"Everyone's super excited": Modern Adventure Pro Cycling confirmed for 2026

The United States will have one of the most exciting teams on the men's professional peloton next season. The debut of brand new project backed by US cycling's legend George Hincapie is anticipated by all cycling fans. Modern Adventure Pro Cycling hope to bring back on the roads what has been long missing in the peloton; a stepping stone in development of (North) American talent.

But before they could get stuck in racing, their project must've been approved by UCI; which happened on Wednesday. "I don't think any of us had any doubts," Joey Rosskopf, debutant in the sports director role, told Cyclingnews about the UCI's announcement on 2026 teams. He said the 2026 calendar can now take a firmer shape.

The confidence that their dream would materialize was absolute and thus the new lineup has already gathered for a training camp in Greenville, South Carolina last week. Although there'll be another meetup in Spain in January, this might've been the last chance before the end of 2026 season for all riders to gather at the same place. 

"This team has five guys from the southern hemisphere, chances are a few of them will stay at home in January," Rosskopf said about some riders racing at home in New Zealand (Paul Wright & Ben Oliver), Colombia (Samuel Florez) and South Africa (Byron Munton & Stefan de Bod) for nationals.

As an entirely new team at the UCI level with no prior Continental-level exposure, one of the main challenges for 2026 is to build infrastructure. Not just equipment, but above all contacts with race organizers. Many prefer to invite the same teams year in, year out. Others will prioritize more established formations over the "unknown" US team, especially in Europe.

Rosskopf assures that the reception of the team has been mostly positive in cycling echelons though: "I'd say we have roughly 75% of our races confirmed, which is a lot to go on, especially for a first-year team. A lot of race organizers have given us super positive feedback. Of course, that official license designation from the UCI was probably a missing piece for some other race organizers."

"Everyone's super excited about it [starting the season], but it's also more of a burden than most division two teams take on, trying to really fit in a couple national calendar races and be present somewhere other than just racing in France, or whatever. Americans will quickly forget about us if we don't keep showing up."

Among the 21 names on Modern Adventure Pro Cycling team's roster, only 7 come with a prior professional-level experience with many making the jump straight from amateur level. What is clear is that for every rider involved, this will be a great opportunity to show their qualities.

One thing they can definitely count on are invitations for races in United States. But the list of races is not very long; Maryland Classic, Philadelphia Classic and the Tour of the Gila. That is why, even though Pro teams can't normally compete at amateur level, the team is requesting an exception to race the Redlands Bicycle Classic - a traditional stage race in California.

"As a ProTeam, we are reaching out to double-check on Redlands. In theory, you're only supposed to do UCI races, basically. It's just a national calendar race, but it's historically part of the American development pipeline, and we all did it when we were younger. We do have plenty of young kids and American-based guys. And we want to have a presence in the US."