We’re now learning whether the international bike races are a winner for Richmond. Opinion is mixed.

One thing is clear: Anyone who expected 450,000 people to flood into town to view 1,000 of the world’s top cyclists compete for medals misunderstood the size of this event from the get-go.

That figure, organizers say, applies to the collective attendance expected over the nine days of the UCI Road World Championships. The bike races started last Saturday and will end Sunday, Sept. 27. Divide 450,000 by nine, and the hope is for up to 50,000 people a day to turn out.

That doesn’t mean 50,000 people a day from out of state and out of the country. A big share of the daily crowd is to be from Richmond and nearby localities.

How many people will come out? It’s still too early to get information on crowds, according to Richmond 2015, the organizing group. But eyeball views of the crowds so far suggest that spectator numbers have fallen far short of 50,000 on each of the first five days. Certainly that was the case Monday and Tuesday; best guesses indicate less than 10,000 people came out to see the cyclists.

One thing we have learned is that Pope Francis is a far bigger draw than this cycling competition, even if it is an Olympic-style event that has brought riders from 74 countries. We can only envy the crowds and attention he is attracting during his U.S visit.

Organizers believe Richmond should start to see the crowds grow, with the biggest supposed to develop Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Some are projecting multiple tens of thousands will come out to cheer on each of the final two days.

The races will go on rain or shine, but with a chance of rain in the forecast for the weekend, there is concern spectator enthusiasm could be dampened.

It’s easy to be skeptical that organizers are creating overly rosy projections of the potential audience. Last year, Richmond hosted the 2014 Collegiate Road Nationals, a smaller cycling event of USA Cycling. Gripes about closed streets were more numerous than spectators. And other past cycling competitions such as the Tour DuPont were not big draws.

But let’s be honest: Cycling has yet to become a major deal in this area. Despite all the talk about the growing interest in cycling and the city’s efforts to promote it with bike lanes, bike racks and other cycling enhancements, potholes are still a bigger daily hazard than staying clear of cyclists.

Richmond has yet to make the list of the 70 top U.S. cities for bicycle commuting, according to the U.S. Census and the League of American Cyclists. Our community is not on Bicycling magazine’s list of the top 50 bicycle-friendly cities. Arlington is the only Virginia city that made it.

Of course we hope that the $21 million that taxpayers and private companies are investing in this event will provide a boost to the local economy, though it is too soon to tell.

Most area restaurants have yet to report being swamped with people seeking a bite after a long day of watching the competition.

And as yet, hotels are not reporting a complete sellout. The Richmond-Petersburg area has about 18,000 hotel rooms, and as of Wednesday, Richmond Region Tourism continued to list 61 area hotels with at least some openings.

Moreover, it is hard to see how this event is creating a flow of money or jobs into our community.

Like many, we have our fingers crossed that these bike races will prove to be worth the disruption to our familiar routines. The largely empty streets in Downtown during the day speak volumes about the disruption. So do the drivers muttering about the detours and problems in getting around. So do the people grumbling about having to spend more time riding buses.

Plenty of small businesses in and around Downtown closed this week — unwilling to put their customers through the hassle of reaching them or certain their customers wouldn’t try, a subtraction from economic growth and hardly pleasant for their employees.

Many believe Richmond should be proud of hosting this world-class event. But, remember, our city was the only one in the world to seriously raise its hand to host this edition of the races. Will they come to an end with everyone believing this event was a huge success? Stay tuned.