I’m not super impressed with road bike progress. E shifting is a game changer. Aside from that, it’s not a huge deal. Remember that 20 years ago Shimano had 9 speeds and Campy had 10. American Classic had super light carbon or magnesium wheels. Frames were available in aluminum, carbon, ti, scandium, and magnesium. This isn’t the dark ages. New super bikes are amazing but they aren’t fundamentally changing the sport.
The huge leaps IMO are in mountain bikes.
66 degree head angles, true refinement of suspension, dropper posts, 29ers, 27.5, mullets, tubeless, wider tires, and wide range 1x, clutched derailleurs. All combined this fundamentally changed mountain biking.
Mountain bike progress trickled into road and especially gravel with disc brakes, slacker geometry, clutches, and 1x. Basically it created all road bikes that aren’t CX racers.