completely agree, never said anything else.
That's what's a bit silly. GvA = 2 flats. Niki Terpstra = way beyond his peak (like GvA). Keegan Swenson... never heard of him. Matej Mohoric: a broken wheel.
So all in all, a weak field, and that is honestly the only thing I said: a weak field and as important, I said this in reaction to somebody said it wasn't a weak field. I didn't say this unsolicited. I wasn't saying this to downgrade any of the finishers' effort. I just reacted to something, I backed it up with some data and arguments. End of story one would think but hell no: Suddenly the mob thought I was disrespecting any of those riders.
Well, I wasn't. I am in awe having even watched parts of the race on all kinds of channels / twitter /... live and shortly after the race. I've been thinking of doing Unbound myself as Euro gravel racing is... a bit stupid (big fields, super hard fight for positioning and once you're in the lead group, nobody wants to pull so very tactically and nothing heroic like e.g. Unbound).
I was, for a while, in rock climbing. Big walls as well as bouldering, and some mountaineering. I dreamed (and still dreaming) of doing anything around 7500 in the Himalayas but I haven't got enough experience in mixed / technical climbing so nothing too crazy. I read magazines / the internet about anything Rheinhold Messner, Walter Bonatti, ... I read everything about the mountains I want to see like Kedarnath, Thalay Sagar, Kamet in Uttarakhand, Machapuchare and Himachuli in Nepal and I still want to visit Everest Bascamp and K2 basecamp once in my life. It's because of guys like Ueli Steck, who set all kinds of speed records, that the slow, 'true' spirit of mountaineering became more and more competitive. This happened way sooner in rock climbing, even making it into the olympics. But who wants to see Adam Ondra on an artificial wall, speedclimbing, at the olympics while you can watch him climb an overhang in a cave or you can watch Alex Honnold do free solo?
Gravel racing is, in a way, a similar affair. Short, explosive gravel races (like in Europe) are not to be compared to the very long ones (Unbound) and the continental divide, just like crit racing is different from classics from 3 HC climb stages from ultraraces like the transcontinental. Each has its merits and audience, and I honestly like watching all racing. Like in climbing, where some rock climbers made it into the very top of alpine climbers conquering 8000-ers at top speed, there are pro racers who are, and will compete in long gravel races / convert into ultra cycling and smash speed records and top times in those disciplines. Does that matter? Does that take anything away from those that are, here and now, laying the foundations of the sport in the early days? Not at all. Each and every stage in the evolution of a sport has its stars, stories, adventures. I didn't take anything away from this. It doesn't matter if there are potential competitors of a higher standard out there, who didn't compete. I totally agree with this. And exactly for that reason I wonder why you (not me) started judging / weighing the Unbound field vs. the pro tour field by mentioning GvA, and now, in your latest reaction, Terpstra, Mohoric. This was a comparison I would never start making. You started it. So if you want to go that way, I'll tell it like it is, but as you said as well: it doesn't matter. So don't mention it.