Junior World Championships prove That INEOS, UAE, and Visma | Lease a Bike have gold in their hands

If you look at the results of the Junior World Championships for junior men over the past few years, you’ll see a trend in which the winners have increasingly gone on to play a leading role in the pro ranks a few years after their victory. Harry Hudson won last year, but due to a hard crash, Lidl-Trek isn’t yet sure exactly how the Brit will continue to develop.

In 2024, Lorenzo Finn claimed the world title. He won the Giro NextGen and the Tour de l'Avenir in 2026 and is a standout rider for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. Albert Withen Philipsen (2023, now with Lidl-Trek), Emil Herzog (2022, now with Red Bull), Per Strand Hagenes (2021, now Visma), and Quinn Simmons (2019, now Lidl-Trek) have all made the leap to the WorldTour. Although for some of them, the big breakthrough is yet to come.

In 2018, a certain Remco Evenepoel became junior champion, but if we look further back in time, the champions of the Junior World Championships by no means always took the expected step toward eternal fame in the pro ranks. Or it took them a little longer, following the old-school route, where being good enough for a long time didn’t always mean being old enough.

The top three finishers at Thursday’s World Championships have nothing to worry about in that regard. They all already have a future lined up with one of the major WorldTour cycling teams. It also shows that cycling teams need to get involved very early on in the talent pool of top riders. Even at ages 17 and 18, some of these rising stars already have big WorldTour contracts.

We’ve already written quite a bit about Benjamin Noval thanks to his world titles at the Junior Men’s Time Trial and Road World Championships, but he’s also just incredibly talented. With 22 junior victories in 2025 and two World Championship titles under his belt, his tally stands at 18 in 2026. Teams that would still like to sign him are far too late. Netcompany INEOS made its move back in June 2025.

"Benjamin has all the qualities of a rider who can develop into something truly special," the British team said at the time. They must have been thrilled watching the World Championships, where Noval towered above the rest. He launched perhaps as many as ten attacks and eventually took the lead on his own. An incredible climbing performance on an extremely grueling course.

And that’s exactly what Noval wants: to become a world-class stage racer. Like his role model Alberto Contador, and hopefully better than his father Benjamin, who was mainly used as a domestique for that same Contador and also for Lance Armstrong. Starting in 2027, Noval will ride for Netcompany INEOS, while still getting to showcase his cyclocross and MTB skills for a little while longer.

Until, perhaps very soon, he lets his legs do the talking among the elite men on the road. In a world where Paul Seixas finished fourth in his very first Grand Tour and Tour de France at the age of 19, Noval doesn’t even seem to need much patience. “I’d like to be good in all disciplines, just like Remco Evenepoel. But I’ll find my place,” he told Marca.

Patience is the key, but: “I want to achieve the very best.”

Simon Defrance’s performance may have been somewhat overshadowed by Noval’s exceptional effort on Friday, but the 18-year-old Frenchman showed his potential by winning a silver medal. He has ridden for Soudal Quick-Step’s junior team for the past two seasons, but he will not make the cut for that team’s WorldTour squad.

UAE Emirates-XRG is reported to have already secured the services of Defrance, who is said to have signed a five-year contract with Tadej Pogacar’s team. This marks yet another smart move by UAE, which in recent years—with Pogacar, Isaac del Toro, Pablo Torres, Adria Pericas, and most recently Luca Giaimi—has already demonstrated an eye for the stars of the future.

Defrance is such a true puncher—with a pair of excellent climbing legs, as he demonstrated at the World Championships. Soudal Quick-Step called him “one of the most impressive riders of the season” back in August, after he secured his eighth victory of the season. Those victories ranged from classics (Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne and Nokere Koerse) to general classification races and the French junior road title.

"It's been a fantastic season for me so far, but I still have a few goals, and I hope to compete for even more victories alongside this team," Defrance said in late August. With a silver medal, he cemented his status as perhaps Julian Alaphilippe’s successor in France. The fact that he was able to keep up with Noval for so long didn’t surprise him.

"These efforts on climbs that aren't too long suit me well," he said, analysing his profile as a rider after the World Championships. You can count on him for the Ardennes in the future.

The World Championship bronze medalist finished more than 2 minutes behind Noval, but given his history, Elias Wändel’s performance was actually almost just as impressive. The 18-year-old Swede had to withdraw from the World Championships time trial due to an injury and stood on the podium wearing a knee brace after the road race. It demonstrated his incredible potential for when he’s truly fit.

This season, Wändel will ride for JEGG-SKIL-DJR, which has a partnership with Visma | Lease a Bike. And that team will welcome him to its development squad in 2027. That’s not surprising, considering the Swede won this year’s Tour of Flanders for juniors and also made his mark in stage races. To stick with the comparisons: could this be the next Wout van Aert?

Visma | Lease a Bike will certainly hope so, having already struck gold with Per Strand Hagenes a few years ago following the 2021 Junior World Championships. A seventh-place finish at last year’s World Championships in Rwanda already showed that Wändel might be capable of even more and shouldn’t be written off just yet as a future classics specialist.

Wändel said he really showcased his bronze medal at Friday’s World Championships. “I did panic for a moment when the gap between the peloton and the lead riders kept getting bigger and bigger. Fortunately, several of us set a fast pace and were able to reel in most of the chasers. When the race was decided, I was too far back. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do at that point.”

"I had cramps in both legs, but I had a strong mindset. The one who can endure the pain the best is the one who wins a medal like that," Wändel concluded. The competition has been warned.

Bram van der Ploeg ( LinkedIn | email: [email protected])