Mads Würtz Schmidt is currently the best gravel racer on the planet. In 2026, he is having an almost perfect season: the reigning European Champion has won every race he has entered, bar the Castellon Gravel Race, where he "only" finished second. His wins have been dominant and decisive, culminating in victories at the two biggest gravel races on the calendar: the Traka 360 and Unbound 200.

But what makes the Dane so special? Is it his illustrious hair, or the type of fish he puts on his bread? We spoke to the man himself, as well as a confidential source who knows him well, to uncover the facts about Mads Würtz Schmidt that you may not know, as well as those you never knew you wanted to know.

1. Mads is Danish, which you probably already knew, and comes from the town of Randers, which also happens to be his favourite place in all of Denmark.
   
2. Despite his German-sounding name, Mads has no connection to Germany. His grandfather, however, believes the Würtz traces back to German potato farmers who settled in Midtjylland (Middle Jutland) many years ago.
   
3. On the subject of Germans and their culinary reputation: when racing in Denmark as a junior, Mads was often called pølse, Danish for sausage. The reason? Wurst, the German word for sausage, sounds a lot like Würtz. He has been living that down ever since.
   
4. He has held a race licence since the age of eight, inspired by his cycling-mad family and his semi-pro mountain bike racer father.
   
5. His favourite traditional Danish food is smørrebrød (pronounced SMUR-uh-brod), which translates literally as "buttered bread". The bread itself is dark rye (rugbrød), and Mads takes his with a fried piece of white fish, Danish remoulade, and freshly squeezed lemon.
   

6. Denmark is a famous cycling nation, but it is also the home of Lego. Mads's favourite set, since you're asking, is the Batmobile.
   
7. If you scroll back through photos of Mads, you will find a catalogue of illustrious hairstyles. Contrary to what you might assume, he is a natural blond and does not dye his hair. Consider the record officially set straight.
   
8. That said, according to my confidential source, he currently has a secret mullet project in progress, described as a "big wish" for Mads.
   
9. His favourite road race is Paris-Roubaix, which may go some way to explaining his talent on gravel. His favourite gravel race is the Traka, held in his adopted home city of Girona.
   
10. Mads has lived in Girona with his family since 2016. His Spanish is conversational rather than fluent, something he is, to his credit, genuinely embarrassed about, but his English is perfect. Knowing three languages is still pretty good.
    

11. His standout career win, above all others, is the Elite Road Danish National Championship in 2021. He tells me he would not swap it for a Paris-Roubaix victory. That is how much it means to him.
    
12. Being a professional cyclist, he naturally has his superstitions. The salt must be placed on the table before anyone picks it up; it cannot be passed directly hand to hand. And all numbers must be even: For example, the TV or radio volume.
    
13. That last point may help explain this one. During a power cut in Girona that lasted over five hours, Mads refused to eat lunch because, without power, he could not accurately measure his food or log it in his app. It took his partner's intervention to suggest that, on balance, eating something was probably a good idea. Whether that is dedication, madness, or simply what it takes to win Unbound, you can decide.
    
14. I don't want to be the one who jinxes his season, so to ensure an even number of facts, here is one more. Randers, his hometown, is also home to the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest winner Emmelie de Forest. Mads has never met her. You are welcome.

The Unbound 200 may be done for the year, but its riders are still reeling from the tough conditions faced on Saturday’s race.

A combination of rain-exposed rock gardens, torrential pre-race downpours and mud-slick trails took victims throughout the weekend, including 2024’s Unbound 200 winner, Lachlan Morton. The EF Education-EasyPost rider took a hard slam just a quarter of the way into the race, falling heavily on his left hip. Though he managed to pedal to the first aid station, medics diagnosed him with concussion, and he exited the race.

"I had a big slam in one of the rocky sections," Morton said in a post on his team’s Instagram page. "It was of my own doing. Landed on my hip quite hard which is pretty sore right now. The organisers did a great job, they checked me out for concussion once I got back to the aid station. Otherwise, I'm ok, just a little disappointed. The race was going well but [there were] brutal conditions out there."

Morton wasn’t the only rider to abandon early on. Of the 117 riders that started the Unbound 200 elite men’s race, 37 dropped out before its end. In the women’s, 15 of the 62 starters also abandoned. The drop-out rate was even more staggering in the Unbound XL: only 60 riders finished the 350 mile race, of an initial 237 starters.

Huge names joined Morton in an early race exit. In an Instagram post after the race, Romain Bardet praised his fellow riders' ability to manage the mental load of endurance racing as well as the technical skills needed to manage equipment over nine hours: “It was a day for the brave,” he wrote.

Another rider whose dreams of winning Unbound came to an early end was Nicole Frain. After making it into the lead group, the Oceania Champion crashed hard in a mud ridge. After attempting to readjust her handlebars, Frain continued, though riding with crooked handlebars caused back pain enough for her to abandon.

In a post-race Instagram post, she captured the dualism - and brutality - of gravel racing, writing: "Ahhh this race. It was going so good until it wasn’t."

On the other side of a disappointing Unbound, Lachlan Morton echoed Frain's sentiments. "Drove to Kansas , saw some friends, played in the mud [...] got rained out at the rodeo, now I’m driving home," he wrote in an Instagram post. "That’s the game and I’ll keep playing it.”

Mads Würtz Schmidt was the ultimate winner of the men’s 200, with Sofia Gomez Villafañe winning the women’s. In the Unbound XL, Robin Gemperle and Svenja Betz finished first in their categories.

In the three times Geerike Schreurs has raced Unbound Gravel, the race has ended in a bunch finish twice. And both times, she finished second.

Saturday’s finish left the Dutch rider visibly emotional after another near-miss at gravel racing’s marquee event. Despite strong results throughout her career, including success in the UCI Gravel Series and wins at The Gralloch and Gravel Desert, Schreurs is still chasing a breakthrough victory at the sport’s biggest races.

"The dream is to win this race someday," Schreurs said after helping the Specialized Off-Road team secure a one-two finish behind teammate Sophia Gomez Villafañe. "But yeah, two times second place. That’s kind of the story of my life."

Like her second-place finish in 2024, Schreurs again found herself in a reduced group sprint at the end of one of gravel racing’s most demanding events. And like that year, victory narrowly slipped away.

The 2026 edition was made even harder by brutally muddy sectors that turned the race into an attritional battle long before the finish in Emporia.

"It was so hard," Schreurs said. "We encountered mud for the first time about 30 kilometres in, and after that it was relentlessly hard. But I was always well positioned near the front, and at the moments where it mattered most."

Schreurs spent much of the day in the breakaway and eventually took matters into her own hands when cooperation in the front group began to fade.

"At one point, we were riding with a big group, and then half the group didn't work. That’s super annoying," she said. "So then I thought, well, I’m just going to push the pace."

It proved to be one of the defining moves of the race, reducing the front group to a smaller and more committed selection that stayed clear into the finishing chute.

But once the riders made the final left-hand turn onto the finishing straight, the outcome felt almost inevitable.

"Of course I wanted to win," Schreurs said. "But this was agreed beforehand, that the finish would be for Sophia [Gomez Villafañe], and I’m happy she was able to finish it off, and I’m happy I could complete the podium for the one-two."

Schreurs attempted to attack before the sprint but could not make the move stick.

"I was going to try to attack," she said. "But yeah, unfortunately, it didn’t work. Looking back, I think I should have started the sprint a bit earlier, but I got boxed in a little."

Schreurs acknowledged that turning second place into victory may require more progress mentally.

"I’ve worked a lot on the mental side," she said. "But I think I still need to believe in myself a bit more."

Asked whether she would return to Unbound to chase victory again next year, Schreurs was unsure.

"Who knows," she said. "Maybe I’ll come back next year. Who knows."

Still, Schreurs said she was proud of the team result after Specialized dominated the women’s race, and swept the men’s podium aboard the new S-Works Crux.

"It was a super good weekend for the Specialized team," she said. "And I’m incredibly proud to be part of it and involved in it."

Heavy rain and thunderstorms swept across eastern Kansas through Friday and Saturday to deliver another epic edition of Unbound Gravel. Riders battled the infamous peanut butter mud that zapped any leg speed and clogged tyres and drivetrains, while fierce winds turned carefully planned race strategies into a contest of pure attrition and luck.

Midway through the race, a promising three-rider breakaway formed featuring former Unbound winner Keegan Swenson, his Specialized Off-Road teammate Mads Würtz Schmidt, and young Coby Freeburn (Trek Driftless). But Freeburn eventually could not hold the pace, leaving the two Specialized teammates alone off the front with more than six minutes on the chasers and looking firmly in control of the race.

Then came the mechanical that nearly ended everything.

With roughly 80 miles still to race, Würtz Schmidt punctured. In conditions where every stop carried enormous consequences, the race suddenly hung in the balance. The pair pulled over and worked frantically to repair the damage while rivals closed from behind, jamming plug after plug into the tyre.

After the race, Würtz Schmidt said they went through eight plugs trying to save it.

But they still were not making progress.

That was when Swenson made the decision that defined the race.

In a remarkable act of sacrifice, Swenson handed over his wheel, effectively giving up his own shot at victory, and valuable Life Time Grand Prix points, so his teammate could continue.

"[Würtz Schmidt] was riding really well today, and I was kind of buckled, so I just told him to just take my wheel and go," Swenson said afterward.

"I was like 100% confident he would make it and be able to win. And I wasn't so confident I'd be able to make it."

Würtz Schmidt rode away while Swenson was left dealing with the aftermath. He wrestled the damaged tyre off the rim, installed a tube, inflated it, and watched as the first riders from the chase group sped past.

Then, after getting moving again, his wheel would not engage. He was later seen searching through the gravel for lost freehub springs as his own race unravelled in the mud.

Many riders might have abandoned the day altogether. Swenson kept fighting.

"I just had to make sure to get it fixed because otherwise it's a long, long way without walking," he said.

"There were the Grand Prix points, and then in the end I was still fifth."

Meanwhile, the gamble worked perfectly.

As storms continued to roll through the Flint Hills and the mud dismantled the rest of the field, Würtz Schmidt rode clear, looking stronger with every mile. By the final hour, he was alone off the front, surviving what he later described as a brutal effort.

"I felt like I was flying for an hour after [Swenson sacrificed his wheel]. It gave me some adrenaline, and it gave me a kick," Schmidt said. "And then, the headwind on the way back, I think it took eight years out of my life. It was terrible."

"The last hour I was physically dead, but we played an aggressive race like we wanted to."

When he rolled into downtown Emporia, he did so alone, crossing the finish line more than five minutes ahead of his nearest challenger.

Swenson, despite everything, came across the finish line in fifth place, where Würtz Schmidt greeted him warmly.

"Maybe I was the strongest one in the race, but I couldn't have done it without Keegan," Würtz Schmidt said.

Gravel racing has long celebrated individual problem-solving and survival, but on the muddiest Unbound in years, teamwork decided the race.

"[Swenson] sacrificed his chances to win. He's a real champion," Würtz Schmidt. "and a good teammate."

Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-Road) mastered a tactical sprint finish at Unbound Gravel to take her second career win at the 200-mile gravel race.

A lead group of five women dominated the majority of the race, with representation from Villafañe, her teammate Geerike Schreurs, Cecily Decker (Pas Racing), Rosa Klöser (Canyon-SRAM), and Trek's Paige Onweller.

It was largely a stalemate until the final miles when Schreurs launched two attacks that hurt the rest of the group but didn't pull out any time. Villafañe waited until the final turn onto the finish straight to open her sprint that none of the other women could match.

Schreurs took second to make it one-two for Specialized.

How the Race Unfolded

Emma Langley (Ventum Racing) and Laurel Quinones (Ride BMC) were the first women to go off the front. At the same time, chaos erupted in the middle of the peloton with Peta Mullens (Liv) and Stella Hobbs (MAAP) hitting the deck but appearing to be uninjured. In an unrelated incident, Michaela Thompson (Allied Cycle Works) suffered an early flat tyre.

The Pas Racing duo of last year’s winner Karolina Migon and Morgan Aguirre were well-positioned for the first mud section but were both forced off their bikes to scrape the peanut butter-like mud off their bikes.

After the mud section, the lead group formed with representation from Danni Shrosbree (Argon 18), Cecily Decker (Pas Racing), Nicole Fraine (Factor Racing), Lauren Stephens (Aegis), Geerike Schreurs (Specialized Off-Road), Carolin Schiff (Canyon ATR), Samara Sheppard (Velocio-SRAM), Rosa Klöser (Canyon-SRAM), and Paige Onweller (Trek Driftless).

Several splits and surges mixed up the lead group over the first 50 miles. Trek’s Cecile Lejeune crashed in a water crossing and forged a fierce chase to rejoin the leaders. Fraine crashed hard after a touch of wheels on a fast section; she was slow to get back started with a bloody leg.

Three hours into the race, the front group consisted of Specialized’s Villafañe and Schreurs, Trek’s Paige Onweller, Lejeune, and Decker, as well as Schiff, Klöser, Sarah Lange (Pivot, Kenda, Hunt), Hayley Preen (Factor Racing ), and Nele Laing (Canyon ATR).

At 150 miles to go, the leaders had settled in with not much aggression. Then an attack reignited the hostilities on one of the courses' only paved sections, with Villafañe Schreurs, Decker, and Klöser going off the front.

The front four rode steady and regrouped after briefly splitting after the second feed zone.

As the women rode through the rain and mud (which stayed wet and mostly did not turn to the dreaded peanut butter consistency), Onweller made a hard effort to bridge from the chase to the leaders, making it a group of five. Onweller contributed to the pace setting, but it was unclear how her legs felt after the chase to get up front. The Trek rider has also been recovering from injury this year.

With 85 miles to go, the leading group of five had a 6-minute advantage, while Mieke Kröger (Rose Racing Circle) mounted a solo chase. Thirty seconds behind the German was Lange, Laing, and Preen.

The technical W Road split the group, with Villafañe, Schreurs, and Decker exiting the section in the lead. Decker hit the deck during a water crossing but quickly remounted her bike. Klöser managed to bridge back up to the group, and Onweller dropped off the back.

As the leaders were navigating W Road, the chasers were stopped by a freight train on a level crossing, allowing the third group on the road to combine into a larger group two.

Onweller continued to yo-yo in and out of the lead group of five. Meanwhile, Kröger held steady in sixth while Lauren De Crescenzo (Argonaut Cycles) joined Lange and Preen in the third group on the road.

Schreurs was the first to let an attack fly on the flats in the final miles. Klöser successfully closed, while Onweller towed Villafañe and Decker back up.

The group then soft pedalled to the final climb on Highland Hill, where Schreurs went again but couldn't get any gap.

Villafañe opened her race-winning sprint after the left turn onto the finishing straight on Commercial Street. Schreurs followed for second place while Decker took third.

Unbound Gravel Women's Top 10

• Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-Road)- 10:31:37
• Geerike Schreurs (Specialized Off-Road) - 10:31:38
• Cecily Decker (Pas Racing) - 10:31:38
• Paige Onweller (Trek Driftless) - 10:31:38
• Rosa Klöser (Canyon-SRAM-MAAP) - 10:31:39
• Lauren De Crescenzo - 10:46:27
• Romy Kasper (PAS Racing) - 10:49:28
• Hayley Preen (Factor Racing) - 10:49:28
• Danni Shrosbree  (Rapha-Argon 18) - 10:49:28
• Cecile LeJeune (trek Driftless) - 10:49:28

Mads Würtz Schmidt (Specialized Off-Road) survived rain, lightning, mud and a flat tyre to win Unbound Gravel in a definitive performance from gravel's first super team.

Würtz Schmidt made the first key split after a mud section before going off the front with teammate and previous Unbound Winner Keegan Swenson and Trek Driftless rider Cobe Freeburn. The two dropped Freeburn but then the European Gravel Champion suffered a rear puncture.

Swenson gave Würtz Schmidt his rear wheel in a moment that confirmed team tactics have officially landed in gravel. Beers was not eager to chase his teammate up the road, but he ended up being the strongest man standing to take second place.

Tobias Kongstad of Pas Racing held on for third place, meaning the new Specialized Crux model claimed the first three spots on the podium.

"The plan was to be aggressive on Texaco Hill," Würtz Schmidt said after the finish. "Maybe I got a little bit too excited, but me and Keegan got away with Cobe I think and yeah, we went for it."

Swenson made his way through the field to claim fifth place as the only American rider in the top 10.

How The Race Unfolded

After a brief neutrol roll out of town, John Borstelmann (Ventum Racing) and Connor Sens (Via Racing) established an early two-man breakaway. The first miles of gravel were bone dry, but then an early minimum maintenance road caused muddy chaos.

The mud stalled Sens as well as dozens of other racers who either jumped off of their bikes to run through the peanut butter mud or stopped to clear the mud from their bikes. Swenson was among the racers who were stalled out, perhaps from poor positioning in the group.

