on the guys. We just still want to keep with that original message to just ride together as a team, and do everything we can to do a good job."

Hincapie beamed as he looked back on his years at HTC and BMC between 2008 and his retirement in 2012, where he often acted as road captain for the likes of Mark Cavendish, with whom he remains close.

"I wasn't on many teams throughout my 19-year career, but some of my most fun, memorable times were on HTC and BMC, where we just kind of rallied around each other," he said.

"At first, HTC was a bunch of names that not many people knew about, but we had the best times in the buses, and we ended up being one of the winningest teams in cycling, so I wanted to bring that sort of ambience to this team, and so far, it's following that path."

That's not the only path that Hincapie looks draw inspiration from relating to the contrasting second half of his career, having flipped a switch away from the now infamous years as Lance Armstrong's lieutenant and admitting in 2012 to using banned substances in his early career. From 2006 onwards, Hincapie said he only raced clean.

Earlier this month, Modern Adventure were granted provisional membership to the Movement for Credible Cycling (MPCC), an organisation that works to clear up grey areas around doping, setting stricter rules than WADA, which teams and riders can voluntarily sign up for.

"It's important for the team to be part of that organisation," said Hincapie, with Modern Adventure the 14th men's ProTeam to join. "I felt like I played a huge part already by being part of the first clean teams that came out in cycling in 2008, signing with HTC, and although maybe not widely recognised by the greater community of cycling, internally, everybody knows that.

"So yes, whatever messaging we need to do to promote clean sport and follow along those paths, I'm all for it."