Despite boasting likely the best women's team in the world, and stars like Mathieu van der Poel, the Netherlands are one of the national federations that had to make serious cuts in the run-up to this World Championships, slashing their under-23 team and not sending any riders in the category to Kigali.
In the face of financial struggles and cuts from the Dutch Olympic Committee, the KNWU entirely stopped their under-23 road programme for 2025, and opted to focus their funds for the Kigali World Championships on the elites and juniors.
In January, it seemed as if juniors wouldn't be sent to Rwanda either, but in recent months that decision changed, and a delegation of three junior women and three junior men are in Kigali.
Though a worrying sign for talent development pathways, the Dutch decision to focus on the juniors in Rwanda paid off on Tuesday, as the nation won both of the junior time trials, with Megan Arens and Michiel Mouris.
For Mouris, being part of a double victory was extra special.
"It's an amazing day. We're here with all the juniors here, and it's amazing to both win here and actually have a perfect day," he said.
Like Arens earlier, Mouris, the winner of Paris-Roubaix Juniors this year, put his win down to a calm and collected plan, which helped the Dutch rider to not blow up over a course that has foiled many with its tough cobbled climb in the finale.
"Of course I didn't want to start too hard with the difficult circumstances, but I didn't know I was behind and didn't want to know the intermediate times, [I wanted to] just keep to a pacing plan and not stress," he said.
However, despite the junior success on Tuesday, there was the unfortunate background that there is no under-23 programme for the two new world champions to graduate into, and unless something changes soon, they may not be able to compete in Montréal in 2026.
"Of course it's not ideal, but it's also really expensive and the national federation had to make choices and it's understandable," Mouris said. "But hopefully for the next years they will figure it out and make it possible."
Part of the reason why the KNWU had to cut their under-23 programme is because of how the under-23 racing landscape has changed, Dutch talent development manager Martin Truijens said at the start of the year.
Under-23 racing is now dominated by WorldTour development teams more than national outfits, and while the junior Nations Cup is still a national affair, junior racing is going in a similar direction, with WorldTour teams even partnering with junior organisations.
Mouris himself is an example of that. He rides for the Grenke-Auto Eder team, a feeder team for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, and partly praised them for his success in the time trial.
"I think quite a lot of things have changed, now with my new team the support is just perfect, all the knowledge is there, they can help with everything and make sure everything is just perfect," he said of how he had improved since the Zürich World Championships.
However, Mouris was also clear that support from the national federation – which he won't get once he ages out of juniors at end of this year – has helped his winning preparation for the TT.
"I've never been so well prepared for a race," he said. "It started last month, first with the national team training camp, then directly to altitude to get used to the altitude here, and then also after in the last days at home I was in an altitude tent and just tried to be perfectly adapted to it, and a lot of hard training."
For now, it seems like the KNWU's gamble to back the juniors over the under-23s in Kigali has paid off, and they've come away with two rainbow jerseys, but given these two world champions will now lose access to a national programme of support, the signs for long-term talent development are less positive.
Subscribe to Cyclingnews to unlock unlimited access to our coverage of the first-ever UCI Road World Championships on African soil. Our team of journalists will bring you all the major storylines, in-depth analysis, and more directly from the action in Rwanda as the next rainbow jerseys are decided. Find out more.