Borstelmann successfully navigated the mud section and the following split of the peloton and was joined in the lead group by Würtz Schmidt, Freeburn, Torbjørn Andre Røed (Trek Driftless), Romain Bardet (Rapha), Nils Brun (3T Bikes), Beers, Daxton Mock (Trek Driftless), Daan Seote (Ridley Racing Team), and Frederick Raßmann (Rose Racing Circle).

Previous Unbound winner Lachlan Morton (EF Pro Cycling) led the chase group and brought the likes of Brendan Johnston (Giant Bicycles), Cameron Jones (Scott Sports), and Simon Pellaud (Cervelo) back to the front group of leaders. Morton later pulled out of the race.

Shortly after the groups rejoined, another break tried to form that included last year's second-place finisher Pellaud. However, Beers reeled them in quickly. Pellaud, who has been suffering from knee pain this season, then fell off the back of the leaders before the first feed zone around mile 40.

Despite being out of position after the mud section, Swenson rejoined the group before the first feed. All three Specialized riders (Swenson, Beers, and Würtz Schmidt) stopped in the feed zone to get their bikes power-washed by their support crew, a smart move to keep their bikes running smoothly.

Mock went on a solo attack before the next technical section, gaining upwards of 40 seconds on the group before he got reabsorbed. The next attack to fly was a winning combination of Swenson, Würtz Schmidt, and Freeburn, who gained a quick 30 seconds going on 1 minute.

All three leaders stopped at the second feedzone for bike washes and resupplies. At 113 miles to go, the trio had extended their lead to 3 minutes while working well together.

The group doubled their lead to about 6 minutes, but Freeburn didn’t have the legs and got dropped off the back of the Specialized duo, leaving teammates Swenson and Würtz Schmidt to ride the next 100 miles off the front together.

At one point, Würtz Schmidt took off his shoe to clear out debris. With a clear shoe, he easily rode back to his teammate. Freeburn rode solo in third for a while before getting absorbed by the chasers.

The racers faced constantly changing conditions, but rain, mud, and grey skies were the common theme. Active rain is a benefit because it doesn't allow the mud to dry and turn into the sticky, peanut butter consistency.

As Swenson and Würtz Schmidt pressed on with a 9-minute lead, the second group on the road contained Freeburn, Jones, Johnston, and Tobias Kongstad. Beers and Emil Herzog (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) were in the group too, but were not motivated to chase their Specialized teammates.

“I was pulling through but kind of half-assed because I know what Mads needs to do, and also I like to have breathing room in case he had another puncture and things like that," Beers said after the race. "I was just doing short, kind of half-assed pulls just to keep everyone happy. But yeah, it’s a fine line. It’s a hard game to play.”

Würtz Schmidt then suffered his rear puncture. Swenson stopped to help him, but several tyre plugs did not hold air. Swenson then gave his rear wheel to Würtz Schmidt, confirmation that the European Gravel Champion was the stronger rider in the break. It was also confirmation that team tactics have officially arrived in North American gravel racing.

"I felt like I was flying for an hour after that. It gave me some adrenaline and it gave me a kick," Schmidt said. "And then, I got to say, the headwind on the way back, I think it took eight years out of my life. It was terrible."

Swenson continued to have problems with Schmidt's old wheel and got passed by the chasers. Schmidt forged ahead with a gap of about 7 minutes over Beers, Kongstad and Jones.

Inside 50 miles to go, Jones appeared to completely crack and fell off the pace of Beers and Kongstad. The South African then dropped Kongstad near Lake Kahola, just over 20 miles out from the finish.

The eventual winner began to slow and look behind him in the final miles, revealing after the finish line that he didn't have any time gaps.

"My legs started to hurt more and more," he said, "and I was slowing down more and more. I didn’t bring my phone. I had no time gaps. In the end, when I started to lose the pace, then of course I got nervous that they would come from behind."

But they never caught him.

Unbound Gravel Men's Top 10

1. Mads Würtz Schmidt - 9:14:51
2. Matt Beers - 9:19:54
3. Tobias Kongstad - 9:24:43
4. Brendan Johnston - 9:36:46
5. Keegan Swenson - 9:39:19
6. Daan Soete - 9:39:42
7. Adne Koster - 9:39:42
8. Emil Herzog - 9:39:43
9. Piotr Havik - 9:39:43
10. Cam Jones - 9:39:45

Swiss endurance rider Robin Gemperle won a disastrously mud-clogged 2026 Unbound XL, arriving back in Emporia, Kansas, after 21 hours and 16 minutes.

An increasingly popular alternative to the 200-mile flagship event at Unbound Gravel, the 350-mile XL event remains a completely self-supported ultra-endurance race.

Riders are prohibited from receiving outside assistance of any kind. They must manage their own nutrition, navigation and mechanical repairs while refuelling only at occasional gas stations along the route. There are no support crews and no aid stations.

As rain and thunderstorms rolled through the Flint Hills region on Friday and Saturday, the 2026 edition of the ultra-endurance gravel race brought the muddiest conditions since 2023, forcing riders to hike through ankle-deep mud for dozens of miles.

"I walked probably half a marathon distance," Gemperle told Cycling Weekly post-finish.

The 356-mile race marked Gemperle’s second appearance at Unbound XL after making his debut in 2025, when he finished third in a course-record-breaking year of fast, dry roads.

"It was completely different!" Gemperle said of the two editions.

After racing Unbound XL in 2025, Gemperle went on to the Tour Divide, where he set a new course record by completing the roughly 2,700-mile unsupported race in 11 days, 19 hours and 14 minutes.

This year, Gemperle said he is focusing on shorter ultra-endurance events, and he was not prepared to settle for another third-place finish.

"This time I'm only here for the Unbound, and I kind of felt if there's no second chance, I need to make it count. And to do good," he said. "I did it for myself."

Gemperle also revealed that, in addition to the difficult course conditions, he battled stomach issues severe enough that he feared he might have to abandon the race.

But he persevered, finishing with a comfortable lead over second-place rider Max Agut.

As widely reported ahead of the race, Gemperle competed on a prototype Scott bike built around 32-inch wheels. Scott announced before the event that Gemperle and fellow rider Cam Jones would ride the unreleased platform across the Flint Hills course.

Scott stated the bike “will never be released on the market,” but Gemperle was impressed with its performance.

"I think this bike is just amazing. The wheels rolled so smoothly over everything," Gemperle said.

Asked about mud clearance, Gemperle laughed.

"There's never enough clearance."

At the time of publication, only Agut and Gemperle had reached the finish, while the remaining riders and the women’s race were still ongoing.

Romain Bardet’s Unbound Gravel debut came to an early end on Saturday, with the retired French star abandoning the race at Matfield Green, around 100 miles into the 2026 edition.

The former Tour de France stage winner was seen riding back into the small Kansas town without his helmet after deciding to step off the course during what has become the muddiest editions of Unbound since 2023. Witnesses on the ground reported Bardet appeared physically okay, stopping briefly to clean himself up after battling through the deteriorating conditions.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms swept across the Flint Hills throughout the day, transforming the famous Kansas gravel roads from fast, sun-cracked surfaces into thick, energy-sapping mud. Riders faced relentless bike-clogging clay, standing water and increasingly treacherous conditions deep into the race.

Bardet had arrived in Emporia at the end of a month-long family road trip across the United States with wife and son, describing his Unbound appearance earlier in the week as a chance to finally experience the event he had heard so much about. The Frenchman stressed before the start that he was "here for fun" rather than chasing a result in his first full season focused on gravel racing after retiring from the WorldTour peloton.

The race remains ongoing with roughly 100 miles still to race at the time of reporting. Specialized Off-Road teammates Keegan Swenson and Mads Würtz Schmidt were leading the men’s event as the brutal conditions continued to shape a dramatic day in Kansas.

It’s prototype-bike galore at Unbound Gravel this year. Some are hiding beneath subtle paint, while others are impossible to miss. There are the oversized 32" wheels on Cam Jones’ and Robin Gemperle’s Scott bikes, the hard-to-ignore fuchsia pink paintjobs on the prototype Liv bikes, and catchy graphics on the prototype from sibling brand Giant.

And then there’s Factor, with a prototype featuring that fork we all have opinions about.

Ridden by celebrated retired WorldTour rider Romain Bardet and several of his Factor teammates, Factor’s latest prototype gravel bike was first spotted at the Traka just weeks ago.

At Unbound, Factor allowed Cycling Weekly to take a closer look and shared some early details through Mike McGinn from its engineering team.

However, the brand would not share any hard numbers; no weights, no aero data, no launch timeline, no price and not even the bike’s eventual name.

Still, there was plenty to learn — and to deduce.

Meet Factor’s next top-tier aero gravel race bike

The design of the prototype bike is unmistakably inspired by Factor’s wildly polarising ONE road bike, complete with the dramatically wide fork intended not merely to cheat the wind, but to actively manage airflow before it reaches the rider’s legs.

And according to Factor, that controversial concept works.

“People are warming up to this wild-looking fork, and we know it’s faster," said Mike McGinn.

McGinn explained that the wide fork is designed to manipulate airflow before it reaches the rider’s legs and frame.

"Aerodynamics works a lot like refraction with light," he said, describing how the fork changes airflow downstream across the bike and rider rather than simply reducing drag at the fork itself.

The new gravel prototype takes that same aero philosophy and adapts it for the realities of modern gravel racing: massive clearances, a balance of compliance and stiffness, and, of course, aerodynamics.

But McGinn admitted that it wasn’t the brand's originally intention to use that ONE-inspired fork design on gravel.

"We already had riders planned to ride the original fork, but this was faster," he said.

And, we’ll admit that when it comes to pure aesthetics, that wide fork filled in with 50mm+ tyres looks more proportional and less radical.

"With this one, we tried to tailor it more to an acceptable visual language," McGinn said. "The result is, like you said, less offensive on the eyes."

Unlike, what McGinn called, a "bayoneted front end" used on the ONE, this gravel bike uses a standard steerer tube and bearing setup, requiring Factor’s engineers to adapt the aero concept into a more conventional package.

Factor says that once the bike is officially launched, most complete builds will ship with 50mm tyres, but the frame itself clears up to 2.2-inch rubber. Yet despite that huge clearance, chainstays remain remarkably short at 420mm, keeping the bike responsive and agile.

"There is nothing that’s even close to that," McGinn claimed, pointing out that many competing 2.2" gravel bikes now stretch to 435mm rear ends and mountain-bike-like wheelbases.

"This bike was meant for core connection to terrain," McGinn said. "You’re meant to feel like it’s a rocket ship."

When we reviewed the ONE, that's exactly what our tester called it: a "spaceship," so that could bode well for this new bike.

That focus on speed has been the topic of conversation at races like Unbound these past few years, and the industry is converging on the same solution: pairing aggressive aerodynamics with ever-wider tyres in the pursuit of outright speed over rough terrain.

Factor’s answer is this: an unapologetically aero gravel race bike designed around sustained high speeds while keeping riders relatively comfortable.

Interestingly, unlike other bikes in this category, Factor is keeping 2x drivetrain compatibility alive as well as downtube storage.

That decision, however, came with major engineering challenges. McGinn explained that packaging short chainstays, 2.2in tyre clearance and a front derailleur into the same frame pushed the limits of what was physically possible.

"You can’t run a 2x with anything over a 47 anyway, so there was a lot of hemming and hawing," he said.

Ultimately, Factor decided to preserve the option and found a way.

“We had to look at creative ways to manage stiffness and structural requirements in that area,” he explained.

The geometry itself was also redesigned around modern oversized gravel tyres. Factor lowered the bottom bracket to compensate for the taller tyre profile and adjusted trail figures to preserve handling characteristics despite the jump in tyre volume.

McGinn also revealed the bike uses size-specific fork offsets — typically 50-51mm on larger sizes and 56mm on smaller frames — helping maintain more consistent handling across the size range while reducing toe overlap on smaller bikes.

“Above 33kph, you get it”

French rider Gustave Orain, who is also racing the prototype at Unbound, described the bike as surprisingly comfortable despite its aggressive intent.

"What I like the most with this bike, it's the exact same geometry as the Aluto fully slammed. So you switch from an all-road gravel bike to an absolute aero bike without losing any comfort or compromise," Orain shared.

"The first thing I've been super surprised about is that it’s actually the exact same [ride quality] as the Aluto, but faster."

That theme kept resurfacing throughout the conversation. The expectation is that a bike this extreme-looking would ride harshly. But McGinn insists modern carbon engineering has moved well beyond that compromise.

"The biggest compliment we got from the ONE was: ‘It rides like a bike'," McGinn said with a laugh. "Because it looks like it doesn’t."

But make no mistake: this bike is designed to come alive at speed.

"Above 33 kilometres an hour, you’re like, ‘Okay. I got it,’" Orain said.

McGinn compared it directly to the ONE’s road-racing personality.

"If you ride the ONE below 40kph, people say it’s hard to manipulate,” he said. “You have to get it to speed for it to really work."

Going above 30kph, or 18mph, should not be a problem at Unbound, where 2025 elite men’s winner Cam Jones averaged 37.8kph (23.49mph) over the 202-mile course, completing it in a record-shattering 8:37:09. On the women’s side, Karolina Migon won with an average speed of 32.4kph (20.1mph).

Unlike Scott’s “never going to market” approach, Factor’s prototype does not appear to be a one-off experimental machine. Quite the contrary

"There is a very, very, very high chance that this is the bike that we come to market with," McGinn said with more than a subtle hint.

And despite the mixed reactions to the aesthetics of its fork, Factor seems increasingly emboldened by the response to the ONE.

"It’s the bike you didn’t know you needed until you tried it," McGinn said.

Time will tell if the gravel market follows suit.

Canadian gravel racer and former professional road rider Rob Britton has spent years racing at the sharp end of cycling. But after a career built on structure, pressure and results, Britton is now chasing something very different: uncertainty.

Over the last few seasons, that philosophy has pushed Britton deeper into ultra-distance racing and further away from gravel’s increasingly polished front end. While he remains capable of competing at elite gravel races, events like Badlands, the Atlas Mountain Race and Unbound XL now hold far more appeal than traditional race formats.

"Gravel racing is becoming more and more like road racing at the front end. And that’s a world I’ve already been part of for a long time," Britton explains.

For Britton, that is not criticism so much as reality. Before gravel exploded into the mainstream, he built his career in professional road racing, winning major North American stage races like the Tour of the Gila, and earned a reputation as one of Canada’s strongest endurance riders.

But after years inside the pressure cooker of professional road cycling, the appeal of this highly controlled environment no longer exists.

"I’ve read that book," he says. "I know all the chapters and how it ends."

Nowhere is that shift clearer than in his relationship with Unbound XL, the 350-mile self-supported ultra through the Flint Hills of Kansas. Britton returns this year as defending champion, but insists the label means less than people might expect.

"That has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?" he says. "Normally, I would say it does come with pressure, but so far this season, I haven’t been able to get things right, and every race has been either disappointing or a setback. So yes, I am returning as the defending champion, but I genuinely see myself as a bit of an underdog for the win this year."

Ultra-distance racing offers exactly the kind of unscripted challenge Britton believes modern gravel increasingly struggles to provide. At events like the Unbound XL, riders face not only 350 miles of brutal conditions but also harsh weather, fatigue and sleep deprivation. There are no team cars or carefully controlled race scenarios once darkness arrives and the field begins to splinter apart.

"It’s refreshing," Britton says. "The people at ultras are probably the least egotistical people you’ll ever meet."

That culture is part of what keeps drawing him back. At ultra-distance events, professional riders line up alongside ordinary cyclists using their time off simply to see if they can survive.

"They work nine-to-five jobs," Britton says. “Then they use their vacation days to go bury themselves somewhere for four days without sleep. Honestly, that’s harder than what I do."

Even the scale of the event itself no longer feels quite as intimidating to him as it once did.

"It’s funny, I remember the first time I did Unbound 200, and thought the people who did the XL were crazy," he says. "My mind could not fathom having done 200 miles staying on my bike and doing another 150."

Now, after years spent racing ultras, his perspective has shifted completely.

"In the realm that I operate, 560 kilometres isn’t actually that long, which again is kind of insane."

That change has also altered the way he trains. While ultra-distance racing is getting dramatically faster, Britton says he has actually moved away from the high-intensity structure associated with shorter gravel racing.

"I think it’s kind of the opposite," he explains. "As I’ve done more ultras I’ve started to train with a little less focus on intensity versus when I was training more for regular distance racing."

Instead, he believes the increasing speeds are largely being driven by riders arriving from traditional gravel and road backgrounds.

"You’re seeing riders coming from normal-distance races and bringing some of that speed into ultra-distance events. It’s actually nice not having to do as much intensity and just being able to focus on long, steady bike rides."

At XL, however, fitness alone rarely decides the outcome. Weather and course conditions remain the event’s great equaliser, particularly once Kansas mud enters the equation.

