Six months ago, Mark Stewart was ready to give up his career as a pro road cyclist and join a lower level Japanese team. He was done with the “penny pinching” of ProTeams, frustrated by a lack of professionalism and the uncertainty of sponsors in cycling’s second tier. “I sort of thought, ‘If this is being pro, count me out’,” he says. Besides, Japan seemed fun – he won a race there last June.
“I basically had a contract and just needed to sign it from the Japanese team,” Stewart says. “And then Riley Pickrell, a training mate, said to me last August, ‘Hey, I think Modern Adventure are essentially looking for you. They’ve got two more spots to fill, and they’re looking for an English-speaking, experienced rider who’s good for the culture and will take minimum wage’,” he adds with a laugh. “Literally, within a week, I had signed.”
An Olympian and double World Championships silver medallist on the track, Stewart will ride for the next two years as part of the new US ProTeam founded by former Tour de France pro George Hincapie. The 30-year-old Scot will make his debut for the team this Tuesday at the AlUla Tour in Saudi Arabia. Already, he says, the Modern Adventure Pro Cycling set-up feels like a “breath of fresh air”.
“It’s under-promising and over-delivering,” Stewart says. “On the phone calls, we chatted mainly about culture and shared values, to be honest, and they’re really heavy on these first two years creating that. They’re not talking about results.
“I think it’s their understanding that if they set the right standard and the right culture, the results will be a byproduct. And I hope they’re right, because it’s really fun to be part of it. They’re so professional, they’re so nice, they really care about your wellbeing, and right now, there’s no apparent ego.”
As he speaks to Cycling Weekly, Stewart has just come out of a values workshop on a team camp in Girona, Spain. When he first joined the squad last year, he was impressed by the owners’ honesty about their past; founder Hincapie and head of performance Bobby Julich both admitted to doping during their careers.
“With George and Bobby, they stood up on that first team camp and acknowledged their past,” Stewart says. “This was just to the riders, and said, ‘Hey, listen, we are not hiding from it. We acknowledge what we did, we’re not hiding from it, we’re here to talk, and we will answer any questions you guys have got.’
“I think that won a lot of the riders’ respect and set the tone for this team going forward of honest and integrity, which has been really cool.”
Hincapie, likewise, recently told Cycling Weekly he has “nothing to hide” about his past.
(Image credit: Modern Adventure Pro Cycling)
This season marks Stewart’s fifth as a pro cyclist. He previously rode for New Zealand team Bolton Equities Black Spoke, which collapsed in 2023, and spent the last two years at Solution Tech-Vini Fantini – “I wasn’t really enjoying being pro, if you will, with the Italians,” he says. He is also a member of the GB track squad, a programme he was initially dropped from in 2020, but rejoined in 2024 and competed at the Paris Olympics.
“I think because I was excited to go to this Japanese team, and because I’ve been through the ringer – I lost my job in 2020 with British Cycling and just worked normal jobs [ed. Stewart worked as a dog walker and lifeguard] – it’s not something that scares me: I don’t live in fear of where the next contract will come from,” he says.
“You can ride your bike until you die. It doesn’t matter if you get paid for it or not. My grandad rode his bike until he was 97, and he seemed pretty happy.”
Stewart’s role at Modern Adventure will come as part of the team’s lead-out train. He has asked specifically not to be given his own opportunities to try and win this season, preferring instead to be the “right-hand man” to his team-mates.
“I’ve spent the last four years counting calories and trying to climb and do GC results, with definitely some successes, but it’s not naturally where I find my strengths,” he says.
“It’s sort of in contrast to being a track rider, isn’t it? Track’s high power production and speed, and then I leave the track and I’m back to counting calories and climbing mountains. I’m really excited about just focusing on power production and speed from a physical aspect, and being a bit stronger.”
Immediately after this week’s AlUla Tour, Stewart will travel to Konya, Turkey to compete at the European Track Championships.
He plans to combine road and track towards the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, where he hopes to represent GB again, by which time he’ll be almost 33. “From there, I think I’d start to consider retirement.”
Maybe then, Stewart adds, he might finally make it out to Japan. “[The Japanese team] were absolutely okay with [me signing for Modern Adventure]. I was honest with them the whole time,” he says. “I’ll go and finish my career there. Japan is amazing.”
