Between the disappearances of three successful professional teams at the end of 2025, there are also some positive news to be deduced from the list of WorldTour and ProTour applications for 2026. Among those, we find two new ProTeams with Hungarian MBH Bank Ballan CSB taking up the traditional Italian team formerly known as Colpack up a level. And then there is a brand new American project: Modern Adventure Pro Cycling, led by George Hincapie. Combined with a range of new racing opportunities in United States next year, exciting times are up ahead of the fans overseas.
The team submitted the necessary documents by October 15th to be eligible for a ProTeam license. Over the past six months, the team has reportedly been busy recruiting riders. A ProTeam requires a squad of at least 20 riders. As for their debut season, Modern Adventure Pro Cycling will present a compact team of 20 to 21 riders with some names already whispered louder than others:
While no official announcements regarding team composition have been made yet, the expected leaders of the new team should be pros Riley Pickrell (Canada, currently Israel – Premier Tech) and Mark Stewart (UK, Solution Tech – Vini Fantini), as well as return of some former professionals to the higher echelons of cycling such as Stefan de Bod (South Africa, previously raced for Astana, EF or NTT), Scott McGill (USA, former Human Powered Health) and the returning Leo Hayter (UK, former INEOS).
Next to the number of well-known European names, the team will offer opportunity to take a step up to a range of the best American talents at the moment, bringing the likes of Cole Kessler (currently Lidl-Trek DT) to the professional level. In total, the American riders should represent about half of the team’s roster with the remainder of the team being a mix of riders from English-speaking countries such as UK, Canada or New Zealand.