That’s what happened to me – missed the front group, found myself on my own all the way down the tarmac descent.
Only got caught at the roundabout, but dropped quite a few more places on the tarmac ascent
10th at the top of the lead in, still 10th at the roundabout, 21st at the top of the tarmac climb, 22nd at the 2nd roundabout, 14th at the finish.
But I was not the 14th strongest rider in that race – the choice of gravel bike gained me a lot of places.

Quick update. Saved 2x 20s (vs. my PR on Tron bike with equal power) on the North ascent. Don’t miss a group on the descent though, or you will lose all of that sweet advantage and more..

Perhaps it’d be better for everyone if you raced in your true category.

Tried Tron against Gravel and Gravel Bike definitely quicker on the North climb & South Descent by a decent amount, worth a go for sure. Slower on the shorter South climb though.

Won a recent cat. C race over the sandy climb in Makuri (Mech Isle Loop) by gapping the group on the climb. Manegrd to keep up with the draft in the beginning (intense though) Gained 19 seconds on the climb, they clawed back 16s on the asphalt. If the following group is spent and/or noncohesive, or with a group of gravel bikes, you can make it work.

So it is definitely gravel bike for me. Also because I just went to cat. B and I’m 88kg. On the Tron in the sand I’ll just get killed anyway by the better riders. Just make sure you really push your advantage on the gravel parts.

Most important possibly: it will make the race more interesting!

Anyone actually tried it on a road bike vs gravel? Looking a single lap + lead in it looks like about half of the total distance (4.3k of 8.6k) and ~70% of the total climbing (116m of 166m) is gravel including more than the last 1/3rd of the race. That feels like a route that might lend itself to a gravel bike for racing. Especially if a strong group of gravel riders can get a gap on the first climb (which is gravel).

Someone talk me out of this

Sorry, wrong topic