Nicolas Portal, director of Team Ineos, believes that young riders are making an impact because of the wealth of data at their disposal, denying them the "trial and error" process of adapting to the pros.

Portal was riding with Ineos last July when Egan Bernal became the youngest winner of the Tour de France in over 100 years, and he watched 21-year-old Tadei Pogachar take his second stage win at last week's Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana Afterwards, he was interviewed by Cycling News.

The Slovenian, who won three stages and finished third overall in his first year at the Vuelta a España, started his second year with a flourish as Portal "won" the Valenciana title.

"You can tell by his shape, his back, and the way he moves on the bike that he's not running at full throttle," said Porthal.

"It was the same at the Vuelta, but when he was going, he was doing his thing, like 'everybody's going.' Certainly, this kid is incredibly strong, and he looks like a good guy too."

Pogachar and Bernal are among the young riders, like Lemko Evenpoel, who have found success in their early years as professionals and have dispelled the notion that the early 20s are a kind of apprenticeship. The two riders are likely to form a rivalry over the next decade or so.

"I'm not going to compare Egan with Pogachar. The only thing I can say is, 'Damn, those guys are flying, and they're kids.'"

For Portal, the rise of the "kids" is partly explained by their natural talent - "built into their DNA" - but also by the increasingly professionalized junior level of the sport and the wealth of data and science at their disposal.

"Nowadays, when kids do 360 rotations on freestyle skis, if you look on Youtube, you see 10 year olds doing these jumps. It's because we have data that explains their body, their balance, how they train - how they train with a box like this that lands in a bubble," he said.

"In cycling, it's the same thing as when these athletes were cadets and juniors. They now have a power meter and can better understand what they are doing and how they can project themselves. When there was no such thing, they had to gain experience on their own.

"You had to say, 'Yes, this should work,' and you had to try it, but there was no data before the trial. Now it's a little easier because everything is recorded and mapped.

"In reality, they are just better. Now there are more "processes" and more things to figure out.

"It's crazy to look at kids now and think how they are playing with all the media.