Given cycling’s superstars and getting younger and younger and first year pros are capable of winning the biggest races on the WorldTour it’s always good to familiarise yourself with the talents coming through so you can tell your friends you saw that big win coming first.
We’ve had a look through the signings to pinpoint 11 of the most promising riders making their full-season debut on the WorldTour next year, including some very highly touted young stars.
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Senna Remijn (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
Former Dutch Junior Road Race Champion Senna Remijn is one to follow in both road and cyclocross, making the step up from Alpecin-Deceuninck’s development team to the WorldTour cohort.
He particularly impressed in the Classics this season with a third place at Paris-Roubaix Espoirs and a close second place behind Lotto’s Jarno Widar (more on him later) at the U23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Jakob Ormzel (Bahrain-Victorious)
Consistent top placings and bonus seconds on stages at the Giro d’Italia Next Gen earned Jakob Ormzel the overall title this season, bunnyhopping Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe Rookie’s Luke Tuckwell with his second place on the final stage to win by just 12 seconds. The 19-year-old became the Slovenian Road Race National Champion in June and takes the step up from Bahrain Victorious’s development team.
Antoine L’Hote (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale)
Another to join the WorldTour from the development pool is Frenchman Antoine L’Hote. Perhaps his most impressive day on the bike this season came rubbing shoulders with big name pros at the Tour of Denmark. He rode to third place on Stage 4 behind winner Mads Pedersen and would go on to finish on the podium of the U23 Il Lombardia too.
Mattia Agostinacchio (EF Education-EasyPost)
Mattia Agostinacchio is another whose talents stretch across disciplines. The 18-year-old will join EF Education-EasyPost in 2026 having recently won the European title in cyclocross, becoming the first Italian to do so in the men’s U23 field, adding this to his junior world title.
He’s also apparently embarking on a ‘soon-to-be-announced’ cyclocross project.
Maxime Decomble (Groupama-FDJ United)
Maxime Decomble is another that has ridden a fair few races competing against WorldTour riders, finishing fifth behind the likes of Kévin Vauquelin and Dylen Teuns in the time-trial at Etoile de Bessèges and podiuming on a stage at O Gran Camiño while racing to 12th overall.
The Frenchman spent almost the entirety of the Tour de l’Avenir in the lead before ending up fifth overall after the final time-trial, and he has strong potential in one-day races too, including fourth at the U23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège and winning a bronze medal in the U23 time-trial at the World Championships, finishing fourth in the U23 time-trial at the European Championships and second in the road race.
Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek)
Men’s U23 World ITT Champion Jakob Söderqvist has excelled this season. He came second alongside his winning teammate at Paris-Roubaix Espoirs before doubling up in the gravel race and time-trial at the Sweden National Championships and later winning against the clock at the Tour of Denmark too.
The 22-year-old is being promoted from Lidl-Trek Future Racing to the WorldTour outfit after a year that the team hoped would ease his transition and ended up bringing seven victories in the process.
Jarno Widar to Lotto-Intermarché
Jarno Widar looks as though he will be one of the riders in the newly-merged Lotto and Intermarché-Wanty squad and it’s easy to see why. The 19-year-old has spent the year racking up victories aplenty, including at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, a stage at the Giro Next Gen and the overall at the Ronde de l’Isard and Valle d’Aosta-Mont Blanc.
He came second at the Tour de l’Avenir prior to a dramatic end to the season that culminated in a European Championship gold medal in the U23 road race. Widar has been hyped up as the next big thing for a numbers of years now so it will be very interesting to finally watch him at the top level.
Callum Thornley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
Maximilian Fries
Callum Thornley stormed to a historic victory at Il Lombardia when he defeated the field in a sprint for Britain’s first win in the U23 race, which was also his last for the rookie squad. His season spent mostly honing his prowess in stage races, making the top ten at the Giro Next Gen and winning the time-trial at the Sibiu Cycling Tour.
Thornley also won the race against the clock in the U23 field at the British National Championships and his talent will be incredibly valuable among Red Bull’s mass of leaders.
Paula Ostiz to Movistar
In the beginning half of the season, Paula Ostiz was on such a rampage that she won almost every race she entered. It didn’t matter whether it was a stage race like the Tour du Gévaudan Occitanie or one-day slogs like the junior Tour of Flanders and National Championships road race. Such power brought the attention of many including Movistar, with whom she signed for as a stagiaire in August.
One of the most exciting Spanish talents, Ostiz won the World Championships junior road race and came second in the TT before sweeping both the time-trial and road race at the European Championships.
Megan Arens (Picnic-PostNL)
Megan Arens beat Ostiz in the World Championship junior time-trial by 35 seconds to finish a fantastic season that also included wins at Trofeo Binda Juniors, Chrono des Nations and the Dutch National Championships junior TT. She shone in the Classics, adding to that Binda win with second places at both Gent-Wevelgem Juniors and the Tour of Flanders juniors and will join Grouwels-Watersley R&D teammate Daniela Hezinova at Picnic-PostNL.