It is certainly divisive, reminding me of the early days of MTB racing where there were mass starts at the local level races here in the U.S. These were the early NORBA days before USA Cycling and UCI sucked the life out of the sport (IMHO) and made it super corporate.
I think it
is an unfair advantage for one of the women competing to have a phalanx of elite male riders at her beck and call, providing a draft, making the stops for bidon refills and such. It's a new phenomenon and to be honest it's
highly unlikely that Lauren De Crescenzo would've won like she did at Unbound or Steamboat. Sure, she may have still been in the mix but it would've been a real scrum to the line instead of huge leads going into the finish.
And now Tom Danielson has taken his foot and inserted it squarely into his mouth by openly defending the Cinch Cycling (i.e. De Crescenzo's team) tactic by making it about himself. The video he posted is a disjointed rant (Tommy D, please don't go into PR or broadcasting) and makes a truly poor argument for the approach used by his team at Unbound, SBT, and other events.
Cyclingnews' article/editorial on this rant is a good summary.
As far as e-bikes being in the mix, as long as they're in a different class I don't see a big issue with it. At the distance being raced by the elites (typically in the 80+ mile range) the batteries won't last too long and the e-assist needs to be used judiciously to be of any meaningful effect. After all, it's not like battery hand-ups are a thing - you'd need to carry a spare if the e-assist is in frequent use. If including an e-bike category means that more riders get to enjoy the event, why not? As long as gravel is still an evolving sport (and I certainly hope it doesn't come under the auspices of UCI or USA Cycling as they tend to ruin anything with a bit of soul) let's keep it fun.
And the Cinch Cycling approach is decidedly
not fun for those who compete against their athletes. It's like having teams go full tactical war in a Cat 5 road race: it's mean spirited and not good for building the sport.