Which is precisely why I don't like it. I'm happy if people enjoy it for what it is, but it's not what I care about in a world championship. Also:You can't force it to be because you can't see the future. Besides there's been pretty good fields if you go down in the results of the u23 races apart from the winners. 2021 had Girmay and Kooij on the podium. 2019 had Pidcock, Higuita, Eenkoorn and Bissegger all up there. 2018 had Hirschi winning, with Lambrecht, Mäder, Pogacar, Padun and Hayter in there. 2017 had Cosnefroy beating Kämna.
The biggest talent will skip this category. That is unless you wanna make it WT status, put it after the Mens Elites and allow ME riders to do the U23 race after for the memes.
- Kooij was still eligible for U23 until this year
- Girmay was still eligible for U23 until 2022
- Pidcock was still eligible for U23 until 2021
- Bissegger was still eligible for U23 until 2020
- Hirschi was still eligible for U23 until 2020
- Lambrecht still would have been eligible for U23 until 2019
- Mäder was still eligible for U23 until 2019
- Pogacar was still eligible for U23 until 2020
- Hayter was still eligible for U23 until 2020
- Kämna was still eligible for U23 until 2018