The move from youth to senior competition has been shown to be one of the most difficult transitions in an athlete`s sporting career. It has been highlighted that during this transition athletes face two typical outcomes; (i) stagnation in performance, and therefore a move back to participation or dropout, or (ii) which occurs less-frequently, a continuation in their sport to senior level (Stambulova, 2009). Transitions in sport can be sub-divided by the element of predictability surrounding them. Normative transitions are predictable and anticipated (Schlosberg & Goodman, 2005) whereas non-normative transitions do not conform to a set schedule or predictable pattern (Wylleman & Lavelle, 2004). The majority of current and past transition research has been conducted on normative and non-normative end-of-career transitions (see examples: Grove, Lavallee & Gordon, 1997; Cavallerio, Wadey & Wagstaff, 2017; Guerrero & Martin, 2018), with less attention focusing on the normative within career transitions athletes face. Recent research within cycling has highlighted that managing the transition between junior (U-19) and under-23 (U-23) categories is extremely important when future performance is considered (Cesanelli et al. 2021; Gallo et al. 2022) and those future non-performers experience decreased success when transitioning to a higher age-category (Mostaert et al. 2021). To support this transition period, it is vital to understand these periods and what developmental structures are in place. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the retrospective experiences (via qualitative means) of U-23 cyclists who competed internationally to support them in their future developments during their transition points.
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