Will Caleb Ewan and Fernando Gaviria contest the U23 or elite World Championships next October in Qatar? The International Cycling Union (UCI) has opened the door for WorldTour riders who were born after 1994 to do the U23 Worlds.

The UCI have changed the rules and now all U23 riders of the 18 WorldTour teams will be able to fight for the U23 title which has not been the case in recent years. For example, overall winner Marc Soler (Movistar Team) and Sebastian Henao (Sky Team) did the Tour de l'Avenir but could not do the Worlds.

The exceptions are riders who were selected for the elite championships, like Tiesj Benoot and Miguel Angel Lopez who rode for their national teams in Richmond.

This change opens the door for Australian Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge) who was runner-up in Ponferrada in 2014 and fourth in Florence in 2013, or Colombian Gaviria (Eitxx-Quick Step). Ryan Mullen (Cannondale), Laurens De Plus (Etixx-Quick Step), Sam Oomen (Team Giant-Alpecin), Matvey Mamykin, Nils Politt and Jhonatan Restrepo (Team Katusha), Gianni Moscon and Alex Peters (Team Sky) and Erik Baska (Tinkoff) are potential participants in the U23 race.

The new rule provides a new challenge for the national federations which can now consider riders that have not been riding the Nations Cup races but been riding at the higher level with their pro teams.