UCI Gravel World Championships 2022, October 8-9, Italy

[King Boonen]

I think live decent coverage can be easier to achieve in Enduro and even there it's nowhere closer to be achieved.

Enduro should be relatively straight forward to produce for TV, they manage it for DH afterall.

For gravel I think it would be interesting to have a structured series with 1 hour or 2 produced for TV with race footage achieved from moto, drones and helis on selected parts of the course, fixed cameras in some key sections if possible and then complemented by GoPro footage, decent graphics and behind the scenes content. With no obligation to be live it can be cheaper as it eliminates the necessity for relay infrastructure for the live signal.

Would many want to watch it after the race is over though? I'll watch baseball highlights, but not more than about 5-10 minutes. An hour TV show of cycling highlights contains, at a guess, about 30 mins of race footage and a lot of that can be pretty boring. Videos I see about gravel that do well tend to be focussed on one rider and their own race, and they do well because they''ve built a following. I'm not sure this kind of thing could support the investment needed to make it. Important to remember that any higlight shows about road, MTB, CX etc. are essentailly a second bite of the revenue stream, the only reason those pictures exist is because they were taken from the live broadcast. In this case the chopped highlights are the only revenue stream.

 

[King Boonen]

A lot of this discussion reminds me of the late '80s-early '90s mountain bike scene in the USA. When I started racing 75% of the participants were still 'hippies' who liked getting out for a ride and a smoke. I had a ball sport, moto cross, running background, and many of the 25% were also from similar backgrounds. I'm sure that it messed it up for the guys and gals who just enjoyed riding through the woods and ripping down skid trails. I heard some stories about 'roadies' taking over the dirt world, but it was pretty few and far between, and most of us did a fair amount of road training and racing especially in the winter and spring.

Gravel racing in the USA still 'sells out', but I see it following other things that are the 'it' fun thing until people do it a few times and move on to something else.

Ironman still does TV numbers I believe, and the tri series has increased viewership because of the middle aged white-man obsession with it, but I think you may be right. Fixed crit racing has completly fallen off a cliff as many riders moved on to gravel riding, trail running, triathlon etc.

 

[Lequack]

Can US gravel and UCI gravel co-exist peacefully? Lachlan Morton believes so.

Lachlan Morton: Gravel Worlds isn’t a threat

The Australian heaped praised on the opening sections of the inaugural worlds course.

cyclingtips.com

 

[King Boonen]

Can US gravel and UCI gravel co-exist peacefully? Lachlan Morton believes so.

Lachlan Morton: Gravel Worlds isn’t a threat

The Australian heaped praised on the opening sections of the inaugural worlds course.

cyclingtips.com

Man whose whole career is based around keeping a pro contract while not actually riding pro races would like to see some of the events he does ride become pro races isn't really a surprising take.

 

[Lequack]

Another Italian gravel race today with MVDP apparently.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/races/serenissima-gravel-2022/serenissima-gravel-2022/results/

"Robin Froidevaux pulled off a surprise but deserved solo victory at the Serenissima Gravel pro race in Italy, beating Emils Liepins (Trek-Segafredo) and new Gravel World Champion Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) crashed in the final 25km but fought back to rejoin the front group. "

And yet another totally flat gravel race:

 

[memyselfandI]

Is it flat or is it hilly doesn't really matter to these guys. If you have tenths of thousands of WT racing k's in your legs including some gt's. Speeds are going to be something else than super good amateurs and full time US pros not doing/having hefty WT background.

 

[Lequack]

MVDP actually rode a gravel bike, shocking.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

According to Strava VDP's efforts in the worlds and this race were not far off Strade Bianchi and RVV winning efforts. Shows you how tough gravel racing is

 

[RedheadDane]

(This seems like a good place to ask this question.)
When is a race a gravel race, and when is it a road race with gravel?

 

[MaryCaldwell]

Another Italian gravel race today with MVDP apparently.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/races/serenissima-gravel-2022/serenissima-gravel-2022/results/

"Robin Froidevaux pulled off a surprise but deserved solo victory at the Serenissima Gravel pro race in Italy, beating Emils Liepins (Trek-Segafredo) and new Gravel World Champion Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) crashed in the final 25km but fought back to rejoin the front group. "

And yet another totally flat gravel race:

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[stonerider]

(This seems like a good place to ask this question.)
When is a race a gravel race, and when is it a road race with gravel?

For it to be a gravel race then 50% of the course should be off-road. If it's over 50% paved roads it should be a road race.

 

[Wyndbrook]

For it to be a gravel race then 50% of the course should be off-road. If it's over 50% paved roads it should be a road race.

Sounds reasonable, but would Mary agree?