The team will be registered in the US and based out of Greenville, South Carolina and Girona, Spain, setting its sights on becoming a UCI ProTeam by 2026. At the helm? None other than George Hincapie, backed by a leadership roster that reads like a hall of fame entry list.
“I’m very excited, nervous, anxious to be embarking on this project, but most of all, very passionate to be starting what we feel like to be a renaissance of American cycling and building what we hope to be America’s Dream Team Racing in the Tour de France in hopefully five years or less,” Hincapie told media during the team’s June launch.
The dream team behind the dream team
The leadership lineup combines experience on the bike with strategic acumen off it:
- George Hincapie, team leader and long-time US road icon
- Rich Hincapie, general manager and operations chief
- Bobby Julich, Performance Director and former Tour de France podium finisher
- Dustin Harder, team owner and “number one fan”
- Alex Howes, Joey Rosskopf, and Ty Magner, three ex-national champs turned sports directors
The support network also includes Luis Vargas, CEO of title sponsor Modern Adventure, and David Millar, now with Factor Bikes, who joined the announcement remotely.
“The title sponsorship came along with Dustin and Luis being good friends, and Dustin an investor in Modern Adventure. It just made a lot of sense,” Hincapie explained. “Here we are. We are well underway and starting this very ambitious project.”
A different kind of sponsor
Modern Adventure is a Portland-based travel company known for luxury retreats on nearly every continent. Sport isn’t yet a key part of its business—but that could change with a racing team bearing its name at events across Europe and the Americas.
“Dustin just kept knocking on my door for the better part of a year, saying, ‘I’m serious’,” Hincapie recounted. “I wanted a long-term plan and a long-term commitment from my partners and Dustin agreed to it.”
Building a culture
Before the Tour de France becomes reality, the team must pass a more immediate challenge: constructing a competitive, cohesive ProTeam roster for 2026, with at least 50% US riders.
“We want to build a culture. It’s not just results and watts, but about the person,” said Rich Hincapie.
“Ultimately, racing at the ProTeam status is probably the hardest area you can race in all of Europe, all the world, really,” Julich noted. “You’re not WorldTour, you’re not Continental… it’s really easy to get lost.”
To prevent that, the directors are taking a thorough approach to recruitment, including multi-step interviews and a focus on riders who align with the team’s ethos.
“USA Cycling is in sort of a weird spot, in terms of races and places for riders to go. So far it’s a lot of fun [going] through all the US talent, seeing who’s out there and I think there’s a lot of diamonds in the rough. So it’s been a fun opportunity, calling up some of these kids and saying, ‘hey, want a job?’,” said Howes.
Rosskopf added that the team is not pulling from WorldTour rosters but rather looking to develop new talent with the right mindset:
“We move forward with talking to riders, getting the first batch of guys lined up. It is a big culture focus to set in motion going forward, and build on that every year.”
What’s next?
Rider contracts are the immediate focus, with a roster announcement expected in the coming weeks. But make no mistake: this isn’t just a launch—it’s the beginning of a long, determined climb.
“We have no illusions that it’s going to happen overnight, but we have a long runway to get it done, and we’re going to work our asses off for the next several years to make it happen.”
