It could be. I raced in European Championships 1,5 weeks ago in Flanders. That day the course was very dry and I still feel the dust in my lungs, but in rainy conditions some parts of the route could be quite tricky. It wasn’t so technical or as demanding as Worlds course, but a lot of riders had mechanicals as there was two semi sketchy descents with sharp rocks. I saw even one guy trying to ride with a broken seatpost. Otherwise it was a lot of fast and narrow roads so there will be fighting for positions next year too 
Matteo Jorgensen is an American.
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So is Larry Warbasse….the point was that they are top-level Euro pros, not what their nationality was.
I think it’s the exact opposite. People constantly complaining about him for doing what he does. It would be like if every time someone mentions Lachlan, 10 people feel the need to shit on him by saying, “yeah, well guess what Lael Wilcox did”. I was never a huge fan, but the incessant need to knock him down made me like him a whole lot more.
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Great thank you, Sofia. I’ll go edit it in the other thread.
ETA - That’s it done Do you find yourself skipping podcasts? - #26 by swgregg
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This looks terrifying.
I was watching Dylan Johnson’s Chequamagon recap this morning as well thinking the idea of a 40t chainring makes zero sense to me as the idea of riding at the speeds that it would warrant on gravel, or loose terrain, so close to other wheels is absolutely nutty.
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Pretty extreme, but I’ve found most gravel races are a no holes barred fight at the start to sort out the groups (especially if there is a selective section coming up early). The big difference I see here is the depth of the field resulting in a congested fight with more people for much longer and the guys are going faster. That said, I still find gravel racing at the amateur level less scary than crits (although some of those pavement sections look like crit racing in the video). At least when you go down, it usually doesn’t hurt as bad and the speeds aren’t quite as high. That looks like a great course, real gravel racing from what you can see in the video.
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Is that Peyson’s video?
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Yes
I was stressed just watching that video….Payson took some gutsy lines a few times!
Also shows how impressive Valverde’s ride was. He was next to Payson at one point and still managed to get the Chocolate Medal. Damn.
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That video is nuts!
Incredible result for anyone that started back in that chaos and somehow made it to the front.
I heard the first few hours were mental. Makes sense now.
The UCI is going to have to tape off cheater lines like a MTB race.
When they finally get the technology together to stream very high quality 1080p+ onboard footage of all favorite riders in bike racing, the sport is going to experience a big jump in popularity. High quality on board footage is superb.
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I mean, they did. A bunch of WT guys who do one gravel race a year raced against a gravel specialist. I’m not saying 5th is a bad result, it’s awesome. But that is his turf.
For the actual race, I thought it was really cool. Watching Mohoric descend on some of those roads was insane. I was watching through my fingers for some parts. Constant changing of surfaces.
Were those people cutting the course in the beginning? Uncool.
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I know it won’t happen, at least anytime soon, but it’d be cool to see the WT guys do a bunch of gravel races against the the gravel specialists and see if 5th is the peak for a gravel specialist against the WT guys
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My thought is that if WT guys did more gravel races, they would continue to get better at racing gravel, improve their handling and speed on mixed terrain, increase their technical skills, and further dominate the sport. I think one of the reasons Keegan can compete with them right now is his superior technical skills on gravel and mixed terrain. I would say (maybe with some pushback here) that the big WT guys have the bigger engines. But I think their biggest Achilles heel is off-road skill, or lack thereof. Keegan is a really good bike handler, and for now, has that edge on his competition. I think he also has the advantage of knowing how to race a gravel race, because it’s very different from your typical WT race. You’re self supported, often without teammates. It’s a lot less controlled. No radios. No follow car. It’ll be interesting to see how it moves forward in the future. And I do think it would be awesome to see Keegan against the WT guys more. Maybe increase some US viewership of cycling again. Not to get too off topic, but having guys like Kuss winning the Vuelta and Keegan doing well in big races like this is great for cycling in the US. Unlike some others trying to “grow the sport.” And that’s all I will say.
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“Cutting the course” is taking a different road/path/trail, etc. that removes a marked/notable section of the race course. That video did not show any of that. In a UCI race if it’s not taped off or expressed in the rules or racer briefing then it’s fair game. There were plenty of fields and corners that were taped off, so clearly the organizers knew which sections would give an unfair advantage.
It may be against the #SpiritOfGravel but this is also a UCI sanctioned Worlds.
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Last week’s race was raced differently than either a WT race or a typical US gravel race….but was arguably closer to a short GT stage than a U.S. a gravel race.
Random thought … in these UCI events, I would like to see starting on pavement/tarmac “normalized”.
I don’t want to see gravel racing turned into cyclocross or XC MTB where call-ups/start positions and/or the hole shot goes very far in determining outcome.
For example, even the Queen of the Cobbled Classics, the Paris Roubaix only has +/- 55km of actual cobbles, and that doesn’t mean it it’s not a cobbled race.
The Barry Roubaix, which is a VERY amateur race, but also has OG status in the gravel world has +/- 5 miles of road before hitting the gravel. The BWR I did last year had 22 miles of road before hitting single track and gravel … and with a few hill peppered in on the tarmac, it really helps organize and/or thin out the group before hitting the rough stuff.
I think that gravel racing’s ethos is much closer to road cycling than MTB and I’d like to see the races reflect that. Especially if they’re going to continue to use these narrow European cart paths which more or less function a single track in that they limit riders’ ability to move up.
Having never done the race, I don’t believe Unbound is subject to this limitation in that gravel roads there are wide and have room for two-way car traffic. So moving up, back, etc. can happen organically on the gravel.
In any event, I’m against gravel absolutism … maybe a couple laps around a city center with a few punchy hills for 30k before hitting the dirt will lead to a better race which is less dependent on start position.
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So at 35 seconds you had an out and back and the field was coming back on what looked like a bike path or narrow road. And rather than going to the turn… the field in the back of the race, including the person with video, just cuts through and drops in on people coming back at them.
Like you said, maybe not explicitly mentioned and probably not marked but they are literally making the course shorter. So if it’s legal why not cut much sooner in front of the leaders who went all the way to the turn around?
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The problem with the UCI gravel races is that, from what I understand, there are few actual gravel roads in Europe….mostly gravel paths.
When you combine that with the short distances (many of the UCI gravel series were only ~100k), you get very aggressive racing. Even putting a decent chunk of asphalt in front of the gravel won’t change that.
While the pace is certainly fast now at the beginning of races like Unbound or SBT, it is nowhere near as frenetic as the UCI races.
And I have always heard that the beginning of Barry Roubaix is also pretty nuts with people fighting for position, etc. in the opening miles….again, a combination of the shorter distance and need to get to the front before the sandy sections.
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