I’d say way off - Van Rysel bikes from the previous generation were already ultra competent, mid-level road bikes, but sold for crazy low prices pre-COVID.
The new ones are equal to anything else, aside from brand snobbery, and have more race winning pedigree from one ultra successful year in the pro peloton than half of the incumbent sponsor brands.
Is gravel world’s televised?
SBS has it, so I assume Flo in the states
Yes, it will be on FLO in the US and Eurosport / Discovery in the EU.
While the course looks like it would be insanely fun to ride, calling it a World Championship course for gravel is a bit much.
Lots of road, some cobbles and very short stretches of gravel. Cameron Mason says they are never on any gravel for more than 5 minutes. He rode Vittoria Terreno Dry tires in a 37 (measured 39) and it seems most of the Alpecin team rode similar tires.
A friend of mine will race and I saw some photos. A few narrow spots, which I don’t know if beginning or end, but being well-positioned will sure be important.
Some additional media from last Sunday. If the post is too much, just redact it (or I can shorten it). Sorry, I didn’t have time to go through the photos till now (@AlphaDogCycling).
We started watching the race around Burkliplatz where there are mutiple curves, so the riders had to slow down a bit. This was with 107km to go. Videos:
Lead group: Dropbox
Followers: Dropbox
Peloton: Dropbox
Same place, one round later, 80km to go.
Lead group, Pogacar was already in it: Dropbox
Meanwhile Pogacar started attacking again.
We then went to the beginning of the hill / climbing part, thinking they may be slower there. The street is around 5%, so not slow at all, they sprinted it up. It felt a bit like Tour de France, people screaming and jumping in front of the riders.
There it was with 51km to go.
Pogacar and Pavel leading out: Dropbox
Two minutes later the followers: Dropbox
Towards the end everyone tried to catch a glimpse of the finish line. Here we are around 1-2km to go, Pogacar and then O’Connor: Dropbox
I’m in a cycling group where someone managed (or had no inhibitions) to go with the media: Dropbox
After the race people flocked to the stars. Lots of things going on: Interviews, people getting autographs, taking selfies, snagging a bottle, families welcoming the athletes, bikes and wheels everywhere. The pictures are a bit random, I tried to select a bit, I have more photos of cool bikes.
Us riding through the finish line an hour or so after the race.
Bikes lying around during the race (near finish line).
Fun fact: The buses come with a washing machine and coffee machine.
Impressive mention: Since it was also the paracycling championship, in one of the side events there was a para-performer, with a wheelchair, doing jumps and other tricks. Very impressive.
Also during the last two weeks you could see a lot of pros riding around in the countryside. Twice I was chatted up (once it was about which way is nicer to go back to Zurich). Especially the younger ones seem quite happy to talk to people (I heard that from several people). Here a photo after a short chat with two women (probably U23):
I have heard of people riding the city course for fun. It wasn’t allowed though: There were officials/police taking people from the course, but they had difficulties distinguishing pros from amateurs.
Women’s Gravel Worlds is heating up….the GOAT ( Vos) is off the front with Kopecky and Lorena Wiebbes is chasing about ~30” behind. Another larger chase is about ~20” behind them.
Would love to see Vos pull this off!!
Update: with 45km to go, Wiebbes is caught by the chase group, which also contains Pieterse. The Dutch women are well positioned….in the chase group of 5, they have no obligation to chase, leaving only 3 others to work. Vos and Kopecky continue to work well together.
But calling this a gravel race is definitely a stretch….it is a road race with some brief sections of gravel in it. Much closer to a gravel stage in a GT or the current format of Paris-Tours vs. a gravel race.
This is coming down to Vos and Kopecky……chase group now 3+ minutes back.
Kopecky keeps stretching her back when she is on Vos’ wheel….we’ll see if that is an indicator of fatigue.
20km to go.
Thank you thank you 
From what I’m seeing - last ~11km - GT tour stages qualify as more of a gravel race than this. More evidence the UCI needs to get out of gravel
Vos adds yet another rainbow jersey to her wardrobe.
Not disagreeing, lots of pavement and hard pack dirt, but the opening footage that briefly summarized what happened before live coverage began did include some legitimately chunky sections, so there were some selection points based on technical skill
Also…I was a little confused by Vos’s post race interview. It made it seem that there were four in her group with kopecky (Paladin and weibes I think) who were distanced before coverage started
Didn’t match the commentators but think that’s what I heard her say
Regardless, glad to see her win, and the Dutch properly execute a numeric advantage for a change
I tuned in with 55km to go and BOS was already away with Kopecky so didn’t see any of the earlier stuff or how they got away.
I may go back and watch the replay at some point.
There’s no live coverage prior to 55km to go AFAIK. There was the normal montage of sign on footage and then short clips of ‘exciting’ race moments
Didn’t include how they got away or how any group was formed. Might be available later when locally recorded footage is available
Guess I tuned in at the right moment then!! 
Looks like there is free coverage for the race on the UCI website for those who don’t have FLO or Eurosport.
Pidcock left off the ineos team for tomorrow. Guess the rumors of him leaving hold more water now, but geez does it look like an old school petty move
Now the question: does any Ineos rider even get mentioned during the race? My bet is barring a crash, no. Ineos will ride a completely invisible race, and be a complete non-factor
Seems entirely possible Pog jumps with 40+k to go and EVERYONE else rides an anonymous race.
I’m assuming Pog will jump. I mean that for the entire length of the race, not just the final 40 - 60km (after Pog goes solo), an Ineos rider won’t be mentioned. They’ve turned into such a waste
