Originally Posted by
Doge
This topic/thread is about [USA] Cat 1 and [USA] pro. While not an actual racer, I know a lot about that. My posts were simply about speed. Your experience racing and my experience as a fan, are different, but I expect I have the hours to justify my views. Because you don't experience these kinds of riders does not mean they don't exist in the 10s or near hundreds. One only needs to look at stats from races and Strava to know the youth go faster, which is what I said. I did not say they could win WT races, just that they were faster. "Top juniors" - LUX, Hot Tubes, Byrds, formers Specalized, Swift... More than a handful, just go faster.
Speed alone means nothing much unless you are comparing like for like terrain and other conditions such as wind, temperature, altitude, race tactics - you can't really judge by stats unless the riders themselves that you want to compare are in the same event. Indoor track cycling might be the only exception really where the conditions are similar, but even then, riders race to the conditions and what they need to do on the day to win.
Even more so with different types of events let alone racing in different regions, countries. Racing in a crit vs a 150km 2500m climbing Gran Fondo, for me, as an example, is vastly different. My approach, tactics, max speed, average speed etc are not the same based upon a whole range of factors. The same will be true of different races over different routes even if the same type of race.
You mentioned Strava. I am 51 years old and have nearly 100 KOM's from the last 12 months. Makes me look good beating much younger guys, especially given the Pro and Cat 1 talent here and it is a thrill to beat Thomas de Ghent's hill segment etc from one of his training days. Does that make me faster than the youth? On Sunday I'll be riding with cyclists with far fewer or no Strava KOM's who will drop me on hills and be hard as hell to stay with - if I get my tactics just right, I might be able to win a sprint or two. Strava means nothing. KOM's are nice to target for training but not comparable to actual racing where everyone is facing the same conditions, same competition. Speed on Strava - mostly wind-assisted, mostly won due to hitting a segment on a better day. The same applies to race conditions. No two are alike.
In terms of lost talent, every country experiences this - cycling is an expensive sport to get into due to the cost of equipment and fewer resources compared to other sports such as soccer etc plus the fact that unless you are in the top 10% of Pro's, you won't earn very much. Huge amounts of untapped cycling talent in Africa, South America and much of Europe from kids being lured into more lucrative sports or just not being able to afford to do cycle racing.