Greenville's cycling community will gather at 200 Byrd Blvd. on Sept. 19 for An Evening for ONTO, a celebration and fundraiser billed as honoring a cycling world championship year for the city's homegrown junior development program. The event will screen a seven-minute film documenting ONTO's victory at the 2026 Vermont Overland gravel race and feature current riders alongside a leg of the Greenville cycling scene's biggest names.
The fundraiser, hosted by ONTO Junior Cycling, is designed to support young athletes working toward the highest levels of the sport, according to Greenville Journal. Serving as master of ceremonies is Christian Vande Velde, a former Tour de France rider who finished fourth overall in the 2008 race and now works as NBC's Tour de France announcer. Vande Velde was part of NBCUniversal's coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics, which won a Sports Emmy, and has broadcast for NBC Sports since 2014. He retired from professional racing in 2013 and currently resides in Greenville.
ONTO was founded in Greenville in 2014 and operates as a non-profit under its 501(c)(3) parent organization, Pedalgogy, according to EF Pro Cycling. The program's name is shorthand for “ontogeny,” a biological term for an organism's development over its lifespan. ONTO identifies and develops North America's most promising young cyclists, aiming to prepare riders for professional careers while also supporting character development through sport and teamwork.
A Director Who Built the Program From Scratch
Team Director Rusty Miller bought his first road bike as a teenager in Greenville and discovered a local racing community that helped shape his own path in the sport, per the Greenville Journal's reporting. Miller graduated from Furman University in 1998, raced professionally for Zaxby's Pro Cycling in 2000, and later coached Duke University to collegiate national time trial titles in 2012 and 2013, according to Cycling Weekly — credentials he brought back to Greenville when he returned to direct ONTO.
Miller has described the enormous logistical difficulty of putting American teenagers into European racing, noting that European teams often have vehicles, mechanics, housing and other support waiting for them when they arrive. ONTO, by contrast, has to build that equipment and infrastructure itself for each competition trip. “I almost have to build each trip from scratch,” Miller said, according to the Greenville Journal, and the Sept. 19 fundraiser is intended to help support those travel and competition expenses.
An EF Education Partnership and a Decade of Results
WorldTour team EF Education-EasyPost designated ONTO as its official North American junior development pipeline for riders ages 15 to 18 in January 2023, according to Cyclingnews. EF Education became ONTO's title sponsor four years before the Greenville Journal's report and now provides approximately one-third of ONTO's operating budget, per the outlet.
The results have been substantial. During its first decade through 2023, ONTO produced five national championship victories, nine U.S. National Team appointments, eight professional contracts and seven World Championship appearances, according to EF Education First's Onto Junior Cycling program. At the 2023 USA Cycling Junior National Championships, ONTO riders swept the field, with Enzo Hincapie winning the road race, Gray Barnett taking the time trial and Peyton Burckel claiming the criterium — a sweep team management attributed to tactical execution rather than individual riding, per EF Pro Cycling.
The roster carries a strong cycling pedigree. Enzo Hincapie, 15, is the son of former Tour de France rider George Hincapie, and 16-year-old Ashlin Barry is the son of former pro cyclists Dede and Michael Barry, according to Cyclingnews. George Hincapie chose Greenville as his home, the outlet notes. Hincapie also founded Modern Adventure Pro Cycling, a team whose rider Ezra Caudell was recently reported by Hoodline to have woken from ICU care after a crash in Philadelphia.
A City Built Around Two Wheels
The Vermont Overland race being celebrated at the fundraiser is considered one of the most prestigious junior cycling events in America, per the Greenville Journal. The course itself spans 59 miles with nearly 7,000 feet of climbing over unmaintained Class 4 dirt roads, according to Cyclingnews. Those Class 4 roads are town-designated, unmaintained public rights-of-way featuring rugged rock beds and dirt tracks, the outlet notes.
Greenville's connection to cycling runs deeper than any single program. Local terrain, including Paris Mountain and the Swamp Rabbit Trail, is part of the area's cycling landscape. The region's planned Saluda Grade Trail is also part of the area's cycling infrastructure.
Miller has said cycling teaches discipline, endurance, sacrifice and how to work for something larger than oneself. Some ONTO riders may eventually race in Europe, while others may pursue college, military service or different careers, according to the Greenville Journal's reporting. Either way, Miller said, the goal is to build better humans through sport and teamwork — a mission that, for Greenville, is now inseparable from the city's own identity as one of the country's great cycling towns.