"Plan for the worst and hope for the best," Britton says of his approach to race preparation. "I’ll watch the forecast before the event and see what the projected low temperature is and plan for a couple degrees cooler than that."

But temperatures are only part of the problem.

"The biggest thing with Unbound is always whether or not you’re going to get crazy sections of mud," he says. "I remember in 2023 there was a 10-mile section of mud early on and it blew the race apart. It was like a battle zone out there, absolute carnage."

When conditions deteriorate badly enough, racing almost becomes secondary.

"At a certain point, you’re not riding bikes anymore, it’s a war of attrition as to who wants to hike their bike the longest," he says. "And eventually people crack. Or in some cases, their bike does first."

That uncertainty is precisely what fascinates him about ultra racing. Unlike traditional events, there is no way to fully control the outcome once exhaustion takes hold.

"It takes you into such a dark place," Britton says. "You really find out how your mind reacts when things get difficult."

Sleep deprivation has become one of ultra racing’s defining battlegrounds, although Britton admits the sport’s growing obsession with minimal sleep can sometimes push riders too far.

"Ultra racing has evolved into these sleep deprivation contests," he says. "Whoever sleeps the least usually has the advantage."

Experience, however, has taught him when stopping becomes necessary.

"If you start dazing off and can’t shake it, you have to stop," he says. "Even ten minutes of sleep can completely reset you."

That balance between ambition and survival became painfully clear earlier this season at the Atlas Mountain Race in Morocco. From a results perspective, the race unravelled almost immediately.

"Next question," Britton laughs. "Jokes aside, that was the worst I’ve ever felt on a bike and because the event is so long, I got to feel that agony for days on end."

Yet even in failure, he still found something valuable.

"The silver lining of just trying to get to the finish meant I was sleeping a lot more and riding during daylight hours," he says. "Morocco was one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever ridden my bike."

That perspective perhaps explains why Britton remains such a relatable figure within gravel and ultra racing. He no longer presents himself as an untouchable professional athlete obsessed purely with results. Instead, he talks openly about setbacks, inconsistency and the importance of actually enjoying the experience.

"If you finish fourth somewhere, nobody really remembers," he says. "But people remember stories. They remember things that feel real."

As he lines up to defend his Unbound XL title, Britton knows exactly how brutal ultra racing can become. But that uncertainty is also the attraction.

For all the victories and years spent in professional cycling, curiosity still seems to be the thing driving him forward most. And for now at least, he still seems to be enjoying the ride.

Over the last few years, Unbound Gravel has become the launchpad for the gravel industry’s next big thing. Every year, the Emporia, Kansas, start line and expo area become a rolling tech gallery packed with unreleased wheelsets, tyres, cockpits and bikes ridden by pro athletes under varying degrees of secrecy.

This year appears to be no different.

We already know defending champion Cam Jones will be riding a Scott prototype bike with 32" wheels, and most of the Specialized Off Road athletes will be aboard the brand new Crux 5.

Today, we got a peek at what appears to be brand-new prototype gravel race bikes from Giant and sister brand Liv, machines that we are fairly certain preview a new tier of the Revolt and Devote platforms.

They were hard to miss, in fact, with the Liv prototype in a bold fuchsia pink with gold detailing, and the Giant version featuring a monochrome black-and-white graphic treatment.

It wasn’t all that long ago that we first spotted prototype versions of the current-generation Giant Revolt Advanced Pro right here at Unbound Gravel, months before launch. Now, almost exactly two years later, Giant and Liv appear to be back in Emporia with another pair of unreleased gravel race machines, and this time, there appears to have been a significant transformation: a move away from the “do-it-all” gravel side.

Both prototype bikes show a clear shift toward race specialisation. Where the outgoing Revolt and Devote platforms were proudly versatile, with multiple mounts, fork bosses, flip-chips and seatpost options, these new bikes look far more singular in purpose.

The fork blades have been stripped of the fork mounts and accessory bosses. Cable routing is now fully integrated through the cockpit, rather than neatly tucked beneath the handlebars as on previous models. The overall silhouette is cleaner, sharper and more aero in appearance.

Both bikes also appear to be designed around 1x drivetrains only, and, of course, tyre clearance appears to have been beefed up.

Australian Liv athlete Peta Mullens outfitted her new steed with yet-to-be-released Maxxis Aspen tyres with a HYPR-X|EXO casing in a 55mm, although actual frame clearance will likely be slightly tighter if following strict ETRTO recommendations. And with the projected mud for Saturday, those 55mm will likely be swapped to something narrower as well.

The finishing kit hints at a closer collaboration with CADEX for complete-package aero savings.

Some of the prototype bikes were fitted with what appeared to be unreleased top-tier CADEX components, including deep-section carbon wheels and integrated one-piece cockpits. The wheelsets in particular looked similar to CADEX’s MAX-level race products, hinting these bikes are aimed squarely at the sharp end of elite gravel competition.

Despite the brands’ strong racing heritage and support of elite gravel athletes, neither currently offers a true "Advanced SL" gravel race bike equivalent to their top-tier road machines such as the Propel Advanced SL or Langma Advanced SL.

That could be about to change.

And according to the athletes riding them, the changes go beyond aesthetics.

Liv athlete Melisa Rollins described the bike as noticeably stiffer and more responsive than the outgoing top-level Devote.

Meanwhile, Mullens highlighted the bike’s more aggressive fit and lower front end.

Mullens is also running an unusually long 140mm stem on her one-piece cockpit, paired with narrow 36cm handlebars.

"I’ve had a bad back for probably 10 years and I’ve always gone shorter [on the stem], but this year I saw a new bike fitter and he actually pushed me longer and I haven’t had back problems for several months," she explained.

Across the industry, brands increasingly appear to be splitting gravel bikes into two camps: the Swiss Army knives and the scalpels.

When we reviewed the top-end Revolt Advanced Pro 0, we praised it for being a highly versatile bike that could comfortably handle racing duties while remaining capable for bikepacking and mixed-terrain adventure riding.

These prototypes, however, suggest Giant and Liv are leaning harder into pure speed.

That mirrors what we’ve seen elsewhere in the market recently, with several brands moving toward lighter, stiffer and aero-optimised gravel race platforms focused purely on getting their rider to the finish line fastest.

For now, the Giant and Liv bikes remain firmly under wraps, but history suggests prototypes spotted at Unbound rarely stay hidden for long.

Come Saturday, the fuchsia pink Liv bikes will be raced by Tessa Neefjes and Peta Mullens. The Giant prototype will see action in the 200-mile pro men's race under Brendan Johnston and Cole Paton.

Today, Specialized officially drew back the curtain on one of the most anticipated bike launches of the year: the terribly kept secret that is the all new Crux.

By now, leaked photos had already circulated widely online, especially after Specialized Off-Road athlete Geerike Schreurs raced the new bike to victory at the Gralloch UCI Gravel World Series event.

The main storyline is that the generation 5 Crux has undergone a dramatic transformation. It’s one that, some proponents say, was long overdue, but the more practical riders may bemoan.

Gone is the classic silhouette of round tubing and a standard round 27.2mm seatpost. Gone also are the exposed wires and the build versatility that made the previous generation so easy to live with.

In their place sits a bike that looks very much like a fat-tyred Tarmac SL8, complete with sharp aerodynamic tube profiles, a proprietary aero seatpost and a fully integrated cockpit. The tyre clearance has been beefed up to 55mm (or 2.2inches if you’re running MTB rubber) but drivetrains are now limited to 1x only with a 52t cap on the chainring. Goodbye road gearing, goodbye suspension forks and dropper posts. Hello modern gravel race bike.

This is no longer the "one bike to rule them all." It’s a bike that giveth and taketh. It’s both divisive and inevitable. It meets the demands of modern racing built around long-distance speed, aerodynamics, comfort and high-volume tyres. And in that role, I expect this bike to do very, very well.

But for riders who fell in love with the previous Crux precisely because it resisted over-specialisation, the new direction may feel bittersweet.

The Crux redefined, yet again

The Crux was born in 2010 as a dedicated cyclocross race bike, replacing the TriCross model. It was well-liked and successful too, with riders like Zdenek Stybar and Tom Pidcock racing aboard the bike to rainbow glory in the Elite and U23 UCI Cyclocross World Championships, respectively, over the years.

The Crux 4, launched in 2021, was a truly revolutionary product. Just as cyclocross participation was shrinking and gravel racing exploding globally, Specialized repositioned the Crux platform as the featherweight, stripped-down crossover product, and alternative to the Diverge. In doing so, the American brand created one of the most versatile drop-bar bikes of the modern era. Few bikes in recent years have been so universally loved by riders, racers and reviewers alike.

The Crux 4 struck a rare balance. It blended the playfulness and agility of a cyclocross bike with the stability needed in gravel, and a ride feel, efficiency and raciness appreciated across the board.

It is also a bike that’s easy to live with. The external cable routing on the front end, threaded BSA bottom bracket, compatibility with aftermarket seatposts, suspension forks, dropper posts and both 1x and 2x drivetrains all make it easy to service and travel with.

The same bike could, and did, be ridden to victory in both a 200-mile Unbound Gravel race and a UCI Cyclocross World Cup.

I have no doubt that the new Crux will be any less successful. In fact, I suspect it will become even more successful at the highest levels of racing but in gravel specifically.

Interestingly, throughout all of Specialized’s launch material, cyclocross isn’t even mentioned. Instead, Specialized is very upfront about what this bike was built around: Unbound Gravel.

And that tells you almost everything you need to know.

What’s new

The Crux 5 pivots hard toward the demands of modern racing, borrowing heavily from the Tarmac SL8 playbook while simultaneously increasing tyre clearance and stability for long-distance events on rough terrain.

Headline changes include:

• A claimed 15.2 watt aerodynamic improvement at 45kph
• New aerodynamic tube shaping inspired by the Tarmac SL8
• Fully integrated cable routing and cockpit options
• Clearance for tyres up to 55mm or 2.2in
• 1x-only drivetrain compatibility
• Maximum 52t chainring capacity
• Dropped seatstays and a slightly altered geometry
• Claimed 789g S-Works frame weight (for reference the Crux 4 was 735g)

Despite the aerodynamic redesign, Specialized says the Crux 5 retains the same stiffness and compliance targets as the outgoing model.

The bike is also no longer positioned as an all-road-adjacent gravel bike. This is now a purpose-built race machine first and foremost.

A Fat-Tyred Tarmac

As stated, much of the Crux 5’s design comes from its road siblings. That influence is immediately obvious in the bike’s tube shaping and overall silhouette.

“Drawing directly from Tarmac SL8 learnings and decades of aero research, every tube on Crux 5 was sculpted for speed at elite gravel races," Specialized says. “Crux 5 is the most aerodynamic gravel race bike we’ve ever tested."

The aerodynamic improvements are spread across the entire bike rather than isolated to the frame alone.

Specialized says roughly 50% of the aero gains come from the frame, fork and seatpost, with another 30% coming from the new Roval Terra Aero wheels and the remaining 20% from the integrated Terra cockpit.

Still, aero is only part of the equation.

Rather than chasing isolated benchmark numbers, Specialized says it focused on one overarching metric: total elapsed race time over real-world gravel courses.

The company calls this its “Equation of Speed”, a simulation model combining aerodynamic drag, rider power, rolling resistance, surface roughness, environmental conditions and total system weight into a single prediction: Time to Finish.

“Smoother is Faster” has long been an engineering philosophy at Specialized and that certainly did not go unaddressed in the designing of the Crux 5.

During the 2025 edition of Unbound Gravel, a small telemetry box mounted underneath Matt Beers’ saddle collected accelerometer data throughout the race. Specialized says it has now gathered telemetry across thousands of kilometres and multiple elite gravel events, measuring the roughness and vibration characteristics of different gravel surfaces in real time.

Why? Because gravel racing presents a very different engineering challenge from road racing. At road-race speeds, aerodynamic drag dominates the equation. On gravel, speeds are generally lower and rolling resistance becomes significantly more important, particularly over rough surfaces where tyre deformation and vibration losses increase dramatically.

Specialized says the telemetry data feeds directly into its simulation models, allowing engineers to better understand how tyre volume, wheel design, rider fatigue and frame characteristics interact over events lasting upwards of 10 hours.

Rather than pursuing suspension solutions as it did with the short-lived Diverge STR, Specialized says the Crux 5 achieves comfort primarily through frame shaping, tyre volume and carefully tuned compliance targets.

Dropped seatstays, size-specific layups and the ability to run significantly larger tyres all contribute to reducing rider fatigue over long gravel races without adding the weight or complexity of suspension systems.

Specialized also credits what it calls “Flow State Design”, first introduced with the Aethos road bike. Engineers focused on optimising tube shapes so they carry loads more efficiently, reducing the need for additional carbon material.

The bike’s geometry has evolved alongside those aerodynamic changes. Though in the smaller sizes especially, these differences aren’t large.

Compared to the outgoing Crux, the new bike gets:

• A half-degree slacker head angle
• A lower bottom bracket
• A half-degree steeper seat angle
• Longer reach figures in larger sizes
• Increased tyre clearance to 55mm

Taken together, those updates point toward a bike designed to feel more stable at speed, more planted with larger tyres and more confidence-inspiring over rough terrain.

The wheel and tyre story forms a major part of the package too.

Specialized claims the new Terra Aero CLX wheels allow riders to run larger-volume tyres with effectively no aerodynamic penalty. According to the company, a 50mm Pathfinder or Tracer tyre mounted to the Terra Aero CLX wheel produces similar aerodynamic drag to a 45mm tyre mounted to the previous Terra CLX II wheel.

The result comes with some bold claims.

Using the company’s simulation model, Specialized says former Unbound winner Sofia Gomez Villafañe would have completed the 2025 edition of Unbound Gravel an impressive 9 minutes and 58 seconds faster aboard the new Crux 5 compared to the outgoing Crux 4, assuming identical conditions.

These numbers are impossible to verify, of course, but they do reveal how modern gravel racing is increasingly being approached: not as adventure riding, but as a very long time trial on unforgiving surfaces.

Introducing S-Level

Alongside the new Crux platform, Specialized is also introducing a new “S-Level” designation.

Positioned just below S-Works, S-Level is intended to bring flagship-level race performance to a slightly broader audience.

The Crux 5 S-Level uses a FACT 10r frame paired with a FACT 12r fork, the new Terra cockpit, SRAM RED XPLR and Roval Terra Aero CL wheels. The frame itself is claimed to weigh just 897g, with complete builds coming in at a claimed 7.7kg.

In practical terms, S-Level appears to function as a high-end performance tier sitting between the halo S-Works product and the more attainable Expert and Comp builds.

Builds & Pricing

First Ride Impressions

I’ve ridden the outgoing 2021 Specialized S-Works Crux since December 2021 and, in the years since, I’ve ridden the absolute crap out of it. It remains my favourite bike I’ve ever owned. I won’t go too deep into that here, but you can read my full 1,000-word love letter to the outgoing Crux here.

So I’ll admit that I approached the Crux 5 with a healthy amount of scepticism.

I’ve not yet fully bought into the whole “aero-is-everything” approach to modern bikes. I tinker with bikes far too much to fully embrace integrated everything and proprietary parts. Show of hands for everyone who has ever lost a seatpost wedge.

And so, when I first laid eyes on the Crux 5, it wasn’t love at first sight. It looks beautifully sleek and undeniably fast, don’t get me wrong. But I’ve always loved the timeless look of rounded tubes, a two-piece cockpit and the sheer practicality baked into the whole thing.

And then I swung a leg over the new bike. In my size 49, the geometry changes are so subtle that I immediately felt at home. It fit me like a glove. And within minutes of pedalling, I had my ah-ha moment.

This bike is fast. Not just marketing copy fast. Tangibly fast.

It accelerates like a rocket and carries speed exceptionally well on both dirt and tarmac. And, fortunately, the familiar liveliness of the Crux does indeed remain intact. While the new bike feels more composed than its predecessor, it is by no means over-dampened. On my lunch loop, sprinkled with singletrack, the bike felt unmistakably like a Crux. A smidge taller perhaps, and the ever beefier types certainly don’t help with the toe-overlap, but Crux all the same.

In many ways, it feels like a more mature version of the Crux concept. The old Crux had a carefree do-it-all attitude to it. The new bike feels more focused, more deliberate and more purpose-built.

It is stiff in the places that matter, accelerates eagerly and, importantly, remains remarkably comfortable over long hours.

This is not a harsh aero road bike masquerading as a gravel bike. The Crux 5 still feels refined over rough surfaces, particularly when paired with high-volume tyres, and there’s still enough playfulness in the handling to make it genuinely enjoyable to ride.

Importantly, it also retains some crossover appeal. I would have absolutely no hesitation using this bike as a road bike alongside its gravel duties.

