Thats some pretty mellow gravel they’re racing….again. Surely europe has some more challenging gravel somewhere, no?
Respectfully I don’t understand these sentiments. If you want some chunk go mountain biking. Same thing with mountain biking… people are always complaining the courses are too easy (i.e. Olympics). Everything doesn’t need to be turned into a spartan race (which in my opinion is just gimmicky). Sometimes courses benefit the technical rider, sometimes the tactical rider and fitness.
What is it you’re looking for? Some Kansas mud so you can watch them hike 3 miles?
One pro who was interviewed is using 32 or 36mm slicks thinking the course was pretty tame too.
If you can race/win on sub 40mm tires, then it’s a road race, not gravel.
As it pertains to this years course, I don’t think it is a question of wanting chunk, I think it is a case of wanting……wait for it……gravel.
As I said in the Pro Cycling thread, this course is a road course with some dirt thrown in. It is much more akin to a gravel stage in a grand tour than it is to an actual gravel race.
I don’t think it is too much to ask for a gravel race to have the gravel sections be substantially longer than the road sections. There was no gravel section longer than ~5’.
“If you need to run 50mm then it’s a mountain bike race, not gravel”
@Cory.Rood @Power13 I hear ya, and agree. I’m just of the mindset of you just race, whatever the course.
Some dirt sections I saw looked pretty sweet. It indeed would’ve been nice to have more of that!
I’d agree with that too.
Personally, I think a lot of the problem was the coverage, I’ve been looking for to this, especially after last years none coverage of the woman’s race, I particularity wanted to see how Maddy Nutt got on (UK and been following her youtube channel)
I watched on discovery (no slant on them, they were fed the pictures) and all we got was a the backs of the top 6 riders, they had a good race, but we didn’t see them go through sections, hardly saw their faces, didn’t get a idea of the gaps
Europe has a different experience to the US on gravel, but a race is a race at the end of the day, ans I didn’t get involved with that in any way, right mens race … shall I bother
Unbound gravel is regularly won on 38s
Not that popular race, no? (only around 15-20 riders participating) Like 12 Belgians, 3-4 Netherlands, 2 Slovenia, 1 Dane, 1 Brit… Better broadcast this one, shows better the quality of route and surface. It’s not just champagne gravel and tarmac, now as it’s superdry it’s easy, but I think this route could have been quite bad if raining period during race.
Watching it right now. If I didn’t know it was the UCI Gavel WC, I’d just think it was another one day classic. Looks like quite a cool race none the less. The leaders are riding though the cobbled climb through town and through the center square.
It’s gravel as we know it in N.A., but it looks quite spectator friendly and to be an exciting race. Tons of people out there through the start finish.
That MVDP rooster tail attack
The benchmark for the course should be Strade Bianchi. That is: if the “gravel” sections aren’t more “graveling” than the strade sections of Strade Bianchi, then it doesn’t qualify as a gravel race.
Did anyone see any actual Gravel?
Look at Paris - Tours and you’d think that was the gravel WC
Really underwhelming races and coverage overall. The male English language commentator was awful and acted like he had never seen a bike race before. Lots of self-promotion as well. Every 15 minutes the coverage mentioned how to sign up for the UCI gravel series races and qualify for the next WC in Nice.
Lots being made of Vos’ tire system and van der Poel using an actual gravel bike but both felt like a marketing gimmick. van der Poel could have easily won on 32mm slicks and Vos won with a heads-up sprint on tarmac after racing on her S5.
If this was a legitimate 250km race where the optimal setup was clearly NOT a road bike with slicks, then it might be more interesting. Until then, it just feels like a marketing gimmick for amateur racing than a real pro competition.
I find it hilarious that everybody thinks their local gravel roads are the only real gravel.
It’s not about the type of gravel, its the overall design of the race. If the forested and unpaved parts of the race were >75% of the course distance then it would make more sense. The way it was set up was basically as a cobbled classic with dirt sectors in place of cobbled sectors. Not what I would consider a “gravel” or off-road style race.
The “problem”, if you call it that, is that the race is within the city limits. That’s going to limit how much “gravel” they can find. But on the plus side, there were loads of spectators along the course.
100% agree. Commentator is useless. As bad as Ric McLaughlin who commentates on the cross country MTB.