In addition to Pogacar debuting the stripes at Giro dell’Emila this weekend, MvdP lines up at gravel worlds. After his ride last weekend, he could be a wrecking ball.
Dell’Emillia is ripe for the picking for Pog, and yeah MvdP seems poised to romp all over that gravel course. I haven’t been able to find a start list for that anywhere, so not sure who he’s up against. So far in its short existence that race has been underwhelming.
The gravel startlist is apparently being announced Weds. Odd to keep it under wraps for so long.
Slowtwitch will have an entrant…Borstelmann (“Slowtwitch Goodlife”) Though several top U.S. gravel racers turned down the opportunity to chase Lifetime series cash (don’t blame them given USAC doesn’t even cover their travel, I don’t think).
So does it get discussed in this thread or the gravel sub section ?
Are spoilers allowed in the titles ?
Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Sitting on a terrasse in Boulder enjoying a cold one.
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I saw that apparently the Dutch are lining up Wiebes, Vollering, Vos, Brand, Pieterse and van Empel for gravel worlds.
Surely they won’t screw this one up too? What a squad.
The routes have been underwhelming—this year it’s 180k long, which is short for both classics guys and gravel pros. It’s quite Flandrian as well. Hopefully in the future it’ll give the gravel guys a better chance to compete.
Take Vollering out, and I think they can cook.
Leave her in, and it’s a situation of too many head chefs in the kitchen.
Also, I guess that means none of Vos, Pieterse, and van Empel will make it to Trek CX (aka fly-over country Cup) this year.
Come to think of it, for once the UCI did the right thing. Only 12 events this year, with that gimmicky snow/ice event in Val di Sole also canned. I’d rather that they all ditch the trip across the pond than to make it across for only one race.
If last year does indeed happen to be the last time a CX World Cup is to be held Stateside in the near future, I guess at least my wife and I got to watch the Dutch Trio in person.
the peloton is also making a career of looking at each other while someone attacks - the race for second place always drives me insane.
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PCS has a “Road” tab and a “Cross” tab; think they’ll add “Gravel” at some point?
Pretty great result in Elfstedenrace today.
start list for Worlds Gravel is up
Raging Del Torro? That’s a surprise. Terpstra also on there. Pretty stacked field, will be cool to see roadies vs crossers vs graveleurs.
And close to 300 starters, which will clearly favor the Euros.
gravel worlds start list of 50 pages and several thousand starters (about 20 categories?) - hmmm. If a world tour road classic start list gets capped around 150-200, this start list with multiple categories feels ambitious. I can’t imagine the biggest fish - MVdP wants any part of this chaos and will want to impose cyclocross like selections asap. if this is raced cyclocross type intensity from the gun - it will be interesting to see the fade. US gravel seems pretty close to road racing for the top 20-40 or so. something tells me 300 super strong dudes at the start means this will be even faster until groups get sorted.
I have to think MVdP wouldnt bother unless he wanted some replacement rainbow stripes for the ones he almost kept on sunday.
I think it’s a little harsh…Vollering has many times gone full domestique/leadout for the likes of Wiebes, even Kopecky, when the course hasn’t suited her. And it doesn’t look like this gravel course will suit her as well as some teammates. It’s only when she thinks the course does suit her that she seems to get blinders on.
At least they have wave starts. So effectively no chance of an age-grouper ever getting anywhere near MdvP. Because I could see age-grouper being a start-pen douche and fighting to get near the elites in order to go all-in from the start to get the one picture of being on MdVP’s wheel…
edit: well, unless MdVP has a bad mechanical early. But in that case I imagine he just calls it a day instead of fighting through age-groupers.
roger - MVdP only has to deal with 300. that 300 is not the world tour start list. I have to assume he wants NO part of 90% of that start list.
as an age grouper myself - i loathe this format as it encourages more risks to get the best draft possible for as long as possible.
for any wave not ready to race flat out from the gun it brings more chaos from behind (I hope there are no parts of the course repeated?!). women and men age groupers getting mixed? i hope not (demi might anger more than just her dutch teammates!?)
i am also soft and prefer my crashes to be self inflicted rather than due to following others taking way more risks than I would.
i love gravel riding - so much quieter than the road // i mostly like the gravel rides that aren’t quite full on racing / the gravel races with mass starts have yet to win me over.
Keegan managed last year’s chaos pretty dang well - so I have to think the strongest riders don’t mind the format.
Ahhhhh. You’re only human.
Moving into gravel weather here. Have to say first love is road. Can’t beat the flow, the rhythm and the speed. But, I concur. Long gravel rides are super peaceful. looking forward to wintering on the gravel.
I suppose one day I’ll have to give gravel a real try. I confess I don’t really “get” it. I like the speed, the flow, etc of road riding. If I want something more off the beaten path, quieter etc. then riding trails on the MTB scratches that itch. Gravel seems like a middle ground between the two. It may also be that the gravel I have access to isn’t of the calibre that really allows the genre to shine, so to speak.
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At the Cottage, North of Ottawa there is a gravel trail that goes way way up North. It starts in Low Qc. 100s of kms.They snowmobile in the winter and gravel ride in the summer. I ride that when not on the TT bike.
There is a certain feeling to being in a no car, no houses, no nothing expect the occasional deer that is hard to explain.