Gravel racing at the sharp end has become increasingly fast, tactical and aero-conscious. Today’s elite gravel racers spend vast stretches riding in tightly packed groups, or even solo, at road race speeds. The spirit of exploration has, at the highest level at least, given way to the pursuit of outright speed.

In that environment, aerodynamic efficiency is everything (aside from preventing race-ending flat tyres, perhaps). The Crux 5 reflects that evolution perfectly.

The outgoing Crux became beloved because it blurred categories. The new Crux 5 will succeed because it embraces specialisation instead.

Of course, that comes with trade-offs.

The integrated cockpit and proprietary seatpost undoubtedly improve aerodynamics and visual cleanliness, but they also reduce the ease of adjustment, customisation, travel and maintenance that made the previous bike so easy to live with.

The bike is now 1x-only and designed specifically around gravel-wide chainlines. Mechanical drivetrains remain possible, though riders using the one-piece Roval cockpit will need to stick with electronic shifting.

Whether riders embrace those compromises will depend entirely on what they want from gravel riding.

For elite racers chasing every marginal gain at gravel events like Unbound, SBT GRVL or the Gravel Earth Series, the Crux 5 makes complete sense.

After riding the new bike, I’ve come to a simple conclusion: I don’t want one or the other. I want both.

Last year, Karolina Migoń arrived at Unbound Gravel as one of Europe’s strongest gravel racers, but not yet a marked rider on the other side of the Atlantic.

That anonymity is gone now.

"All the eyes will be on me," Migoń told Cycling Weekly ahead of her return to Emporia. "If I try to break away, everyone will try to chase me."

It’s not arrogance. It’s the new tactical reality facing the defending champion.

Twelve months ago, Migoń, a two-time Traka 360 winner, stunned the women’s race with a bold and dominant ride, spending more than 130 miles in the decisive move before soloing to victory across the Kansas Flint Hills. The performance instantly elevated her profile in gravel racing, and changed her life off the bike, too.

"I’m a full-time pro now," she said. "I earn money because of winning Unbound. I could manage good contracts, and I can make a living, so that’s pretty huge."

For years, Migoń balanced elite racing with a career as a software engineer. Now, Unbound has turned gravel racing into her profession.

"I have time to recover. I have time to train more. I can do more races," she said of the transformation. "I don't have to take time off, I can go somewhere ahead of races to do recon and prepare my bike better according to the course. There are a lot of advantages for sure."

So does that make her even more dangerous this year?

Not necessarily.

"I know the characteristics of the race, and it's a gamble to win it," she said. "It's not easy to win it, and there are so many circumstances that you don't have influence over. I think it's really hard to target this race, and it's something that you can't win just by preparing physically."

She knows that better than most. Her Unbound debut was derailed by mechanicals, and even last year, she punctured a tyre and narrowly avoided several crashes on her way to victory.

This year, Migoń’s ambitions stretch beyond Emporia. She is contesting the Life Time Grand Prix, a six-race off-road series spread across seven months and five U.S. states.

"The pressure is off because I won [Unbound] once already," Migoń said. "But it does matter because I'm in the Life Time Grand Prix. So my approach this year is to try my chances, of course, and do good in [the series]."

Increasingly, modern gravel racing has become as tactical as it is physical. What was once a pure survival contest has evolved into something closer to road racing on dirt. Beyond the course, the weather and sheer luck, there are now calculated attacks, team tactics and shifting alliances.

Migoń sits in a particularly interesting place within that evolution. She races alongside several PAS Racing teammates, including fellow top contender Cecily Decker, but the structure is looser than more unified squads such as Canyon All-Terrain Racing Team or Specialized Off Road.

"We are not really a team," Migoń explained. "We have different main sponsors that we get bonuses from."

Put more bluntly: she does not get paid if another PAS rider wins. That means cooperation only goes so far.

"If someone from your team is in the front, I won’t pull," she said. "So it is an advantage. But on the other hand, it’s also my position in the Life Time Grand Prix [that's at stake]."

And unlike a one-day target such as Unbound, the series rewards consistency across two disciplines and wildly varied terrain.

"For someone from Europe, the whole series is pretty hard," she said. "Last year, there were not many Europeans that even finished the whole series."

The challenge extends well beyond racing itself. Travel, jet lag, altitude and unfamiliar courses all complicate matters for European riders attempting a full U.S. campaign.

Still, Migoń seems excited by the opportunity rather than intimidated by it.

"I’ve done just Unbound before, so for me it’s also an opportunity to see all the races in the U.S.," she said.

After Unbound, she plans to head to altitude in preparation for the Leadville Trail 100, including racing the Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder and spending time training in the mountains.

But first comes the chaos of Emporia once again.

Forecasts heading into this year’s Unbound suggest warm and muggy temperatures, with the possibility of rain and that notoriously sticky Flint Hills mud capable of destroying drivetrains and race aspirations.

"I really like racing warm conditions," she said. "But if it gets muddy, then it’s more survival than racing."

Whatever the conditions, Migoń returns to Unbound in a very different position than a year ago: no longer an under-the-radar European contender, but the defending champion and one of the riders the rest of the women’s field will be watching most closely.

Migoń and the rest of the pro racers will tackle the 200-mile course at 6 a.m. CDT on Saturday, May 30. There will be free live coverage on the Life Time Grand Prix YouTube channel. For the start lists, course info and more, please visit our 2026 Unbound Gravel guide.

Come Saturday, all eyes will be on New Zealander Cam Jones (Scott), the defending Unbound 200 champion, who smashed the competition in last year's race with a 150-mile breakaway effort alongside Tudor rider Simon Pellaud.

Not only will we be watching to see if he can out-power the competition again, but also what he’ll be riding.

Scott today announced that Jones, as well as Swiss ultra-cyclist Robin Gemperle, will tackle the unforgiving terrain of the Kansas Flint Hills aboard a prototype bike built around 32" wheels. And one that, Scott emphasised, "will never be released on the market."

While cycling’s governing body, the UCI, dictates that all equipment used by its pro riders must be made commercially available within 12 months of it appearing in competition, gravel racing largely exists outside UCI governance. This means there are far fewer restrictions on equipment and much more freedom for manufacturers to experiment.

For years now, Unbound and its notoriously unforgiving terrain have served as both testing ground and launching pad for the latest gravel tech.

"Our athletes don’t just race; they test, challenge, and refine," says Scott. "Cameron Jones and Robin Gemperle have been riding a 32” prototype gravel race bike since last year. What began as a theoretical concept — a 'what if' — was quickly brought to life by Scott's R&D team."

Thirty-two-inch wheels have become one of the industry’s biggest talking points this season, with nearly every tyre manufacturer showcasing products in the size at April's Sea Otter Classic. Proponents of the new platform argue that a bigger wheel has greater momentum and therefore carries more speed. And, as we've learned with the emergence of the 29ers in mountain biking, larger wheels can roll over obstacles more easily. And then there are the tyres that go on them: more tyre means more contact patch, which translates into more grip, while a larger tyre also enables riders to run lower pressures without sacrificing traction.

But while tyre manufacturers appear fully committed to the format, we haven’t yet seen too many bike manufacturers roll out bikes in this new size aside from a handful of smaller custom builders. Scott is therefore among the first major brands to publicly back the concept.

According to the brand, it took just one test ride for Jones and Gemperle to be convinced that this would be their bike of choice for Unbound Gravel.

"This bike makes you feel like you're levitating over the surface. I'll be experiencing a road race while everybody else is racing gravel," said Jones about his Scott RC Gravel 32" bike.

"The driving traction and cornering grip is revolutionary. I'm genuinely scared how fast I'll be able to corner once on a course with proper descents."

Gemperle, who won the 2025 Tour Divide and Silkroad Mountain Race, said that the 32" wheel platform is just what gravel racing has been waiting for.

"We started by riding an unfinished bike, with crucial parts still developing. But ever since, I've known that even if there wouldn’t be a single additional test ride, I’d immediately take it to racing once granted permission," he said. "There were plenty of additional rides, and the project found its final shape, which cemented the feeling that this big boy is the actual size gravel racing and especially Unbound Gravel was waiting for."

Cam Jones' Scott RC Gravel 32" Bike Prototype

• Frame: Scott RC Gravel 32" Bike Prototype
• Handlebar: Syncros ST-R100-AL Stem 110mm, ENVE Aero Road bars 370mm
• Groupset: Shimano XTR with Dura Ace shifters and GRX Cranks
• Crankset: Shimano GRX with 4iiii Power meter and 160mm Crankset
• Wheelset: I9 Wheels (Custom Wheels Prototype)
• Tyres: 32“ Schwalbe RX 50mm

Robin Gemperle's Scott RC Gravel 32" Bike Prototype

• Frame: Scott RC Gravel 32" Bike Prototype
• Handlebar: Syncros HB-R 100 Alloy Handlebar 80/360mm
• Groupset: RED AXS XPLR 13 Speed Electric group set
• Crankset: SRAM RED XPLR Power Meter Crankset, 46T
• Wheelset: 32“ Prototype Wheels
• Tyres: 32“ Schwalbe RX 50mm

The countdown has begun for the biggest event in gravel as thousands board planes and pack into vans bound for Emporia, Kansas. Typically home to 24,000 residents, Emporia’s population will explode over the next week as gravel riders, sponsors, fans and media converge on the Kansan town in the middle of nowhere.

On Saturday, May 30, some 5,000 cyclists will line up in the dark, staring down hundreds of miles of tyre-shredding Flint Hills gravel. Some riders will take on shorter distances, while the premier event remains the Unbound 200 (which is 207 miles long, this year). The biggest event in gravel turns 20 this year, and Life Time is not being subtle about it. As part of the Life Time Grand Prix, the 2026 Unbound course pulls from two decades of race history, threading iconic sectors from past editions into a single route that begins by heading south from Emporia.

The forecast is ominous, with a chance of rain nearly every day leading up to the race. Unbound’s ‘south’ route has been known for mud, and many riders will be praying for dry weather. A busy spring season has seen thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes pass through Kansas, but there is an equal chance that the race could be hot and muggy.

What began in 2006 with 34 riders has become the biggest event in gravel, drawing WorldTour veterans, MTB Olympians, Classics winners and first-timers from over 50 countries. The 200-mile race is the flagship, but distances run from 25 to 350 miles for those who feel the 200 isn't quite enough suffering. Unbound is also the second round of the Life Time Grand Prix — a six-event series that has more than half a million dollars on the line in 2026. If that wasn’t enough, Unbound’s 200-mile elite race carries a standalone $60,000 prize purse, one of the richest payouts in off-road racing.

In addition to the mammoth distance, Unbound is made even more difficult by the tyre-slicing rocks of the Flint Hills. The area surrounding Emporia is littered with sharp rocks that destroy even the best equipment. Any rider who can complete Unbound without having a mechanical can thank their lucky stars.

Unbound Gravel: Riders to watch

Unbound Gravel always attracts an international field of current and former professionals from across cycling disciplines, and this year is no different. Sofía Gómez Villafañe is the favourite for the women’s Elite race, having taken the first round of the Life Time Grand Prix at Sea Otter Gravel, plus the Traka 200 a few weeks ago. Karolina Migoń is the defending champion at Unbound, but the Pole had a more difficult time at Traka, crashing out of the 360 and just missing the podium in the 200. Other female riders to watch include Cecily Decker, Lauren De Crescenzo, Rosa Klöser and Carolin Schiff.

New Zealander Cameron Jones won last year’s Unbound 200 as a wildcard in the Life Time Grand Prix, and he’ll take on an incredibly strong field that includes the Specialized Off-Road Team. Keegan Swenson and Matthew Beers have teamed up in 2026, and they are two of the biggest favourites in the men’s Elite 200. Last year’s runner-up, Simon Pellaud, returns for another crack at the title, along with a long list of non-Grand Prix riders that cannot be overlooked. The headliner is Romain Bardet, the former WorldTour pro who has already taken a number of big wins in gravel. Lukas Pöstlberger arrives on the back of a Traka 200 win, while Lachlan Morton — the 2024 Unbound champion — is always a factor in a race as long as this. There are countless strong riders on the start line, including but not limited to Thomas De Gendt, Ivar Slik and Mads Würtz Schmidt.

For a deeper dive into this year's contenders, please visit our startlist analysis here >>

The 2026 course

This year's course first heads south from Emporia, a flip in direction from previous years, but not an entirely new terrain for Unbound. To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Unbound is revisiting the roads that gave the race its identity. After a neutral rollout from the Granada Theater in downtown Emporia at 5:50 AM, the 207-mile race will begin in earnest.

The peloton will face a five-mile rolling uphill that locals call "the Towers climb," as well as the well-known Texaco Hill and Teter Hill. Organisers also decided to revisit the 10-mile Sharpes Creek Road, last used in 2015 during Unbound's most notorious mud year, the DD rollers and the Kahola Hill climb.

There are three elite feed zones along the course at miles 43.5, 82.2 and 148.9, and the riders are on their own during the stretches in between.

For a more in-depth look at this year's course, visit our coverage of the route announcement here >>

How to watch

For a second year running, Life Time will provide free live coverage of the 2026 Unbound Gravel presented by Shimano beginning at 5:35 AM CDT on Saturday, May 30. You can find the live stream on the Life Time Grand Prix YouTube channel, as well as the pre-race show — The Leadout — on Thursday, May 28 at noon CDT. Live updates from the course will run on the Life Time Grand Prix and Unbound Gravel Instagram pages throughout race day.

Commentary will be provided by longtime announcer Bill Elliston, Mountain Bike Hall of Famer Nat Ross and former pro Lauren Hall. In addition to the full broadcast, you’ll be able to watch extended highlights of both the men’s and women’s elite races on the Life Time Grand Prix YouTube channel in the days following the event.

The world’s biggest gravel-racing event, Unbound Gravel, is just around the corner and once again riders are readying their best bikes and preparing to take on the rough and remote gravel roads that stripe the Flint Hills region of east-central Kansas.

This year marks the 20^th anniversary of Unbound, and with the route having just been announced, excitement is mounting. It’s also the second event of the hotly contested six-race 2026 Life Time Grand Prix series. But who, exactly, is likely to be lining up for the 200-mile marquee race? We’ve been scouring the start list to seek out some of the most exciting riders in the pack, which includes several of the gravel world’s new young guns.

Men

Come Saturday, May 30th, all eyes will be Cam Jones (Scott), the defending champion who smashed last year’s race, taking victory in the Unbound Gravel 200 in imperious fashion after mounting a 150-mile breakaway effort with Swiss rider Simon Pellaud from Tudor Pro. The New Zealander emerged from the mountain biking scene to take people by surprise with the 2025 win, but now his cover is well and truly blown, and he’ll be on everyone’s radar this year. As should Pellaud be.

Also in the mix is Bradyn Lange, surprise winner of the 2025 US Gravel Nationals and the opening event of the 2026 Life Time Grand Prix series, the Sea Otter Classic Gravel race in April. With that victory, he is currently leading the Life Time GP rankings

Another very familiar name is, of course, Keegan Swenson, former winner of the 200-mile event and the dominant Grand Prix racer until Jones showed up.

One of the most exciting things to break last month was news that American legend Taylor Phinney was coming out of retirement to have a crack at a spot on the US pursuit team for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. An all-round rider, Phinney said that his route back after seven years away from pro riding had begun with gravel racing, and the Giro stage winner and 2009 individual pursuit track world champion has signed up for Unbound.

As always, there will be some European ex-WorldTour riders in the mix. From Peter Sagan to Greg Avermaet and Matej Mohoric, WorldTour retirees have seen varied success at the event, with most coming away a tad shell-shocked. Perhaps former Picnic PostNL rider Romain Bardet will fare better. The Frenchman retired from professional road cycling to take up gravel riding in the middle of last season and quickly showed his grit with an impressive win at RADL GRVL in Australia at the start of the year, riding with his new Factor Racing-Rapha CC team.

But he's far from the only poutsider who could disrupt the race, with several very capable European riders already registered to race. High on this list is Danish rider Mads Würtz Schmidt (Specialized Off-Road), who is enjoying an extraordinary season, with his successes including a win the Traka 360 in April, where he set an impressive new men's course record.

And Traka 200 winner Lucas Pöstlberger (Rose Racing) is also on the start list, a contender who, like Bardet, has some impressive road riding victories to his name, including a stage win at the Giro d'Italia, where he wore the coveted maglia rosa for a spell. The Austrian all-rounder started off as a mountain biker before switching to road, and then gravel, so he can certainly handle technical dirt.

Back in 2022, Ivar Slik became the first non-American to win the men's 200 race at Unbound, and although he missed subsequent races through serious injury suffered after a collision with a car in 2024, the Dutch powerhouse is back in action, and he will be back this year, taking on the elite distance once again.

A fan favourite and winner of Unbound Gravel in 2024, having competed in the event multiple times, Australian rider Lachlan Morton is coming back for another crack this year.

