Choosing the Blur XL instead of Large is the best bike buying decision I have ever made.
I’m 186 and was previously riding a Scott Spark 2017 (previous generation) in size Large. On the Scott I was sitting on top of the bike, and now I’m sitting in the bike. It’s a great confident booster. I can go faster because I feel safer. The same people who said 29-ers are boring might say that «it’s more fun with a small agile bike that you can throw around», but racing is about going fast, and going fast is also fun.
I was using 90 mm stem (reach incl. stem 54,7 cm) on the Scott and I’m now using a 50 mm stem (reach incl. stem 54,5 cm) on the XL Blur.
Yes, the stack is a little high, but If you get a Syntace Flatforce or similar you should be able to get pretty low for fast gravel grinding.
I have upgraded to 120 mm front and 115 mm rear (with remote lockouts) because I do a lot of trail riding. If you mostly do (XCM and XCO-)racing a dropper post is way more important than the extra travel. Both SID Ultimate 100 mm and 120 mm are amazing forks.
Best thing abut the Blur is that you don’t have to spend more time in the workshop than on the trails. Threaded BB, UDH and simple easy maintenance is the reason I chose the Blur. I’m never buying Scott again …