"It exceeded our wildest expectations": George Hincapie overjoyed by Modern Adventure's stellar debut

The 2026 season's first month of racing has already concluded and with that, we have also taken a closer first look at the new faces in professional peloton; the Modern Adventure Pro Cycling. And no matter what were your expectations of this project's innaugural races, the debut has objectively speaking been a large success.

The most stand-out name has been the Southafrican climber Byron Munton who put his name on the map with a runner-up result in the queen stage of AlUla Tour, and currently rounds off the top-15 overall at UAE Tour after a tremendous effort on the brutal Jebel Mobrah where he beat seasoned professionals including superstar Remco Evenepoel.

But he's not the only rider who grabbed this opportunity with both hands. Munton's compatriot Stefan de Bod, a former rider of Astana, EF or NTT, found himself no longer wanted in professional peloton at the end of 2024 as he was forced to settle for a contract with Malaysian continental team Terengganu. However De Bod hung on to his dream and returned to pro-level with a fourth place overall at the AlUla Tour. And two weeks ago, he was crowned South Africa's time trial champion.

And there's many more stories like these that we're yet to uncover during this season thanks to the project of George Hincapie who beams with pride following the first months on the road: "13 months ago, we decided to pursue this project, and now we're here. What an adventure," Hincapie tells Sporza from United Arab Emirates - Modern Adventure's first WorldTour race. "We're competing in a WorldTour race with relatively unknown riders. It's exceeded our wildest expectations."

And the UAE Tour participation is not an exemption as the American project had great response from big race organizers who have included the "greenhorn team" even for a Monument - Paris Roubaix - later this spring.

A special race for team owner George Hincapie who came close to winning this Monument a handful of time (including a second place in 2005), but it was not meant to be for the American. "You know Roubaix is ​​my dream race. I still dream of it. Now we're going with our team and we're trying to make that race a success."

The project won't settle down for just Paris-Roubaix. As every new ProTeam, even Modern Adventure dream of a Tour de France, even though it might be a goal too soon to realistically reach within the current 2026-2028 UCI cycle. But Hincapie reckons it's not impossible to tick off this box already in this decade. "We want to go to the Tour. We're giving ourselves five years."

Beyond just performance, Hincapie hopes their project will have the outreach necessary to incentivize a re-birth of the US racing scene which currently consists only of the Maryland and the new Philly Classics. "We also want to revitalize cycling in the States. We want to become the American team with many American riders. I don't know all the answers to how we can revive cycling in the US, but hopefully this project will help."

Hincapie is returning to the peloton after years in the shadows. "It's very special, and I feel honored. I owe this sport a lot, and hopefully, I can repay cycling with this team."