Most of them clearly feel the trade off of being slower on the road sections outweighs being faster on the rough sections of these type of races at the moment.
It might be that they just want to keep their position the same as they have been riding.
we’ve just been shown that the best gravel bike in the world is a road bike.
(Possibly) the fastest, but not necessarily the best. The bike that wins the TdF isn’t that much use to anyone but pro-cyclists, for example.
If I snap my frame or forks or bend my rims when I’m out ‘gravel riding’ I don’t have a sponsor to instantly replace them for me. I want something a little tougher even if it means I’m a bit slower (not that anyone could measure the difference between ‘fast’ me and slow me). I also want to be able to fit guards, bottle cages and possibly a rack if circumstances require it. I want clearance for 40 mm tyres with fenders as a minimum. None of these things would have occurred to the winner of the gravel WC.
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