Modern Adventure Cycling: Race Debut & Close Call

Modern Adventure Pro CyclingAmerica’s newest bike racing teamnearly won during its franchise debut at the recent AlUla Tour.

OK, it’s not the Tour de France, but the upstart squad survived the trial by fire in the five-stage race across the desert of western Saudi Arabia with flying colors.

The team didn’t win, but it came close with a podium spot in the final stage with Byron Munton in second in stage 5, and hit fourth overall on GC with Stefan de Bod. The team also lit up the sprints, with Riley Pickrell ninth in stage 4.

That was an encouraging, project-confirming debut for everyone inside the team bus.

“I’m still in shock,” said ex-pro and performance director Bobby Julich. “I cannot tell you how much we worked at this, but we never thought that we would already get a podium and a mountaintop finish at the AlUla Tour.

“It’s been a lot of fun, and if we can build off this, duplicate this, copy and paste this to every race that we go to, we’re going to have a lot of fun and win some races.”

The milestone is significant in that Modern Adventure is the first major U.S. elite men’s team in nearly 15 years to make a run at the international peloton.

UAE Tour up next: ‘Realistic expectations’

Now comes the hard part.

Up next will be its first full-blown WorldTour race at the UAE Tour (February 16-22).

Some of the world’s best climbers and sprinters will be at the early-season blowout, so the team will be tempering its expectations, but racing for results nonetheless.

Riders like Jonas Vingegaard, Isaac del Toro, and Remco Evenepoel will be gunning for the title in the season’s first major bragging rights among the world elite, and a host of top sprinters will be at the UAE Tour.

“The guys have shown this week at the AlUla Tour that we’re not just turning up to make up the numbers,” said team founder Gorg Back.

“We’ll head to races like the UAE Tour and Volta a Catalunya with a combination of optimism and realistic expectation. These are races where we will be lining up against the best riders in the world over really testing stage profiles. But we line up with a fire inside us and a desire to showcase what we’re capable of.”

After that, the UCI ProTeam has a solid calendar that includes Ruta del Sol in Spain later this month, Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and the Ename Samyn Classic in Belgium, and the Volta a Catalunya in March, with more races to be determined deeper in the season.

For any first-year team, it’s about nailing down the process, taking baby steps, and building on momentum.

So far, so good for MAP.