From Evenepoel to Hirschi: What became of the past ten U23 and junior world champions?

Going all the way back to 2015 in Richmond, USA in the Under-23 road race, Kévin Ledanois claimed a close victory after hanging on with a solo effort ahead of Simone Consonni with Anthony Turgis completing the podium. Ledanois in 2025 is now 32 years old with him retiring at the end of the 2024 season. Ledanois never really pushed on in his career with no other notable victory after it.

In the men's junior race, a young Felix Gall won the race ahead of Clément Betouigt-Suire and Rasmus Lund Pedersen, with Gall of course in 2025 a now high level stage racer, whilst the other two podium contenders never really were able to flourish in their professional cycling careers. 

Onto the wind swept desert now of the Qatar UCI road race World Championships now in Doha, where the men's under-23 road race was won by the Norwegian Kristoffer Halvorsen, ahead of Pascal Ackermann and Jakub Mareczko. Halvorsen retired at the end of the 2023 season ending his career at Uno-X, and in his time after winning the under-23 road race, the Norwegian sprinter's best result was the Bredene Koksijde Classic and a stage in the Tour de l'Avenir.

Jakob Egholm of Denmark won the men's junior race with a 7 second advantage over the group behind, with Niklas Märkl and Reto Muller completing the podium. Jakob Egholm in the present day is riding for Danish continental outfit AIRTOX–Carl Ras, with no other victories to his name.

The men’s under-23 road race in Bergen was, put simply, stacked with many of today’s top riders, including Tadej Pogačar when he was still a continental rider, as well as Valentin Madouas, Neilson Powless, Jasper Philipsen, Pavel Sivakov and many others. On that day on the Norwegian coast, Benoît Cosnefroy succeeded in a duel with Lennard Kämna to take the rainbow jersey, with Cosnefroy now a multiple WorldTour race winner along with some classics. 

It was a Danish dream in Bergen for Julius Johansen who won the men's junior race with a 15 kilometre solo on his way to taking the victory. He of course, rides for Team UAE Emirates-XRG as a domestique in 2025.

2018 was an absolute brute of a parcours in and around Innsbruck with yet another talent filled start-list in the men's under-23 race, with riders including Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard and Jai Hindley. The victor on the day was Marc Hirschi who romped home on a 9.6 kilometre solo effort finishing 15 seconds ahead of the late Bjorg Lambrecht and Jaakko Hänninen. Marc Hirschi has gone on to win a number of big races including the San Sebastián classic.

In the men's junior race, the super-talent Remco Evenepoel would put on the first of many exhibitions in his career with a 19.7 kilometre solo as he won by over 1:20 ahead of Marius Mayrhofer. We don't think you have to be repeated all of Evenepoel's achievements so far in his career!

Moving even closer to the present day, Samuele Battistella won the men's under-23 road race in a reduced group sprint. The Italian powered to victory over Stefan Bissegger and Tom Pidcock, who nearly secured a famous victory close to his home city of Leeds. Battistella hasn't won anything noticeable in the time frame since the road race, with the Italian now riding in 2025 for EF Education EasyPost.

Quinn Simmons won the men's junior race with a strong solo effort 56 seconds ahead of Alessio Martinelli with Magnus Sheffield completing the podium. Simmons has gone on to repeat those efforts in his career with the American on Lidl-Trek coming close to a Grand Tour stage win.

The 2021 UCI road World Championships in Leuven, Belgium were a festival of cycling, with it being the first full World Championships after the COVID-19 pandemic. Filippo Baroncini won the men's under-23 road race with 5.5 kilometre effort, succeeding ahead of Biniam Girmay and Olav Kooij. Baroncini in 2025 is riding for Team UAE Emirates-XRG and is currently recovering from a horrific injury which he suffered during stage 3 of the Tour de Pologne.

There was a familiar theme in the men's junior road race where Per Strand Hagenes  also won with a solo effort, ahead of Romain Gregoire and Madis Mihkels. Strand Hagnes is a domestique in Visma | Lease a Bike's classics squad in the present day.

Heading all the way across the globe for the 2022 UCI road World Championships in Wollongong, Australia. Yevgeniy Fedorov of Kazakhstan won the men's under-23 race in a battle with Mathias Vacek, in what was a groundbreaking victory. Fedorov has been getting stronger and stronger in 2025 with the Kazakh picking up some solid results in the classics.

 Emil Herzog won the men's junior race beating fellow top talent Antonio Morgado in the Southern Hemisphere. It is the latter who has broken through in the professional ranks whereas Herzog is still waiting for the opportunity to break through.

Axel Laurence (France) romped to victory in the men's under-23 road race in Glasgow, with a 26.2-kilometre solo parade around the streets around Glasgow, incidentally it was ahead of the year prior's second place, Antonio Morgado who couldn't go one better than in 2022. Laurence has expertly transferred his skills to the British WorldTour outfit, Ineos, as at the end of the 2024 season he left Alpecin-Deceuninck for Ineos in 2025 and has been one of the bright performers for the refreshed and rejuvenated Grenadiers in 2025. 

In the junior race, Danish super-talent, Albert Withen Philipsen really lived up to expectations with the Dane also taking a superb solo on the streets of Glasgow. Philipsen is now a WorldTour rider in 2025, where he made his debut for Lidl-Trek back in January and won the white jersey in the WorldTour stage race, Santos Tour Down Under.

Now to the most recent World Championships before Kigali in 2025, the World Championships in Zurich, Switzerland were marred by a rainy week, with showers in the majority of the races. In the under-23 race, Niklas Behrens won the race ahead of Martin Svrček, with a mighty impressive climbing performance for a non-climber. After this race, Behrens was picked up by Visma | Lease a Bike where the German has endured some bad luck in the 2025 season.

Anglo-Italian Lorenzo Finn dominated the men's junior race winning by over 2 minutes over his nearest competitor Sebastian Grindley. Finn has been showing his talents in the junior races yet again in 2025 with some strong showings especially in the Giro Next Gen.