And speaking of Australians, one dark horse worth an outside bet is the British-born Aussie pro Freddy Ovett, who happens to be Mathieu van der Poel’s training partner and knows how to turn a wheel on the rough stuff.

Women

Last year's Unbound Gravel 200 winner, Karolina Migoń, will be back to defend her title. The Polish rider won in impressive fashion in 2025, going it alone for 130 miles once it became clear that her PAS teammate Cecily Decker and American national gravel champion Lauren Stephens (see below) were unable to match her pace, after the trio staged an early breakaway. The win was one of three big victories for Migoń last season, along with The Traka 360 and Gravel Locos.

She may have struggled to go toe-to-toe with Migoń at last year’s race, but Lauren Stephens has been crowned US National Gravel Champion three years in a row now and has tasted victory at Unbound in the 100- mile race. Last year, the former road pro came third in the 200-mile elite event, and she is returning for more this year.

German gravel rider Rosa Klöser, who seemed to emerge from nowhere to win Unbound in 2024, is returning this year for another stab at the race that got away from her last year, when a crash and a wrong turn meant she finished fourth. Incredibly, Klöser was a PhD student who had only been racing for a couple of years when she won the elite race in 2024 - now she has twice as much experience to bring to the party, she promises to be doubly deadly.

Lauren De Crescenzo, who first tasted victory at Unbound Gravel in 2021 and finished runner-up the following year, is back and will be contesting the elite 200-mile event this month. The American pro, who overcame a traumatic brain injury suffered during a race in 2016, also has wins to her name at the Tour of the Gila stage race, The Mid South (three times) and The Rad Dirt Fest, plus podiums at Crusher in the Tushar and Big Sugar Gravel.

Super competitor Sofia Gómez Villafañe, who took victory at Unbound in 2022 and finished runner-up last year, is always a contender in the Life Time Grand Prix series, and she will be one to watch at Unbound this year. The 31-year-old Argentina-born athlete has a hard-earned reputation as a fierce competitor, and has Big Sugar Gravel and the Traka wins to her name, too.

A full start list of elites competing in this year's Unbound Gravel 200 race is available on the event website.

Most defending champions spend the month before Unbound Gravel dialling in equipment, sharpening fitness and obsessing over recovery.

Heather Jackson spent hers running 250 miles across Arizona.

Less than a month before returning to Emporia to defend her Unbound XL title, Jackson finished fourth at the Cocodona 250, a punishing ultramarathon running race that stretches across the Arizona desert. She hallucinated ravens during the final night, survived on a pair of 15-minute naps, and emerged physically intact but mentally rattled after nearly 70 hours without sleep.

For Jackson, though, Cocodona wasn’t a detour from her cycling season. It was part of it.

While the former professional triathlete first built her post-Ironman career around gravel racing, Jackson’s ambitions have drifted steadily toward the outer edges of endurance sport: ultrarunning, self-supported bikepacking, and multi-day races where sleep deprivation matters nearly as much as fitness. This summer, Unbound XL sits between two enormous objectives: Cocodona and the Tour Divide. And Jackson openly admits she isn’t sure whether it’s possible to perform at a high level in both ultra running and ultra cycling, at the same time.

"I have no idea," she told Cycling Weekly with a laugh. "That’s what we’re gonna find out."

Jackson is still recovering from Cocodona — physically, mentally and neurologically.

"The comedown was pretty crazy. It’s only been the last three days that I’m seeing the light again," she said roughly 10 days after finishing the race.

She's also just now getting back on the bike with Unbound XL looming nine days away.

There was a time in Jackson’s life when that timing would have caused major stress. During her years as a professional triathlete, she said, she became "super caught up in data and numbers and all that stuff." But Jackson’s approach to endurance sports has changed alongside her goals.

Rather than chasing perfect freshness for Unbound, Jackson and her coach are treating the race as part of a much larger ultra-endurance build centred around a Tour Divide attempt later this summer.

This final week before Emporia will consist mostly of long rides to reacclimate to the bike after weeks spent focused on running and strength work.

"At this point, it’s more like making sure the touchpoints are trained," Jackson said. "Your legs know what they need to know. It’ll be in them or not. It’s making sure I can be in the saddle and in the position for that long."

This philosophy represents a sharp departure from the highly structured specificity that once defined Jackson’s training. Preparing for Cocodona and the Tour Divide at the same time forced her to rethink what ultra-endurance fitness actually looks like.

"I would have thought I needed to run so much more than I did," she explained.

Instead of logging mega running miles ahead of the 250-mile race, Jackson spent much of the spring balancing 60-to-70-mile running weeks with heavy blocks of endurance riding, strength training and hill repeats wearing a 30-pound vest. The goal was less about maximising mileage than building durability.

That realisation—that surviving the longest events depends on far more than aerobic fitness—has only pushed Jackson deeper into the world of ultra-endurance racing.

Since stepping away from professional triathlon, Jackson has largely let curiosity guide her athletic evolution. Gravel initially offered the sense of exploration and adventure she felt Ironman had lost. But over the last several years, she has watched gravel become increasingly professionalised and tactical — familiar territory for someone who spent 15 years in elite triathlon.

She also realised that pure gravel racing never fully matched her strengths as an athlete.

"If you want me to TT all day long, I love that," she said, laughing. "Sometimes the antics of gravel racing just aren’t for me."

The longer the events became, the more naturally they suited her. Last year’s Unbound XL victory and a successful ride at Traka 360 only accelerated her interest in races that extend through the night and into sleep deprivation territory.

Running followed a similar progression. After racing one-day ultras like Western States and UTMB, Jackson became increasingly fascinated by multi-day events like Cocodona.

"It was like, ‘holy sh$t, how do people do this?’ And because I’d done all the other things, it’s been sort of a natural shift of now I want to try this," Jackson said.

So this year, rather than targeting a traditional gravel season, Jackson built her calendar around the events that intrigued her most. Cocodona was high on the list, as was the Tour Divide bikepacking race.

Which leaves Jackson heading into Unbound XL in an unusual position: defending champion, but also an athlete recovering from one ultra and looking toward the next.

"If it goes well, that’s amazing," Jackson said. "If not, it’s still a solid day out."

Before Fred Schmid even made it to Emporia this year, his 25-year-old diesel truck broke down on the highway.

A radiator hose failed, the engine overheated, a tow truck was needed, along with a night at an RV park and eventually a borrowed Suburban just to make the annual trek to the Unbound Gravel event.

At 93 years old, even getting to the start line has become an endurance event. And yet Fred came anyway, as he has done on and off since 2015.

After completing the Unbound 100 three times, the Texan has returned to Emporia again and again chasing the Unbound 200 finish line, enduring sickness, exhaustion and unfinished miles along the way. One attempt ended after 110 miles when, as Fred put it, he was "puking and crapping and just feeling like hell." Another attempt ended at 120 miles because he missed the time cutoff. Last year, at 92, the adventure stopped at the first checkpoint after Fred decided that the prospect of another 130 miles, half of it in the dark, was simply "not intriguing."

When asked why he’s come back at all, Fred jokes: "Because I’m a dumbass."

But one doesn’t rack up 54 national championship titles and two world titles by being dumb. That kind of longevity comes from loving the sport and being unable to resist the draw of a distant finish line. Maybe all those things can be true at once, but not this year.

This year, Fred is showing a remarkable amount of wisdom and restraint.

"I’ve been training for the 200, but have decided it’s too much for me," Fred tells Cycling Weekly after he’s finally reached Emporia.

"I don't think I'm qualified to do the 200. Traditionally, for the last, oh, 10 years or so, I've been riding a distance equivalent to my birthday age. So I rode 93 miles on the 20th of April, and, um, I was pretty worn out by the end of that, to tell you the truth about it. So I've downsized to the 100."

What’s more, Fred revealed that this may be his very last Unbound, of any length.

"I think this is the last time I’m gonna do this. The old body’s beginning to show signs of wear," he admits.

But the Unbound 200 still lingers as unfinished business.

"I’ve said I would do it," Fred says, revealing that he’d seriously considered sleeping on the side of the road for rest if need be. "But I’ve never gotten myself to do that."

His wife, Suzanne, reminds him that "the whole point of it is to have fun."

And "fun" is what has kept Fred going all these years.

Long before the national championships and world titles, before the gravel races and mountain bike starts, Fred simply liked being outside. He spent his career working as a surveyor, hiking riverbanks and carrying heavy equipment across rough terrain in Louisiana and Texas.

"I never did let myself get in bad shape," Fred says. "I worked outdoors all my life."

At 61, Suzanne bought him his first mountain bike. At the time, the couple lived near Cameron Park in Waco, the host of several state and national championship events. But Fred’s original ambition didn't lie in racing at all.

"What I wanted a bicycle for was to do gravel riding," he says. "I enjoy riding and looking at ranches and farms."

As a child, Fred had lived on a plantation and developed a lifelong fascination with land, agriculture and open country. A bicycle became the best way to move through it all, slowly enough to appreciate it.

Racing happened almost accidentally. After some encouragement from another rider, Fred entered a beginner mountain bike race in South Texas and won. He kept moving up categories from there, collecting national and world titles across mountain biking, road, cyclocross and gravel racing.

These days, though, Fred no longer mountain bikes. Glaucoma has damaged his vision enough that shadows and technical terrain have become difficult to process safely. But gravel still works, especially on the long ranch roads outside Waco, where Fred regularly rides with his friend Whitney Fanning, an 80-year-old fellow Unbound racer who loaned the couple the Suburban that got them to Kansas this year.

"Biking to me is fun," Fred says, and credits the exercise for his physical and mental well-being. "If you enjoy it, you want to keep doing it."

At 93, Fred still drives long distances, still keeps up with cycling trends—he was swapping his gravel tyres from 42s to 50s when we spoke—and still texts, emojis and all. His cardiologist recently told him he has "the heart of a 33-year-old," and his mind remains sharp, even if, as Fred puts it, "the blade is getting a little dull."

Suzanne, whose background is in neuropsychology, believes the connection is undeniable.

"Fitness is the best way to maintain your memory and mental capacity, period," she says.

Fred has seen the contrast firsthand. Some of his peers and siblings, he says, stopped staying active as they aged and later struggled with severe health problems and dementia.

"Just keep going,” Fred says simply when asked for advice. "And maybe you can keep going a little longer."

Last year at Masters Nationals in Milwaukee, Fred met a 97-year-old rider who ‘kicked his butt’ in the time trial. Fred asked him what advice he gives people about ageing.

“He said, ‘Keep pedalling,’” Fred recalls.

And for now, Fred intends to keep doing exactly that, even if the rides are getting shorter. Even if the body is beginning to protest. Even if the unfinished Unbound 200 remains unfinished forever. There are endless gravel roads left to explore, ranches to admire and horizons worth chasing.

Unbound Gravel is turning 20 this year, and celebrates that milestone with a race course that strings together some of the best sectors of 20 years of gravel racing in the Flint Hills.

Headed both south and north of Emporia, Kansas, the 206-mile elite course features infamous sectors like Texaco Hill, Teeter Hill, Kahola dam and the 10-mile Sharpes Creek Road, which was last used in 2015 during the epic 'mud year'.

The official course GPS files were unveiled today, with two weeks left for riders to pre-ride and pray to the weather gods.

As always with Unbound Gravel, the course preview includes ominous descriptors like "chunky," "rocky" and "potentially muddy."

There will be leg-zapping climbs, never steep but always heavy, vast vistas, windblown plains, tire-slicing flint rocks and creek crossing.

In other words, "everything you could ever want in a MMR [minimally maintained road]," race organisers shared in a social media video.

Taking place the last week of May, the race through the Kansas Flint Hills offers five race distances and attracts 5,000 participants to the small town of Emporia, in the middle of the United States.

It was founded with just 34 riders in 2006, and the 200-mile event has since evolved from a niche, self-supported adventure into the world’s premier gravel race that attracts off-road professionals, WorldTour pros and Olympians alongside thousands of amateurs.

Let's dive into the course's key features.

The 200-mile flagship event starts in the early hours of May 30th in front of the Granada Theater in downtown Emporia, Kansas.

The peloton will leave downtown under neutral police escort for 3.3 miles, after which the riders are let loose to justle for position in what surely will be a fast and furious start.

The pack could start breaking up as early as 15 miles into the race on YY road, a five-mile stretch of rolling uphill the locals call "the Towers climb."

The course's first real climb, however, comes quickly after with the approach of the notorious Texaco Hill. It's just 1-1.5 miles in length but steady with a loose and chunky descent on the other side.

At mile 68, another Unbound classic makes its appearance: Teter Hill. This is a prominent, challenging and often decisive climb in the race. It's rocky and steep with grades over 10 percent.

Spirits will be tested on the 10-mile Sharpes Creek Road. It's long, rolling and seemingly endless as you can "see for miles." This was last used in 2015, which was the "year of the mud." Unbound mud is unlike anything else. It bogs down bikes, rips off derailleurs and is even known to break a frame or two.

The 2026 will also feature a brand-new addition: W road, which is a chunky, rocky and grassy road with another fun feature: a creek crossing.

From here it's onto the DD rollers, which race organisers say is "super chunky" and another bad spot for mud in case of rain.

The last big climb comes at 181 miles, the iconic Kahola Hill following the Kahola Lake dam crossing.

Then there's one last little punch on the paved Highland Street, then two quick turns and the finish line will be in sight.

Aid stations and feed zones

A new development in 2026 is that age group and Elite checkpoints have been separated for safety reasons. Amateurs may not use the elite feedzones and vice versa.

There will be neutral mechanics, neutral water and nutrition items at the amateur checkpoints. In addition, the event will provide two neutral Water Oases. Still, organisers warn, riders should prepare to be self-sufficient.

"The Flint Hills region of east-central Kansas is an extremely remote area. Please be aware...if you break down or become injured, it is your responsibility to contact your support crew to come get you. We will not rescue you," the event clearly states.

Age Group Checkpoints & Water Oases

• 432.3 Miles - Checkpoint 1 in downtown Madison
• 61.8 - Water Oasis
• 98.9 - Checkpoint 2 in Matfields
• 160.7 - Checkpoint 3 in Council Grove
• 191.8 - Water Oasis

Elite Feed Zones

• 43.5 miles - Start of Feed Zone 1 - Madison
• 82.2 - Start of Feed Zone 2 - Sycamore
• 148.9 - Start of Feed Zone 3 - along South 1400 Road

Some mornings in winter, Sofia Gomez Villafañe can ride for hours through Tucson and barely be noticed. The desert roads are full of cyclists — pros escaping the cold, retirees spinning along the bike path, locals squeezing in a quick loop before work. On rides like the Shootout, she’s just another cyclist in the pack. Yes, people recognise her, but she often gravitates toward the juniors, chatting with their parents, asking about school or upcoming races. Most of the time, the interactions are simple, friendly and unremarkable.

Which, if you’ve spent much time reading about Gomez Villafañe — or watching the film projects that follow the sport — that might come as a surprise. The version of Gomez Villafañe that sometimes circulates online, intense, relentlessly competitive, doesn’t always match the one people encounter in person.

"The people that know me," she says, “the people I actually interact with — they don’t hate me at all."

Over the past several seasons, Gomez Villafañe has become one of the defining figures of American off-road racing. Since committing fully to gravel in 2022, she has stacked victories at many of the discipline’s marquee events, including wins at Unbound Gravel, Big Sugar Gravel and the Traka. The results have established her as one of the sport’s most consistent winners and a perennial contender in the Life Time Grand Prix series that anchors the U.S. gravel calendar.

But dominance, particularly in a young and rapidly professionalising discipline like gravel, has a way of creating narratives. And for Gomez Villafañe, the one that has followed her is complicated.

Depending on who is telling the story, she can be portrayed as intense, hyper-competitive or intimidating. In the first season of Call of a Lifetime, the docuseries following the Life Time Grand Prix, Gomez Villafañe was cast — fairly or not — as something of a villain: the ruthless racer willing to say out loud what others might only think.

Ask her about that reputation, and she sighs.

"The list of names I haven't been called would be shorter," she says. "I've been told I take my job too seriously. I’ve been told I don’t know how to have fun. I’ve been told I’m a b*tch. I’ve been told I’m too competitive."

Then she shrugs.

"But, yeah, I am super competitive. I do take my job really seriously. It’s just not in the negative light that certain media outlets or film projects have made it out to be."

She admits the criticism hasn’t been easy to ignore.

"It’s gotten to me, that’s for sure. It forces you to look at yourself in the mirror and ask: Is there truth to this?"

Ultimately, though, she doesn’t think the answer lies in trying to correct the narrative from afar. Gomez Villafañe prefers instead to show up and do her job, whether on race day — when the game face is unmistakable — or during long winter training rides in Arizona, where it softens.

