Probably. The teams exist because of the sponsors. The teams try to win certain events to gain or retain sponsors. I don’t know how much say individual riders have in picking their own race schedule, but I doubt they have much choice besides superstars like MVDP
Good lord…this course is pancake flat.
Can’t really see this being a WC-level course, but we’ll see how it plays out, I guess.
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Looks like you forgot to post the course. All I can see is the KM markers.
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Come on, I see that all the time out here… two freeway overpasses and a pedestrian bridge to narrow out the field, and then they must be riding along the coast 
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Is there any graph/diagram showing the single track etc?
MVdP posted a pic on the above linked Strava that was a single track dirt path. Depending how often and long those segments are that could be quite selective. (Though it looked pretty easy to navigate 
)
You’re missing my point … I’m not saying they can’t “ride” gravel, nor am I disputing that they are the best riders/bike handlers in the world.
However, have you seen how many crashes there are in pro road races? Especially when there is a bunch sprint? There are crashes in every race every time. So … my point was: with the aggression and close proximity these guys ride with … when the ground is moving under their wheels in a close group, how will they fare? Will they dial back the acceleration, elbowing, shouldering and aggression? Or will they crash with greater regularity?
These guys go down on the road ALL THE TIME in road races … if they race like that on gravel, they most certainly will have a problem. That was the point.
There are two about five minute long hills right after the start, they will make some selection. Then there’s two technical quite steep downhills where I can’t think a group to hold together very well. Some singletrack sections too will split the groups. I think it will be anyway more like a race of attrition even though the course is flat and there’s a quite a lot of tarmac too. Even though the course has gotten some criticism I found it to be quite ok planned for these conditions and road surfaces here.
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Totally got your point before. That said, i’m going to go out on a limb here. It’s a risky opinion to take, but my gut feeling says that the best bike riders/handlers in the world, who have competed and won at the highest levels of CX, MTB, and road, will be able to adjust the needs of the situation and fare just fine.
But, i also get your concern here. There’s still time to comment on MvDP recon ride on Strava and let him know that if he goes into a final sprint with a group of others too aggressively, especially with the ground moving under them - and of course, since he’s never raced Unbound or SBT and therefore may be unaware - that he should be mindful of potential problems.
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Gotcha. I would doubt they’d dial back any of the aggression. I think the crashing has a lot to do with the field sizes (at the pointy end) and the speeds, so based on that I might guess gravel would be less crash-y.
Is this the Gravel World Championships or the Bike Path World Championships?
Smoothest gravel I have ever seen….
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Yeah “bikepath next to the highway” isn’t really the vibe I expect for a gravel race regardless of surface quality. Some real nice tree tunnels though!
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Setting aside the course - this is the best TV coverage for a gravel race we’ve ever had. Not that it’s great, but at least they are able to show footage of the lead group for the entire time. Bar is very low here, but hopefully other promotors are taking notes on what it costs to actually have live coverage
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If you have to finish an off-road race inside of a city, that was a pretty spectacular and beautiful ending 
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Have you been to steamboat? Pretty smooth there
There is a funny video where they go back and forth between the owner of SBT, who is talking about all the challenges of their route, and Sofia, who is talking about how mellow it is.
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Yup…raced it this year. That course today makes SBT look technical.
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Yeah, I watched it yesterday…really good video.
Was hoping Sofia would be a factor today…same w/ Sturmy. Didn’t pan out for either of them unfortunately.
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Yeah, Sofia had an amazing start to the season. Stomach issues SUCK. You can’t just power through them. I hope she’s able to pull it all together next year.
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Was it stomach issues that effected her today?
She seemed to be a big factor early, but once she was back in that chase group I didn’t spot her.
Frei seemed well in her own head, or that is, PFP was in her head. That seemed way too far out to start sprinting. I’d have picked her to back herself over the last 20-50m instead of 200-250m.