How did a wildcard American team led by George Hincapie perform at Paris-Roubaix?

Unibet Rose Rockets were not the only exciting wildcard team on the start line at Paris-Roubaix 2026. With a mission to become ‘the future of American cycling', a team of young North American riders debuted at the race, led by one George Hincapie, a man who knows a lot about Paris-Roubaix. Recounting his team's day on THE MOVE podcast with Johan Bruyneel and Spencer Matthews, Hincapie was clearly over the moon with how his team performed.

Runner-up in 2005, 7-time top 10 finisher, and current record holder for the most Roubaix finishes (17), George Hincapie returned to northern France as team manager, hoping that some of his success would rub off on his young team of hopefuls.

"We had 5 out of 7 guys finish, which is a huge deal for us," said the former Lance Armstrong domestique. “We proved that we deserved the invitation. We were really aggressive at the start trying to make the breakaway, unfortunately it didn’t happen.

We lost Riley Pickrell early only due to a crash and then a few mechanicals after that, but all of our other guys — Cole Kessler, Mark Steward, Robin Carpenter, they finished in a decent group. There were all kinds of emotions."

"I mean, the young guys were just like ‘I love this, I want to come back’, which made me really happy to hear because in a lot of ways Paris-Roubaix can define their career for the rest of their lives."

"They finish today’s race and they want to come back and they want to get better, Particularly for the young guys, it was great to see. Of course, they were completely exhausted and in shock about how hard that race actually is, but that’s not unexpected at all.

"We had Ben Oliver up there and fighting for top 30 until the very and he did a great race. I have to remind everybody that it’s Ben Oliver’s 5th race ever in Europe. He was racing criterium’s last year. To be up there battling it out for a top 30 at Paris-Roubaix was super fun to watch. I’m really proud of the guys," beamed Hincapie.

"We had 30 people on the side of the road, and that’s on the smaller side compared to the big teams. From people handing out water bottles to people having wheels, to people know what to do with wheels! So much planning that goes into this race, that you know well Johan, but now I’m learning it. It’s unlike any other race on the calendar."

It was a doubly special day for the Hincapie family as 17-year-old Enzo Hincapie finished 6th in the juniors race. “He was a little disappointed, he was fighting for the win there right until the very end," Hincapie senior said on the podcast.

"He had to make a huge effort to catch the breakaway, ended up getting 6th, so no podium, but I reminded him last year he ran onto the velodrome in like 80th place. Fast forward one year, fighting for the podium ending up 6th place, I was super happy to see it. He’s happy, he’s motivated, it was a great day for him."