"I don’t think there’s a way for me to change people’s minds with film projects," she says. "I think it’s more meeting people in real life, in a real human setting, and letting them realise I’m not what the media has portrayed me to be."

Gomez Villafañe’s intensity didn’t arrive with professional racing. Long before podiums and contracts and docuseries storylines, the 31-year-old had already developed a stubborn kind of independence.

Growing up, Gomez Villafañe was the kind of kid who rarely waited around for help. The fifth of six children, she was born in Argentina and immigrated to the United States with her family as a child. Independence, she says, came early. If she was hungry, she’d climb onto the kitchen counter and cook something herself. If she wanted to go somewhere, she figured out how to get there.

"When I was young, Friday would come around, and I’d call my parents and say, ‘OK, I’m going to this friend’s house tonight. Then we’re going to the lake the next day, then this friend’s parents are picking us up, and Sunday I’m doing this. And I’ll be home at 8 p.m.,’” she recalls. “I had everything planned out.”

After high school in California, where she raced cross-country mountain bikes in the NorCal League, Gomez Villafañe moved to Durango, Colorado, to attend Fort Lewis College. The plan was simple: race bikes and get a degree.

Durango made that plan possible. Between the college program and the town’s deep endurance culture, Gomez Villafañe found herself in an environment where taking racing seriously was the norm. For her, that mindset felt natural.

"To be the best bike racer I can be, I need to be really strong, really fierce," she says. "I need to carry myself with a lot of confidence because if you’re not confident when you’re lining up for a race, it isn’t just gonna magically show up when you start racing."

That mindset has followed her into every phase of her career, from collegiate mountain bike racing to the professional gravel circuit she now dominates. It’s visible in the way she studies courses, the way she trains, the way she races — aggressively and without apology. In a discipline that once prided itself on a more laid-back ethos, Gomez Villafañe’s approach has sometimes stood out.

But to her, the distinction between competitive and overly serious has always felt a little artificial.

"Of course, I try hard," she says. "These brands are giving me the opportunity to focus full-time on racing, and I don’t want them to feel like they’re not getting a return on that investment. It’s a job at the end of the day. I’m really lucky that my job is something a lot of people do as a hobby, but for me it’s about being the best athlete I can be."

That doesn’t mean she doesn’t enjoy it. If anything, the structure and focus are part of what she loves most about the sport. The discipline of preparing for a race, the satisfaction of executing a plan, the simple clarity of knowing exactly what the goal is on any given day — those things have always appealed to the independent kid who liked to have the weekend mapped out before it even started.

What she has learned, though, is that seriousness can be interpreted in different ways depending on who’s watching.

Some of that realisation came with experience. Some came with time spent seeing how the sport presents itself to the outside world. And some came simply from meeting people face to face: the riders and fans who show up at races, shake her hand, and realise the person in front of them isn’t quite the character they might have seen online.

In those moments, the narrative tends to fall away. For all the storylines that have followed her in recent years, Gomez Villafañe believes that the simplest version of herself is also the most accurate: She’s competitive. She takes her job seriously. She wants to win.

And outside the race tape, she’s also just another rider rolling through the Tucson winter sun, putting in the miles and saying hello to the people she passes along the way.

The Life Time Grand Prix is back with new riders, fresh livestreams and the biggest prize purse in off-road cycling. Beginning with Sea Otter Classic Gravel on April 16th, the series runs from April through October and stops in five different U.S. states.

The first two races – Sea Otter and Unbound – are both gravel races, whereas the next three stops are MTB races. Big Sugar is once again the series finale, featuring a 100-mile gravel route in Bentonville, Arkansas.

First up is Sea Otter, a plane ride away for much of the Grand Prix field. Of the 44 selected riders (22 men and 22 women), 19 of them are international riders from outside the U.S.

In addition to some new riders, Life Time has made some key rule changes, including the launch of a pregnancy policy. Let’s dive into all the details, including a closer look at the series’ opening round at Sea Otter.

The 2026 Life Time calendar

After some major calendar changes ahead of the 2025 edition, the Life Time Grand Prix returns with an identical calendar in 2026. The Leadville Trail 100 MTB is the only event held at high altitude, but every race features a significant amount of elevation gain. Chequamegon MTB Festival is the shortest event at just 40 miles, while Unbound Gravel is the longest at a staggering 200 miles.

The series finale is once again held in Bentonville, Arkansas – one of the weirdest places I’ve ever been – for an action-packed week that features both Little Sugar MTB and Big Sugar Gravel in the span of six days.

• April 16th: Sea Otter Classic Gravel
• May 30th: Unbound Gravel 200
• August 15th: Leadville Trail 100 MTB
• September 19th: Chequamegon MTB Festival
• October 11th: Little Sugar MTB
• October 17th: Big Sugar Gravel

The drop race rule remains in effect, allowing riders to discard their lowest score (i.e. worst race placing) after Race 4 in Chequamegon. Big Sugar Gravel is the only mandatory race for Grand Prix participants, and it serves as the tie-breaker for overall series points.

Key rule changes for the 2026 Life time Grand Prix

One of the biggest updates to the Life Time Grand Prix is the introduction of a Pregnancy Policy — a landmark move for women's sport. "The policy allows selected athletes to withdraw from the series without penalty and guarantees them a protected roster spot the following season...To qualify, athletes must notify Life Time of their pregnancy in a timely fashion and confirm their intention to return in the subsequent year."

The policy was sparked by an announcement from Grand Prix athlete Sarah Sturm, who said, "When I got pregnant, my first call was to the Life Time Grand Prix to figure out what to do. This sparked a whole conversation, and with the hard work of the people at Life Time, we now have a pregnancy policy. This is a big deal for women in the Grand Prix and for women in sport."

The U23 category returns to the series, with the top male and female finishers earning automatic entry into the 2027 Life Time Grand Prix. There is also the rapidly growing Wild Card roster of 80 athletes who will be attempting to earn their way into the Grand Prix mid-season. More on that in a minute, but first, let’s analyse the contenders.

Contenders for the 2026 life time grand Prix

In 2025, we saw the biggest surprise in Life Time Grand Prix history when New Zealander Cameron Jones won the Men’s Overall Series. Jones wasn’t even in the Grand Prix at the beginning of the season. In fact, he wasn’t even mentioned in our 2025 series preview.

While there are certainly a number of favourites coming into the 2026 Life Time Grand Prix, we have already seen how the series can be turned on its head. Who knows, maybe we will see another Wild Card winner in Bentonville.

It’s difficult to look past three-time LTGP Champion Keegan Swenson and South African powerhouse Matt Beers for the men’s title, especially once you realise that the two have joined forces at Specialized. But as big of favourites as these two might be, you can never count out Cam Jones. While Swenson is recovering from a broken pelvis, Beers is coming off a win at the 2026 Cape Epic, so it’s anyone’s guess what kind of form these riders will be in at Sea Otter.

Swiss rider Simon Pellaud delivered a number of impressive performances last year on his way to finishing second overall in the LTGP. He will face other contenders such as Alexey Vermeulen and Simen Nordahl Svendsen, along with a host of newcomers. Among the biggest names are Andreas Seewald, the reigning European Mountain Bike Champion, and Jan Stöckli, runner-up at The Traka 360 in 2025.

Sofía Gómez Villafañe is the #1 favourite for the women’s LTGP. She has claimed the overall victory three times, taken two victories at Unbound Gravel, and she’s already taken a win in 2026 at Mid South. But the competition will be fierce, featuring riders such as 2025 Unbound winner Karolina Migoń, and 2025 Gravel Earth Series winner Rosa Klöser.

Last year’s runner-up, Cecily Decker, returns for another run at the title, as well as Cécile Lejeune and Paige Onweller. The biggest question marks could be swirling around Melisa Rollins, who suffered a broken elbow just before this year’s Cape Epic. Rollins finished third in the LTGP last year, but her participation at Sea Otter is up in the air following surgery.

Other riders to watch include Cobe Freeburn, Simen Nordahl Svendsen, and U.S. National Gravel Champion Bradyn Lange. On the women’s side, watch out for Lauren Stephens, Alexis Skarda and Lauren De Crescenzo.

Wild card spots still available

You may have noticed that the LTGP has an unusual number of riders: 44, with 22 men and 22 women. That’s because Life Time is leaving space for three Wild Card entries in each gender category. Three additional riders per gender will be added to the LTGP field following Sea Otter and Unbound, offering a last-ditch chance for riders to join the series mid-season.

In fact, there are four Wild Card spots open in the women’s LTGP since Sarah Sturm’s pregnancy announcement. Sturm is listed as part of the 2026 Grand Prix, but it’s safe to assume she will put racing to the side in 2026 and come back next year.

As you might expect, the list of riders looking to join the series is long and strong. A number of big names missed out on Grand Prix selection in 2026, and they will be attempting to ride their way back into the GP through the Wild Card system. The long list of Wild Cards includes Russell Finsterwald, Griffen Easter, Dylan Johnson, Jonas Orset, Adam Roberge, Hannah Shell, Haley Smith and Alex Wild.

2026 season opens at Sea Otter

The 2026 Life Time Grand Prix begins in earnest on a Thursday in Monterey, California. It has been a long time since the LTGP last lined up under thunderous skies in Bentonville, Arkansas. Both, the men and women will race 90 miles at Sea Otter Gravel, a hilly and technical route that utilises sections of singletrack from the Sea Otter MTB course.

Riders will contest three laps of the circuit around Laguna Seca Raceway and more than 8,000 feet of climbing. Swenson won last year’s edition, while non-Grand Prix rider Haley Batten dominated the women’s race, with Villafañe being the top LTGP finisher.

For the first time, Life Time is offering a livestream of Sea Otter Gravel. You can also follow the race via updates on Instagram, and more post-race coverage, including a highlights package on YouTube. Cycling Weekly will report on everything that went down during the race as well.

As a top-tier professional hanging up your racing wheels, there have been a few traditional routes down which retirement might be expected to take you. Team management is an obvious and well-trodden option, while opening a bike shop or becoming a winemaker seems to have been a popular one over the years too.

But in the past 10 years a new vocation has emerged that has proven increasingly popular with anyone left with a hankering to race on their own terms: gravel. This vibrant branch of bike racing has attracted former professionals in their droves, from Lachlan Morton, to Greg van Avermaet and Geerike Schreurs.

Now it's the turn of new 'man of leisure' (in heavily accented inverted commas) Michael Woods, who retired last year aged 38 after 10 seasons in the WorldTour. He intends to ride gravel too – and a whole lot more. Following his announcement this week that he intended to tick off a bucket list's worth of big events in a variety of disciplines, from gravel, to triathlon on Skimo. Cycling Weekly caught up with him to find out more.

How did the idea for all this come about?

"After the Tour de France I was flying, in really good shape. I knew I was going to retire, and that I'd only be able to be in this type of form for another year or two, maybe three, max. I'm already noticing subtle declines in my performance. It's not going to last forever, and so I want to capitalise on that.

"Also as an avid exerciser, there are events that I've always wanted to do. And so I thought this would be a great opportunity to try and create this bucket list of big items, and try and knock them off and see how they go."

So it's the perfect excuse to use that current fitness?

"Exactly. And the other piece with that is when I first started cycling, I had this imposter's perspective, because I started so late. So when I did bike races, nothing was innate to me, but I was at the front of these races, and I could see all these things these guys were doing that were just crazy, that I thought were absolutely nuts – like peeing out of off a bike, or banging bars. These things that to them were completely normal, but to me were wild.

"I had a blog when I first started, and I really liked telling stories that were just wild to me. And I think that's the other goal for this next year is to bring that imposter's perspective again, to different disciplines and try to give other people insight into that.

You mentioned Leadville and Unbound in your blog announcement, and you've talked about Traka too. Are there any other big gravel events you're hoping to get involved in?

"Yeah, I'm starting with Santa Vall [in Spain] in a week and a half. I'm also going to do some Life Time stuff with Sea Otter and, like I mentioned, Unbound. I'll also do some UCI World Series gravel racing, but I don't think I'll do the Worlds, just because it's in Australia, which is a big trek."

How's the swimming going for the triathlon? That's a totally different ball game...

"A totally different ball game. And the one I'm least well versed in. I'm terrible, but I'm getting better by the day. I started working with a coach, and the improvements have been massive. And I'm loving the technical aspect of it. It's really fun."

What sort of triathlon distances are you looking at?

"I have no choice, I have to do an Ironman! I think it'll be easier for me to be more competitive at the longer distances, which is why I want to do Ironman. Because my swim is weaker, but I can make up for in the two other disciplines, running and cycling. But, yeah, my Ironman plans have taken a bit of a hit because I broke my toe two months ago, so I'm starting to build back up from that now.

"That's the other piece with training for this wild calendar, is that the bumps and bruises are plenty. Between the skiing and the swimming, my arms have never been sorer – I'm moving my body in way different directions."

With the skimo – I had to look it up [it's ski mountaineering]. It's an Olympic sport, right? Sounds interesting.

"Skimo is something that I love. I've done it for the last five years. Being full-time in Andorra, I've incorporated it into my training for, for when I was racing in the WorldTour. There are just days in Andorra when it's not possible to ride outside, and way better than the trainer is skiing and climbing up a mountain and skiing down. I found it to be quite transferable to my riding.

"The races I'm going to do are more oriented on the pure version of the racing form [rather than the short-form Olympic one]. And the big one is Pierra Menta, which they call the Tour de France of skimo. It's a four-day stage race in France. And I'm doing it with [former Uno-X Mobility rider] Amund Jansen, who recently retired as a pro cyclist as well. His son goes to the same school as my kids."

I was going to ask whether you'd taken up any new hobbies in your retirement, but it doesn't sound like you've had much of an opportunity.

"Not at all – I have no time right now. I'm trying to actually be a bit more of a present dad. And then the other piece [with these new sports] is that the equipment management is shocking.

"The other thing I'm learning about right now, especially entering the gravel world, is the privateer life, and the necessity of having to be more present online, creating more content, being a better storyteller. Those things I don't think are appreciated in the WorldTour. A lot of WorldTour riders think, 'Oh, this guy has got it easy. He just has to do 15 bike races a year, that's it'. But it's actually quite a bit of work creating intriguing content that generates eyeballs and revenue for sponsors."

You made the final stage of the Tour de France last year sound especially brutal with the weather and the cobbles [Woods described the Champs-Elysées pavé as "inhumane and awful" after 20 days' racing in his blog post]. But you still managed to savour it as you knew it was probably your final Tour – and then it turned out to be your final day's racing. It sounds like a reminder to savour every moment...

"Yes. Especially when you do a lot of races, it's easy to just kind of go through the motions and and think you're going to be there again the next year.

"It's easy to fall into that trap, and I found myself doing that a lot last couple years. I didn't expect the Tour to be my last race, so I wasn't savouring it as my last race. But I did savour it because I was pretty confident was going to be my last Tour."

What do you think of the inclusion of Montmartre again in this year's Tour de France?

"I'm torn on the Montmartre stage. I think it's so amazing doing it – I've done it now at the Tour, I also did the Olympics there. And going up Montmartre, even when it was raining, was incredible. The ambience, the fans, the noise. It's so cool. So a lot of me loves that.

"But the pro cyclist in me hates it. At least the pro cyclist that's a climber that's never going to do a result in that stage. Like, what an iconic stage to win on now. For someone outside of cycling, like when I was watching it just as a fan of the sport in my early 20s, I always wondered why guys didn't race the Champs-Elysees more. So to me, it seems like it's more of a race to the finish. So I understand it from an entertainment perspective. But like I said, as a guy who's raced that race five times, I hated it."

Michael Woods begins his 'bucket list year on February 14 at Santa Vall, Sant Gregori, Spain.

Michael Woods isn’t done competing yet. The 39-year-old Canadian retired from the WorldTour at the end of 2025 but his appetite for challenging himself hasn’t faded.

In a reflective blog post published today, the four-time Grand Tour stage winner revealed that he plans to compete in triathlon, gravel racing, mountain bike marathons and ski mountaineering.

"The aim is to see how, after 15 years of building an aerobic base in one sport, I stack up against the best endurance athletes across a number of disciplines," he writes, adding that his calendar will include top-level events like Pierra Menta, Ironman, Leadville and Unbound Gravel.

The announcement comes after a less-than-storybook ending to his WorldTour career. Woods describes it as "a funeral without a casket," with his cycling career feeling "lost at sea."

The former Canadian national champion had hoped to end his time on the WorldTour at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, a race on home soil that helped launch his career more than a decade earlier. Instead, his final race turned out to be the closing stage of the 2025 Tour de France on a cold, wet Champs-Élysées.

"Crossing the line with Benjamin Thomas at the Tour, I had no idea this would be my last race as a professional cyclist," he writes. "I wasn’t rolling around the Champs-Élysées thinking this was my final pro road race."

That outcome was ultimately decided for him. A long-standing inguinal hernia worsened after the Tour, leaving him unable to train or race. "The pain worsened to the point that riding was no longer viable," he writes, the injury bringing his professional career to an abrupt close.

