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Scouts from pro teams are scouring results in younger and younger age categories, searching for emerging talent. If a promising youngster shows high potential, a battle breaks out among various teams to sign the young prodigy. Cycling teams, which were once institutions in their own right, have now transformed into fully-fledged academies. WorldTour teams have junior programs, development squads, continental teams, and clubs as satellite formations. Increasingly, teams are building entire structures in which riders can enter as soon as they enter the junior ranks and progress through the system, by age category, until they are ready for a pro contract, provided they prove good enough. In the race to secure the biggest talents, the major teams can't afford to miss the boat. Better to have 15 promising riders within the team’s structure, knowing only two might eventually be good enough for the flagship squad, than to miss out on them entirely.

Riders like Remco Evenepoel and Cian Uijtdebroeks, and emerging talents such as Jarno Widar, Joshua Tarling, and Jørgen Nordhagen suggest that the gap between the higher placed juniors and the pros seems to have narrowed, if not vanished. More and more riders, like them, are skipping the U23 category altogether.

What does this look like when we examine the top talents from the NEW junior rankings on ProCyclingStats? Let's break it down. Which riders from the top of the rankings are already connected to, or have future contracts with, pro teams? Well, it turns out there are quite a few.

Twenty-five of the top 30 juniors in the new PCS Junior Ranking are already part of a professional team’s structure. That’s quite something. It’s a lot.

To get an even clearer picture, we need to make two important notes. Of course, better juniors tend to secure spots in better teams, and better teams have access to bigger races where more points can be earned, but even so, the trend is remarkable. Additionally, not all junior teams or programs are equally tied to the corresponding pro team. For example, Crabbé-DSTNY is an ordinary club with a junior team that has a partnership with Lotto-DSTNY. Meanwhile, EF Education-ONTO is a junior program backed by EF Education - Easypost, though it operates completely independently from the WorldTour squad.

Now, let’s take a closer look at how many and which riders have already signed contracts with a UCI Continental Team, linked to a professional squad, or directly with the pro team itself. These teams are directly connected to the professional structure, and the contracts are future deals, since juniors are not permitted to race for a CT, PT, or WT team.

In addition to the race to sign the best junior riders early, the UCI rule allowing riders from development teams to compete for the flagship WorldTour team in professional races also plays a significant role in the growing number of young riders joining development squads. This rule provides a clear pathway for young talent to gain experience in top-level races while still being part of the development structure.

Top teams also tend to focus more and more on promising youngsters, shown by the number of riders under twenty years of age on WorldTour teams:

Oh, and if you're a scout or just curious to see which riders are tied to a pro contract or to a subteam of a flagship pro team, and, more importantly, who are still 'available', we've got you sorted. Check it out here.