Singular Osprey & Genesis Equilibrium: winter road bike build

I'm ok with 25C & mudguards. It just surprises me that there are so few "road" (audax, maybe) frames out there that are happy with a wide rim + mudguard + 28s (and these are 28mm Rubino Pros, they're pretty modestly-sized for 28s). Almost everything I can find is a pseudo-CX bike or a full-on tourer.

I found this as well and I wonder if the issue is around brakes, even the Spa Audax thing only runs 28s with guards. I thought genesis were selling bikes stock with 28s now (sans mudguards) but am not sure if they changed anything to allow mudguard fitment.

I guess that another advantage with discs is you can run a lot of different sized tires, although it may look silly