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I totally agree with you. The question should be how the industry ended up where it is rn. The prices were on a level where they have never been before during covid pandemic. They tried to milk the cow as long as possible, but they went more than a little bit overbord while doing so. No they are sitting on bikes that they cannot sell because they already flooded the market and it's fed now. In addition to that there is also the poor race coverage that might have negatively affected the market as well. From my point of view...

UCI had next to nothing to do with this year's world cups. Why is this so hard for people to grasp

possibly unpopular opinion - what if riders used the same style/design kit for the duration of the season?

Don't love the idea of permanent numbers. The idea of keeping numbers consistent through each season seems more reasonable. It would also help if teams weren't switching kits quite so often. Between practice kits, race kits, and special-edition kits that are sometimes only used for one weekend, I often can't easily tell what team (let alone which racer) I'm looking at unless there's a clear view of the bike, or it's somebody with a RedBull/Monster/etc. helmet (RIP Greg's Clif Bar helmets...) Seems like keeping consistent jerseys/kits throughout the season would make it easier to identify riders than having to re-learn...