I’m not sure the continental series makes any sense anyway TBH, the only reason the international racing makes sense is if the team takes the rider (or it’s a complete one-off).
In Europe we already have this series in IXS and the up and coming racers in that will without doubt be getting chances on full race teams, like Casper Hickman for example. The rest have a pretty defined way in from the IXS to Worlds really. However the odds of any of these up and coming riders flying out to Aus/NZ, to Brazil and then MSA, well that’s unlikely to be financially viable for them, the only way to do that is to piggyback onto a pro team. So that does to an extent remove their options. But i don’t think it’ll make or break a fast EU racer anyway.
It specifies National Federations will retain their quota… which is where the majority of up and coming racers (e.g Juniors) are going to get most of their chances to make it into WCs. As long as that stays longer term then i think it’ll be OK for them.
The people who are going to miss out most of course are the non-juniors who are not on one of the full elite (or whatever they’re now called) teams, but this could also affect established teams too, think of Frameworks for example, they’ve got Asa Vermette the current world champ, but will he get a ride now,… Mmmmmmaybe.
I don’t think the reality of all of these changes will be seen by most of the watching public, they’re only waiting for riders like your Bruni, Finn, Jackson etc… They’re not waiting for people like Preston Williams who will now be relegated to IXS/Something etc… But those guys work HARD for their chances in WCs… Sadly, that looks to be going away for them.
