‘A trial by fire’ – George Hincapie’s Modern Adventure hope team spirit will make up for lack of Classics experience as their cobbled debut at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne approaches

Fortunately, the team are bursting with enthusiasm to do exactly that. “It is pretty incredible considering where I was two years or even just a year ago to make a jump to races like this,” Sean Christian, the 23-year-old who raced in Belgium as a junior pre-COVID and then came over for a couple of seasons for kermesse blocks, said.

The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!

“Some would consider Kuurne a Classic, others a semi-classic, but whatever it is, it is something a lot of kids dream about. To be able to finally race one of these events is pretty special.”

“I was stoked. I don’t know too much about the history of road cycling in these races, but I knew they were big races because I had heard of them,” his New Zealand teammate Ben Oliver added.

“So to get to start on a race like that is huge for the team and for myself too, to really just throw myself straight in there and see what I am made of.”

You may like

It certainly feels like a voyage into the unknown for almost everybody in the Modern Adventure line-up. Oliver’s previous experience of Belgian cobbles was “a couple of kermesses and a week with some friends last year when I came here for fun,” while Christian’s own learning curve is a similarly solo effort because when in the junior Belgian team, he was more riding as a young kid, “and nobody was really teaching us much.”

“It is definitely going to be a question of me finding my feet and against the pros, it is going to be a trial by fire. No one is going to be in the peloton telling me which line to follow, I am just going to have to learn by following,” Christian said.

Christian may be feeling his way on the road, but thanks to his junior days in the country, he does know exactly why these races are so important in Belgium.

“There was a lot of excitement when I was racing in the team about these races. All my teammates would go out and watch; this is the pinnacle of cycling for them. As Belgians, it is the dream they all strive for. This is like the motherland of racing over here so they definitely put a big emphasis on all these races.”

As for Hincapie’s own success there, Christian noted: “For me, who will never win a Grand Tour, it is kind of cool to have a boss like George who specialised in all the Classics – and again he is a bigger guy like me, although he did the Grand Tours as well – and to kind of follow his wheel tracks.”

Oliver’s closest experience to cobbled racing is likely his 2023 victory at the semi-off-road Gravel and Tar Classic in New Zealand. However, the terrain back home is arguably more similar to the rutted farm tracks of Paris-Roubaix than the better-tended challenges found in the rural lanes of West Flanders.

“Gravel and Tar is an awesome race alright. In New Zealand, it is one of our only one-day UCI races, and it is actually pretty gnarly,” Oliver said. “There are about 50km or 60km of gravel sectors that can be quite rough, so you have got to be able to ride a bike.

“I have come from a mountain bike background, so I am slightly more comfortable putting power down when things get rough. But here you have got skinnier tyres, so that is something to adjust to, learning the traction limits. In any case, I feel comfortable out there and we will have a good few days of recon as well.”

It is fair to say that Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne is the starting point of a steep learning curve that culminates in Paris-Roubaix in early April. As Christian said, it is the kind of challenge that will help raise the team’s collective level.

“Everybody knows how Roubaix goes; it is the Hell of the North,” Christian said. “So hearing that as a first-year team we are taking part is really cool because we have pretty low expectations these early years as far as results go. It is mainly about learning how to ride together and getting that experience.”

“But the sooner we do these big races, the sooner we can target them for results. So even getting to do it the first year is super special, because it takes a year away from our reaching those higher expectations.”

While George Hincapie serves as a source of inspiration, the lack of experience within the Modern Adventure roster for these Classics is immense. Of the seven riders taking part in Kuurne, only one has raced it before. Canadian sprinter Riley Pickrell was a DNF in 2024 but finished the race on his second attempt, and also competed in Le Samyn in 2023.

Both Christian and Oliver are approaching Sunday’s race with an eye on the bigger picture.

“It is definitely a nothing-to-lose scenario,” Oliver said. “But in road racing, strange things happen, so you would not write off seeing our boys at the front. Who knows what we can do? At the end of the day, though, it is just another race, and I do not think you go to any race in Europe without having hard competition. So yeah, there are some stars here, but bike racing is bike racing.”

“For most of us, it is going to be pretty big stepping up to the line with guys like Jasper Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck),” Christian recognised. “But last year’s Kuurne finished in a 90-man bunch sprint, so it is a little better as a start than those races that break up a lot more. It might be a little more palatable.”

The team have done their homework, completing a full recon of the course earlier this week. Whilst Christian knows race speeds will be higher and positioning will be a battle – “plus as a smaller team, we will likely get shuffled back,” he added ruefully – he noted that many of the roads for Kuurne were wider than he expected.

“There are a lot more two-lane roads and the hills end with 50km or 60km to go, so it is a good race because we could do something as well. We will be riding for our sprinter, and it will be great if he finishes in the lead group. It would be easier if we have guys in the front group for when the race comes up.”

“So definitely there will be a few of us on breakaway duty and hopefully we will get one of us in there. And the rest of us will just saddle up for a hard day on the pedals.”