"Instead of sinking beers on Rue St. Catherine post-race [in Montréal], I found myself sitting at a dinner table in the Shouldice Hernia Hospital with a bunch of men my dad’s age, discussing our impending hernia surgeries and retirements," Woods shares.

A former runner, Woods came to cycling late, joining the WorldTour with Cannondale-Drapac at 29 in 2016. He went on to win stages of the Vuelta a España and Tour de France, along with finishing on the podium at the UCI World Championships and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

"Since I started cycling at such a late age and never envisioned riding for as long as I did, the idea of retirement was something I was constantly aware of," he says. "Having also lived a life outside of the sport and dealt with the end of another sporting career, I was confident that my retirement would only bring me great satisfaction. Instead, it brought the opposite."

Woods reveals that he had a contract option for another year on the WorldTour but declined it in favour of pursuing his long-held belief that "one of the most beautiful things you can do in life is challenge yourself."

"I want to challenge myself again. I want to put myself outside of my comfort zone and try to compete in and against the best endurance athletes across a range of disciplines," he says.

Through a project titled Way to Race, Woods will test himself against specialists across multiple endurance disciplines. Alongside racing, he plans to document the process through his blog, Instagram and YouTube, exploring questions ranging from how a WorldTour rider fits into the privateer-driven endurance scene to whether the Tour de France truly represents the hardest endurance challenge in sport.

Stay tuned.

If you haven't heard of Matthew Beers, chances are you’ve been living under a heap of gravel. Since signing with Specialized Off-Road in 2024, the South African has become one of the most popular and feared riders on the US gravel racing scene, forging a reputation built on his 480W FTP and exceptional bike-handling skills.

Despite years of success racing road, mountain, and gravel bikes in South Africa, including a stint at UAE Team Emirates-XRG as a stagiaire in 2019, it was his 2021 Cape Epic win alongside Frenchman Jordan Sarrou that put him on the radar of international teams.

Two further Cape Epic wins followed in 2023 and 2024 with Christopher Blevins and Howard Grotts, proving 2021 was no fluke. These were raced alongside three different partners, an amazing feat in itself.

Fast forward to today, and Matt Beers is as well known in the USA as he is in his home country of South Africa, thanks to the Life Time Grand Prix. Despite a successful season, 2025 didn’t start well for Beers; this included his title defence of the Cape Epic with Keegan Swenson in March.

“The early months didn't quite go to plan,” Beers told Cycling Weekly.

“Races leading up to the Cape Epic, I had mechanicals, then the Cape Epic didn't go great either. After that, I went to the USA and Europe and had some great results. Then, mid-season, it went downhill again, but the last months of the year were great, so it's definitely been up-and-down with the ups outweighing the downs.”

While gravel as a discipline is still in a state of flux and constantly evolving, one country is leading the charge – the United States of America, and this is where Beers spends large amounts of his season, training and prepping alongside his good friend Keegan Swenson. Beers believes the USA is the land of opportunity for off-road racers, more particularly aspiring gravel professionals.

“I think the USA is still the place with the most opportunities. Unbound will change your career like no other gravel race, but other events and countries outside of the USA are becoming extremely popular; races such as the Traka and Gravel Burn.”

After winning the Big Sugar Classic in emphatic fashion with an incognito attack that caught the Life Time Grand Prix series leaders napping, not to mention averaging over 431w for over two hours of racing, Beers returned to his native South Africa to take on a whole new challenge before some time off with his wife - a seven-stage off-road race called Gravel Burn. In terms of the gravel racing, South Africa is the polar opposite of what you’ll find in the States, according to Beers.

“Firstly, the terrain is very different, and a lot of the gravel is quite sharp and loose in South Africa. In the USA, it obviously varies state by state because the country is so vast. But the most significant difference is the size of the elite field. The bunch is about three times the size in the USA, so positioning and fighting for the wheels is much harder.”

While Beers has always been a formidable rider - even when he was racing full time in South Africa for various teams - since signing for an international outfit and racing against the world’s best gravel riders, he seems to have kicked up a gear and reached his full potential as a cyclist, something the South African reckons comes down to the higher racing stimulus.

“The racing in the USA has definitely contributed to the higher level of my fitness and overall race craft. The racing field is deep in Europe and the USA, but the South African guys are very strong, too.”

Inconsistent performance plagued Beer's early career, he admits, due to improper fueling and a lack of thorough understanding of the process. This is something he has spent years perfecting and training for, and the results are clear.

Beers has one of the biggest engines in contemporary professional cycling and is widely known for his unreal power output and ability to roll at ridiculously high absolute watts. Given his size, he needs a lot of fuel to operate optimally. For context, Matt is 1.96m (6’4”) tall and weighs roughly 80kg.

“It's taken a while to find a sweetspot and something that works for me, but 90g/hr for really hot and high altitude races and 120-140g/hr for cooler races. My weight is around 82-84kg, depending on the time of year and what races I'm doing, and my FTP is 480W.”

While his size has its benefits for driving the pace on the flats and using momentum to catch lighter riders and force breaks, especially into the wind, he cites aerodynamics on the bike as one of his biggest challenges.

“My height and size have their benefits and downfalls, but that applies to anyone else, too. I think my biggest problem with the gravel bike now is aerodynamics. It isn't easy to be aero, comfortable, and powerful. At least one of those factors is gonna be compromised, so figuring that out isn't easy.”

Nutrition and staying healthy throughout a long and arduous racing season are challenges most professional cyclists face. While Beers doesn't have a set nutrition regimen to enhance recovery, he tries to eat clean and maintain consistent eating habits throughout the season.

“I just try to maintain a good overall weight and relationship with food. Just eating clean, good food and not risking gastrointestinal issues with strange foods.”

Asked about South Africa’s potential to host a future addition of the UCI Gravel World Championships, he was quick to point out that the country’s vast rural network of gravel roads and variable terrain has a lot to offer the world.

“South Africa has some of the best gravel roads in the world, especially in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, and the Karoo. Hopefully, the UCI brings the World Championships to South Africa before I retire.

Coming off such a successful 2025 campaign, which culminated with a broken clavicle during the Wines2Whales mountain bike stage race after Gravel Burn in November, Beers was forced to take a much-needed off-season and honeymoon with his wife, Kayleigh.

“I'll be relaxing for the most part. It's been a long year. But I'll be going on honeymoon with my wife, which will be very cool.”

His goals for 2026, however, revolve around gravel racing in particular, and judging by how he raced this past season, a lot will be expected from the big man – not to mention he will be more marked than ever before. While nothing has been confirmed, Beers told us he will focus on staying consistent, as that drives his success, but his goals remain the same.

“I think just consistency and learning how to race gravel has helped with my success this year; figuring out the equipment choices and specifying my training more towards gravel. I haven't sat down yet properly and looked, but there are a few races that remain the same, like Unbound, the UCI Gravel World Champs potentially, and a few others, such as the Traka or Sea Otter Classic – those are two races I would really like to win.”

It always seemed inevitable, and now it has finally happened – in the space of a few frustrated business meetings, the course of what is arguably the most important gravel race in the UK has taken a major and irrevocable steer.

You may have seen the news earlier this week that the British Gravel Championships will be run, or at least overseen, by British Cycling from now on. The original organiser, Red On Sports, has walked away from the event after failing to agree terms with BC, and while it could continue to run its own separate championships, Red On understandably decided that having two competing events (and champions) is not in anyone's best interests.

Contracts, tendering processes, money – this wasn't what gravel was supposed to be about, was it?

The unfortunate truth is that it's not easy to run any major event without money poking its ugly nose in. Even at club level you'll need to pay levees to cover insurance, while for those who work for events companies such as Red On Sports or Life Time, which runs Unbound and the Life Time Grand Prix series in the US, it's how they put food on the table.

So does this mean the so-called spirit of gravel is on its way out, if indeed it ever really existed? I would argue not – although when it comes to racing, that spirit tends to dissipate on a par with how big the event is. Take the UCI World Championships, with its road WorldTour protagonists universally riding bikes with five figure swing-tags around courses designed to satisfy any number of business concerns.

Then again, take the Tour Divide. This ultra-bikepacking event, which bisects the USA from north to south, is a completely different offering to the UCI Worlds. No entry fees or qualifications, no prizes, no support, no fancy jersey for the winner and no specific bike requirement. And yet, if you exist in the gravel sphere, you might even consider this the event with more cachet.

When it comes to what most of us think of as the spirit of gravel, Tour Divide's 'come one, come-all' approach ticks almost every box.

Tour Divide is still a race though, with winners, losers and an extremely arduous 4,400km parcours. Perhaps gravel's true spirit lies well away from finish lines and bib numbers, and can instead be found in the world of group rides, solo rides, and phone pictures of landscapes and friends with bikes leaning against gates, trees and bridges.

The onlookers who argue that Britain has no 'real gravel', or that gravel bikes are just glorified 90s mountain bikes, or a cyclo-cross bike badged differently, are missing the point, because this is the beauty of the 'discipline'. A gravel ride can encompass any surface, from tarmac, to muddy singletrack, canal towpaths to the one we all see in our dreams – that famous 'champagne gravel'.

What's more, it can be undertaken on any kind of bike. Whether it's a brand new, fully fledged gravel machine, your old CX bike, or indeed a Nineties mountain bike. Turn up to the group gravel ride on any of these and nobody will look at you funny – and that, I'd say, is the spirit of gravel.

Unbound Gravel is turning 20 this year! In the words of co-director Kristi Mohn, it is 'the race that everyone loves to hate.” And she’s not wrong. Every year, without fail, the moment the first tyres cross the finish line in Emporia, Kansas, the critiques start rolling in. Too muddy. Too dangerous. Too big. Too corporate. Too... something. And yet, despite the noise, or maybe partly because of it, Unbound remains the gravel race. The one that changed everything. The one that helped turn gravel from a ragtag subculture into an international phenomenon with its own pros, its own economy, and its own set of controversies.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Unbound shaped what professional gravel cycling looks like today. And for some riders, it’s done something even bigger: it’s changed their lives.

Every year, 5,000 riders make the trek to middle-of-nowhere Kansas, while thousands more follow from home, hoping to win a spot in next year’s entry lottery. For most, simply finishing Unbound is a personal journey. But for the select few chasing victory in the 200-mile flagship event, the reward goes far beyond a proverbial crown and seeing your face on a flag in downtown Emporia. Winning Unbound is a springboard to a career you didn’t even know was possible.

We spoke with five past winners whose lives were forever altered by crossing the finish line in first.

'Unbound is the first true monument of its genre' - Keegan Swenson

Keegan Swenson has established himself as the rider everyone measures against in American off-road racing. In the past few years, the 31-year-old has seemed nearly untouchable in the gravel and marathon mountain bike racing scene. He’s won the biggest and toughest races, including Unbound Gravel, SBT GRVL, Big Sugar Gravel, the Sea Otter Classic, Leadville 100, Crusher in the Tushar, as well as the USA gravel and XC mountain bike national championships. And he's won many of them multiple times. He has dominated the Life Time Grand Prix, winning the overall series three years in a row. And as of last weekend, he added a world title to his palmares by winning the brutal UCI cross-country marathon world championship race.

And yet, among all the titles and race wins, Unbound still holds a special place.

"For me personally, it’s one of the races I am most proud to have won. I think it played a key role in shifting the narrative of me being ‘just a mountain biker’ to being a legitimate threat at any bike race," he said.

“Unbound is totally unique. The length of the day, weather, and a course that doesn’t have key defining characteristics that allow bike skill or power-to-weight to really separate the field all work together to make it one of the hardest races to win.

"In terms of gravel, I think it’s the first true monument of this genre. And I think it legitimises any rider who wins it in a way that is similar to the legitimising effect of winning a monument for a road racer."

For all he’s already achieved, Swenson’s ambitions at Unbound aren’t behind him.

“It’s one of the races I look forward to most every year, and I look forward to grabbing another Unbound win," he said.

'I never thought I'd come back to pro cycling' - Lauren De Crescenzo

Lauren De Crescenzo’s cycling career has been one of promise, dramatic setback and reinvention.

In April 2016, she was just 25, a neo-pro with the Visit Dallas DNA Pro Cycling team, when a freak crash in the San Dimas Stage Race nearly ended her life. Leading out a teammate, her handlebars caught a fence, sending her over the bars. Her next memory came three weeks later in a hospital bed.

In that blackout stretch, De Crescenzo had been airlifted, placed in a medically induced coma to stem brain bleeding, and treated for a fractured skull, broken vertebrae, hand fractures and severe facial injuries. She had to relearn how to walk, balance and even talk. For most riders, that would have been the end.

Instead, she clawed her way back, returning to bike racing and the podium's top step. Five years after her horror crash, she took a dominant victory at Unbound Gravel, kicking off a multi-discipline career that has seen her win, among others, the Tour of the Gila stage race, The MidSouth (three times) and The Rad Dirt Fest, along with podiums at Crusher in the Tushar and Big Sugar Gravel.

“I never thought I'd come back to pro cycling," De Crescenzo reflected.

When she lined up at Unbound in 2021, she simply set out to survive the 200 miles. At the time, she was working full-time as an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, serving on the COVID task force. The pandemic, however, unexpectedly opened the door back to competitive fitness. With offices closed, she no longer spent hours commuting and instead poured that time into training. In those months of isolation, riding long and often became both a habit and an outlet; the kind of preparation that quietly set the stage for her biggest win.

“After I won, I remember one of my friends telling me, ‘Lauren, your life's about to change. You’ll be quitting your job soon’. And I was like, ‘no way. I'm going back to the office on Monday’," De Crescenzo recalled.

And she did. She worked for two more months before the sponsorship deals that came out of the Unbound win were enough to match the salary she was making at the CDC.

"My legs will only be able to do this for so long, and the cubicle will always be there waiting for me," the 35-year-old said about how she justified leaving the CDC to herself.

"It was a really hard decision for me to make because I thought that I had my whole life figured out. Bike racing was behind me and I had my dream office job as an epidemiologist, saving the world," she said.

As a young road racer, she had always held three odd jobs just ‘trying to make the dream’. She'd never actually made a livable wage from bike racing before.

“When I finally had the opportunity to [race bikes] full time. I just jumped on it immediately.

“Winning Unbound gave me the career and it gave me the opportunity that I always wanted. I’ve won a lot of races but that was the biggest one. That was the ultimate palmarès.”

Unbound remains a central focus for De Crescenzo, even with her face already immortalized on a flag in downtown Emporia. Finishing sixth in 2025 left her wanting more, especially as the race grows tougher each season, with deeper, more international fields and ever-evolving tactics.

While her sponsors don’t demand specific results, Unbound still carries weight, both personally and professionally. Performing well here is about chasing excellence in the event and discipline that continues to shape her career.

'When I won, I was facing this realisation of like, oh sh*t, I could quit my job' - Ian Boswell

Before gravel, Ian Boswell spent nearly a decade covering some of the hardest miles the road has to offer. On the WorldTour, he rode five seasons with Team Sky (2013–2017) and two with Katusha–Alpecin (2018–2019), starting all three Grand Tours along the way. But it wasn’t until 2021, after stepping away from the WorldTour, that he netted his defining win: outsprinting Dutchmen Laurens ten Dam to take victory at Unbound 200

"Oddly, it’s probably the biggest result I've had in my career," Boswell reflected.

While the gravel peloton is now filled with ex-pro roadies enjoying an extended off-ramp to retirement, for Boswell it was never meant to be a career pivot. But it became one anyway.

“When I started doing gravel it wasn't really a career for me. It was just something I was doing adjacent to my role at Wahoo," he explained.

"Unbound was my second-ever gravel race. I obviously knew what it was. I knew how big it was, but I didn't really anticipate winning the thing. By no means was I looking at it like, ‘Cool, if I win I can leave my job and go back to pro racing'."

But then he won, and the offers started pouring in.

“I didn't realize the importance of the event in the industry. That [winning Unbound] can changed the course of your career. I think that really caught me by surprise. I had brands reaching out to me that I had no affiliation with."

It made him confront a question he never thought he’d face.

“When I won, I was facing this realisation of like, oh sh*t, I could quit my job at Wahoo and go back to full-time racing."

In the end, he opted for balance, prioritising his family and his job, and racing semi-seriously as long as it remained fun.

"Still, it caught me off-guard. If I had wanted to quit and go back to racing, I could have."

What surprised him even more was the reach of that victory. He recalls how Richie Porte had just won the Critérium du Dauphiné, a marquee WorldTour race, yet still messaged him to congratulate him on Unbound.

“The fact that you can have the Dauphiné or the Giro and Unbound all in the same newsfeed still kind of blows my mind.”

From his vantage point, Unbound’s stature has only grown yet it's no longer the singular career-defining race it was just a few years ago.

