WorldTour veteran George Hincapie disclosed the inspiration for the USA’s latest skilled males’s group, Fashionable Journey Professional Biking. Hincapie will function the group chief for the administration group, which incorporates former professional cyclists and trade leaders, as they pursue registration as a UCI ProTeam for 2026.
Fashionable Journey, a journey firm primarily based in Portland, Oregon, acquired naming rights because the title sponsor for what was referred to as “a renaissance of American biking”. The size of the multi-year take care of Fashionable Journey was not disclosed, however Hincapie stated that together with founding sponsor Issue Bikes and official equipment supplier Hincapie Sportswear, a stable footing will transfer the group in direction of a objective “of racing within the Tour de France in 5 years or much less”.
In keeping with the group’s new web site, different sponsors embrace SRAM as a key know-how companion, Ekoï for ‘efficiency gear together with helmets, The Feed because the diet companion, End Line as their bike care companion in addition to help from Tougher Mechanical Contractors and the podcast The MOVE.
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“I am very excited, nervous, anxious to be embarking on this undertaking, however most of all, very passionate to be beginning what we really feel prefer to be a renaissance of American biking and constructing what we hope to be America’s Dream Workforce Racing within the Tour de France in hopefully 5 years or much less,” Hincapie said in a digital press convention June 18 for choose media, together with Cyclingnews, to announce plans for the group’s launch.
Hincapie spearheaded a gathering of group management final week in Boulder, Colorado, joined by his brother, group normal supervisor and co-founder Wealthy Hincapie, who oversees operations for household companies that embrace Hincapie Sportswear and Hincapie Occasions. Additionally on the group are Efficiency Director Bobby Julich, who has a 17-year professional biking profession and was an assistant sports activities director for the Hincapie-owned Professional Continental squad in 2018; group proprietor and “primary fan” Dustin Tougher, CEO of Tougher Mechanical Contractors; and the three former US nationwide champions and highway professionals who will function the group’s triumvirate of sports activities administrators – Alex Howes, Joey Rosskopf and Ty Magner.
Luis Vargas, the CEO and founding father of Fashionable Journey, and former British highway and monitor champion David Millar, now the model director for Issue Bikes, joined remotely to talk with media, with Vargas admitting that the timeline of racing within the Tour de France in 5 years “bold”.
The idea for the group, which can be registered within the US and have operations in Greenville, South Carolina and Girona, Spain, started to sprout with a “dream of beginning an American biking group” when Tougher was on a visit to Paris-Roubaix with George final 12 months. It took root over the winter, in line with George Hincapie, when Dustin contacted him in regards to the stable curiosity from Vargas.
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“Dustin simply stored knocking on my door for the higher a part of a 12 months, saying, ‘I am critical”,” George recounted. “My brother and I had a group a number of years in the past, the place we had one to two-year commitments. I could not work the way in which I’ve earlier than with our previous group [started in 2012 as BMC-Hincapie Sportswear and concluded in 2020 as Hincapie-LEOMO p/b BMC]. I needed a long-term plan and a long-term dedication from my companions and Dustin agreed to it.
“The title sponsorship got here together with Dustin and Luis being good associates, and Dustin an investor in Fashionable Journey. It simply made loads of sense. Right here we’re. We’re nicely underway and beginning this very bold undertaking. We have now no illusions that it is going to occur in a single day, however we now have a protracted runway to get it performed, and we will work our asses off for the subsequent a number of years to make it occur.”
The Vargas-owned journey firm specialises in customising adventures for small teams and personal retreats throughout South America, Europe, Africa and the Asia-Pacific area. Sport will not be a spotlight with the itineraries on the present time, however that might change with a professional group racing all over the world.
However earlier than WorldTour races enter the dialog, Julich stated the goal was already excessive to start on the second tier of professional biking. A minimal of 20 riders can be wanted, per the UCI, for the primary 12 months of racing in 2026 as a ProTeam.
“Finally, racing on the ProTeam standing might be the toughest space you possibly can race in all of Europe, all of the world, actually. You are not WorldTour, you are not Continental, you possibly can form of do any form of race anyplace, and it is very easy to get misplaced. So we now have to study so much from years previous, and form of keep the course, I believe,” Julich added, noting that lots of the management group members got here by means of a number of tiers of groups and may return of their reminiscence banks to not repeat errors.
The braintrust of group administrators had been charged with deciding on a minimum of the primary 10-11 riders, and making a roster made up of a minimum of 50% US athletes. A multi-step interview course of was getting used earlier than any athletes acquired contract provides, as the administrators weren’t seeking to raid established rosters. As veteran riders not far faraway from their very own highway careers, they’ll have a look at the personalities of potential teammates and take into account the tradition when people come collectively as a group.
“We need to construct a tradition. It isn’t simply outcomes and watts, however in regards to the individual,” Wealthy Hincapie advised Cyclingnews.
The chemistry of the group begins with the shared duties of the three group administrators, who all have gained a number of US nationwide titles every throughout their careers. All three, of their mid-30s, have additionally raced 12 or extra years professionally, Magner and Rosskopf sharing two years on the Hincapie Sportswear Growth squad.
Magner at the moment competes with L39ION of Los Angeles whereas Rosskopf is at the moment a group director with Mission Echelon Racing. Howes remains to be lively as a privateer in off-road occasions.
“USA Biking is in type of a bizarre spot, by way of races and locations for riders to go. To date it is loads of enjoyable [going] by means of all of the US expertise, seeing who’s on the market and I believe there’s loads of diamonds within the tough. So it has been a enjoyable alternative, calling up a few of these children and saying, ‘hey, need a job?’,” Howes stated within the press briefing.
Rosskopf, who labored with a Continental-level group this 12 months that competed on the worldwide stage, added, “We’re not pulling them from ProTeams. We transfer ahead with speaking to riders, getting the primary batch of men lined up. It [is] an enormous tradition focus to set in movement going ahead, and construct on that yearly.”
George Hincapie added that Tougher would proceed to seek for outdoors funding because the group grows. Nonetheless, a very powerful process at hand was confirming contracts with riders, with a roster announcement anticipated within the coming weeks.
“Our mission proper now’s to rent riders and attempt to get into one of the best races that we will. Clearly, there are not any ensures, however organisers are very focused on our idea and the truth that we’re an American group, and I’ve gotten optimistic reactions.”