"While other events like The Traka have grown in notoriety, there's still this notion that winning Unbound can change the course of your career. And I do think that it definitely puts athletes on the map. But it's getting harder," the 34-year-old reflected.

"There are a lot of good gravel and privateer athletes now. And the money isn’t dried up per se, but it’s accounted for.”

Still, when it comes to anyone with gravel ambitions, it's the pinnacle event on the calendar.

"It just has that legacy and kind of mystique of it still being the biggest event. The distance, the course, the history — it's legacy that bolsters the popularity."

Boswell has seen the event evolve from a personal odyssey to something with live streaming, helicopters and motos, and he has mixed feelings about that shift.

"It has dramatically changed the feeling of the event, especially for the elite riders. The first year I did it, we stopped at the aid stations. Not long, but just enough time to grab everything you needed. [In 2025] I didn't unclip the entire 200 miles. I grabbed a feed bag, I peed off the bike. There was no stopping," he said.

These days, Boswell is more known for his gravel career than the decade he spent at road cycling's top tier. In addition to standing on the podium at Unbound twice (1st in 2021, 3rd in 2022), he has also won Belgian Waffle Ride (BWR) Asheville and the Barry-Roubaix race.

He finished eighth at the record-paced 2025 edition, which Boswell says may have been his last.

"I've had five clean runs at the event, which is pretty unprecedented," he said. "It's a really nice way to call it quits." But only on the 200-mile elite race.

"I'm sure I'll go back in some capacity, whether it's to lead a group ride, do the 100 or do commentary," he said.

"In a way, [Unbound] has single-handedly prolonged my career into something far bigger and more rewarding than I could have thought. And I think that's kind of why I've continued to go back."

'Unbound changed my career' - Ivar Slik

In 2022, Ivar Slik outsprinted his breakaway companions, including Keegan Swenson and Ian Boswell, to become the first non-American winner of the men’s elite race at Unbound. The Dutchman was part of the so-called “Dutch Mafia,” a group of ex-pro road racers led by Laurens ten Dam that have steadily infiltrated the American gravel scene. As Unbound’s prestige has grown, so too has its international presence: in the three years since Slik’s breakthrough, two more non-Americans have claimed the men’s title. His victory was perhaps the first clear sign of this global takeover of the Kansas classic.

The 32-year-old came up through the European road system part of Rabobank’s famed development program, before turning pro with Roompot for two seasons. When that contract wasn’t renewed, he stepped back to semi-professional road racing and also became a heavy hitter in the Dutch beach-racing scene.

By 2021 he made the switch fully to gravel. A year later, everything changed. In the spring of 2022, he won the Traka-Unbound double, transforming his career.

He knew he'd been in form. After the Traka, he kicked off his U.S. campaign with a second-place result at Gravel Locos in the run-up to Unbound. He felt that without any bad luck or mechanicals, he had it in him to do well. But the win? "I really hadn't counted on that."

Everything changed in an instant.

"The attention that came at me after the finish, as the first non-American winner, it was overwhelming," he said.

Dutch talk shows asked for him, multiple bike brands offered him contracts, and for the first time, he could live as a true professional athlete.

“Yes, [winning Unbound] has certainly changed my career," he stated.

Ten Dam's early adoption of the discipline paired with Slik's win has also had a ripple effect back home.

“Gravel has become much more popular in the Netherlands. More road racers are making the switch. It’s more adventurous, safer, and you ride places you’d never normally go. A gravel bike is also more versatile; on the road it’s almost as fast as a road bike, but you can also ride singletrack and gravel paths," Slik said.

Unbound remains his career highlight as well as his goal.

“I dream of more: winning Unbound again, the European Championships...they’re ambitious goals, but at 32, I’m in my strongest years."

His path post-Unbound victory hasn't been without setbacks. In 2024, just a week and a half before Unbound, he collided with a car head-on while training. His injuries were significant and derailed his season. Even a year later he says he's not 100 percent recovered, "but I feel I’m getting closer step by step.”

Even so, his 2022 triumph still defines how he is seen, both in the U.S. and Europe. “Even if the results haven’t been there, I’m still treated as the first non-American Unbound winner at every race. Organisers want me at the start, I get free race entries, discounts on lodging… the impact of that win is still there.”

For Slik, Unbound remains unrivalled.

“It’s the biggest gravel event in the world, a unique experience every gravel rider should have once. And if you win? Definitely career-changing. Even a top 10 can have an impact."

'Some doors have already opened that I could only dream about when it comes to the sponsors and opportunities' - Karolina Migoń

If you’re not yet familiar with Karolina Migoń, now is the time to remember her name. A back-to-back winner of the Traka 360, the 29-year-old Polish rider has already proven herself a dominant force on Europe’s gravel scene. But in her Unbound debut in 2024, mechanicals kept her from the front. In 2025, she rode strategically and defensively, ultimately storming to victory in Emporia after 130 miles in a breakaway.

A software engineer by trade, Migoń entered Unbound while on sabbatical, using the rare luxury of extra time to train without distraction.

“I still have a normal job contract and I go back to work in October,” she explained after her 2025 win. “After trying [full-time racing while on sabbatical], it would be nice to not have these two parallel lives, and just being 100% in the sport. It makes it much easier. Being on sabbatical is the reason I could win Unbound, because I didn’t have all the other stuff around me, and I could just focus on training in the month before it.”

Her dream came true within weeks of her Kansas performance, as messages and offers poured in.

The scale of her win was magnified by the event's live broadcast. “When it comes to the visibility, [Unbound is] a different level. Everyone could watch it. You could already see from previous winners that they kind of became like public figures after winning Unbound. I think that’s why the race is so special.”

This year, she has returned to Emporia as a title defender, full-time professional cyclist, Life Time Grand Prix contender and one of the most closely watched riders in gravel racing.

"I’m a full-time pro now," she told Cycling Weekly. "I earn money because of winning Unbound. I could manage good contracts, and I can make a living, so that’s pretty huge."

"I have time to recover. I have time to train more. I can do more races," she said of the transformation. "I don't have to take time off, I can go somewhere ahead of races to do recon and prepare my bike better according to the course. There are a lot of advantages for sure."

With her new lifestyle, Migoń’s ambitions have grown as well, stretching beyond Unbound. She is contesting the Life Time Grand Prix, a six-race off-road series spread across seven months and five U.S. states.

"The pressure is off because I won [Unbound] once already," Migoń said. "But it does matter because I'm in the Life Time Grand Prix. So my approach this year is to try my chances, of course, and do good in [the series].

“[Unbound] is just a special race with such a big and strong field. It’s a one-day race, so everything can happen, but I think it’s worth going even for just the experience.”

At the start of the 2025 season, Cameron "Cam" Jones was a known rider on the gravel circuit, but only by those who raced him.

Fans were in the dark about the would-be Unbound champion. Yet many of the top professional gravel riders—and the locals in Oregon, Colorado, and Virginia who got to witness the power of the Kiwi first-hand—were on notice.

In Kansas, Jones broke into the mainstream, and the smiling Kiwi is suddenly an undisputed contender to be the first rider to beat Keegan Swenson in the Life Time Grand Prix since the series' inception. While there is lots of racing left, Jones has already done enough to elevate himself from Life Time Grand Prix wildcard contender to a fully fledged professional cyclist.

“I sort of dreamt that I could be up on the podium at a lot of these races at the start of the year, but I’ve gone far beyond any of the expectations I even had,” Jones told Cycling Weekly from his pre-Leadville altitude base in Durango, Colorado.

“The Unbound result gives me so many choices. All my supporters and sponsors came to me saying, ‘What do you want to do,’ rather than, ‘we would like you to do this and that,’ so that was a cool change and a really good thing about this gravel privateer thing.

“It's all up to you. As long as you're having fun, making some cool content, and getting on some good podiums, no one cares exactly what races you do.”

For the most part, Jones is right. When you win Unbound 200, the choice is yours of what you do next. Still, his rising status as one of the sport’s top names—while also being the youngest of the true professionals—means many people care what races he does, especially because he has the power to win many of them.

The gravel world is his oyster

The big question bubbling under the surface since Jones won Unbound and ascended into the Life Time Grand Prix was what the long-term prospects were for someone with his profile. Would he stay with gravel racing beyond 2025, or could road teams try and pry him away from the North American scene?

Nothing was confirmed, but considering Colin Strickland famously drew WorldTour offers after his 2021 Unbound victory, it seemed only logical that Cam Jones might attract similar interest. Unbound has only become faster and more competitive since then, and Jones not only has youth on his side but also a power profile that mirrors many WorldTour athletes. Pack skills are always the question, but power is power, and Jones has buckets of it.

Yet, gravel and road continue to prove to be separate propositions with different draws for different types of riders. For Jones, who prides himself as a mountain biker with a particular set of skills steering a drop bar bike, he is thrilled with where he: a big fish in a growing pond.

“I've had such a good time this year, and I think I'll be more than happy doing the same kind of circuit for years to come,” he said about his future. “That's what I told my supporters that I'm keen on.

“The Grand Prix would be on the plans for next year, and there are so many cool races around that I haven't done yet. I'd like to return to the Oregon Trail, but then there are other races that I’d love to do, and that’s just in the United States.

“This is the kind of racing I want to continue doing, and I'm grateful to have lots of brands and people out there to support me to continue doing it.”

On the surface, this gamble of sustaining a gravel career is hard for some people to wrap their heads around. But for many athletes, gravel is a more viable financial path than mountain bike or road racing.

Jones picked the gravel path because he finds the racing both fun and rewarding, a balance that is harder to find in the ultra-optimised world of pro road cycling.

“Last year, I came over and did all the races on a pretty small budget, and I didn’t know many people,” Jones said of his start in gravel racing last year. “It was certainly more logistically challenging. I didn't have a vehicle, so I was getting around by hitching rides with people or flying, which means all your stuff gets shoved in a bike box.”

While he may have lacked a car, Jones did plenty with a few suitcases, flights, and a bike box in 2024. Week after week, local wins were paired with strong showings at national level races, culminating with SBT GRVL where he looked set for a podium finish before a flat tyre derailed his challenge.

Ultimately, his season was successful enough to attracts decent sponsors and an operating budget for a fully funded go at a gravel calendar in 2025, all while pursuing a graduate degree at Virginia Tech. He was also able to get a car, which, for American gravel racing, is a tool you can’t thrive without. All of it has built the momentum behind his huge level-up this spring.

“The gravel calendar is so spread out that, regardless of whether you’ve got a home base or not,” he said, “You're on the road a lot of the time anyway, so I'm used to that based on last year's US trip and the seasons before that in Europe.

“The longer I race over here, the more people I meet and the support system in the US is just getting bigger and bigger. That allows me to have more places to call home.”

The promise of a Leadville 100 without pressure

While Jones’ gravel future may be settled for now, there’s still the matter of finishing out 2025, starting with the towering altitude and brutal climbs of the Leadville MTB, the next stop in the Life Time Grand Prix.

Of the six events on the LTGP, Leadville may be the only race that doesn’t suit Jones, with both his physique and sea level background better suited for the punchiness of the three final events.

In all likelihood, this is the race Jones can discount at the end of the series, as only five of the six race results will go toward the overall series title. But Jones isn’t thinking this way. Instead, he is plotting ways in which he can bend the race to his strengths, instead of trying to conform to its demands.

“On paper, I know that it's unlikely to be the course that is most suited to me,” he said. “With maybe three weeks at altitude before Leadville, I have no illusions that it's gonna be easy, but also this is my first attempt racing that course and racing at altitude, so I know there's gonna be a lot to learn.

“I'm excited for the challenge and a race that has been around for such a long time. It was like the first American mountain bike race I’d ever heard of. I'm excited for something new, but I don't think I'm gonna be super competitive at this one. There is a good chance it'll be my drop race, but I guess I just have to try and beat my tenth-place points from Sea Otter.”

With the action-packed final month of the season poised to influence the overall standings, the pressure is off Jones. His Unbound win, combined with a slim five-point gap to Swenson, only reinforces the sense that a big result at high altitude isn’t a necessity at this stage.

“There isn’t much point in stressing about where you will finish in the field because it's like racing altitude, and it's such a time trial,” he said. “You’ve got to ride your race, and everyone else is out there doing the same thing, and that way you end up.

“There might be some small choices, like if you go a little bit to make sure you make a group for the flatter section in the middle, but I've heard it's quite straightforward technically.”

On the hot tech topic heading into Leadville—drop bars or flat bars—however, Jones has a rock-solid opinion:

“It’s looking like a mountain bike for [me], none of this dropbar bullsh*t.”

I was in the men’s elite field at Unbound 200 this year. I’m a privateer racer out of the UK, who spends multiple blocks in the U.S. racing each year. This was my third time taking on the beast that is Unbound Gravel. And in my career, I’ve raced everything from Belgian semi-classics to pro stage races and gravel epics. I came through some of the world’s best development teams, and well, I’ve crashed more times than I’d like to remember.

Crashing is an unfortunate but inevitable part of the cycling sport. If you are not willing to accept that, then you shouldn’t be racing bikes at the elite level.

As is often the case at Unbound, criticism, debate and complaints from the pro field began almost the moment tyres crossed the finish line. There had been crashes, perhaps more than usual, and people are questioning whether there should be greater regulation in the race.

Of course, we should make racing as safe as possible, but I’m a realist: bike racing is a dangerous sport. If you set off a group of motivated pro athletes at a race with the pressure and potential rewards of Unbound, then there’s inevitably going to be crashes somewhere.

Unbound is hands-down the biggest, most prestigious gravel race in the World. A win, or even a top-10 finish, here can do wonders for your career. And, new this year, it comes with a lovely payout as well. Any race with this level of pressure, media attention, and potential glory tends to have a lot of crashes. There’s a lot to gain and therefore, risks are taken. It’s no different from what we see at the Tour de France every year.

The pro gravel field seems to be full of opinions and suggestions. In this article, I’m going to look at a few suggestions that have been made and cast my opinion as a racer.

The Feedzones

The two feeds, or pit zones, at Unbound are carnage. There are hundreds of riders going in all different directions, trying to find their crew and get serviced as fast as possible. There are no rules in these pit zones. Riders can service on either side of the road. It’s the Wild West. While I don’t think there were many (or any) crashes here in the elite field, it is a ticking time bomb.

This is the one place where regulation makes the most sense.

We saw some riders take musette bags without stopping, others would pull in for a handful of seconds. At aid station two, the Giant team even had one of their helpers riding alongside the pack, passing on bottles. This final one, while perfectly within the rules, is a disgrace, and exactly why there needs to be rules.

The reason riders aren’t willing to stop is because they’re worried another rider will get an advantage.

Every rider must put a foot down in each pit zone. Simple. Solved.

Gravel Categories, or Licenses?

As the gravel discipline has grown and professionalised, many are wondering if perhaps it’s time to have categories or even pro licenses. This is a horrible idea for many reasons. Firstly, it’s impossible to enforce. Gravel is a mass-start event. Meaning, several categories tackle the same course and the same time.

Secondly, it involves creating a system that will almost certainly be unfair or have multiple clauses and asterisks. When has any governing body ever created a fair and proper license system? Thirdly, it’s extremely against the spirit of gravel. I jest, but it’s true.

How would we even decide who gets a license? Is it MTB experience? A pro road background? A test? Good luck defining what makes someone a safe racer. Would Mathieu van der Poel be deemed not safe because he caused a crash at an MTB World Cup? Of course not. Crashes are simply part of the business. Everyone crashes. Everyone causes one eventually.

I come from a road background, which means I’m perfectly at home with five riders surrounding me within a couple of centimetres at any given point. I can happily lean on riders and put my bars in a position to benefit me. However, I couldn’t be further from home on a super technical singletrack.

What if I lean on a rider who is an elite MTBer? Maybe (hypothetically) they’re not as comfortable with pack skills and could react negatively. Does that mean I deserve a license and they don’t?

“But, Unbound shouldn’t be a rider's first gravel race!”I hear you cry. Why not? I’d argue all day long that Unbound is much easier to ride in than even a pro kermesse in Belgium. Why block future talent or hidden gems with some made-up credential?

There’s a degree of irony here. Many big names call for ‘more respect’, but what exactly is ‘respect’? Everyone is on the same start line, so everyone should, in theory, be treated equally.

I’m sorry, but the ‘respect’ argument often just screams entitlement.

As ultra-racer Chris Mehlman succinctly added:

“If somebody [who] a big name doesn’t know causes a crash, it will probably be labelled as ‘bad skills’, or a ‘lack of respect’. However, if a big name causes a crash, then we just accept that’s part of racing. I think the fear amongst top pros is that their season will be ruined by someone they think is a ‘normie’. There is no governing body of gravel, and that’s what a lot of people love. Licensing would require a single governing body for all races, which would hurt the whole experience in numerous other ways.”

Licensing won’t make things safer. It could just give big names more power to define who ‘belongs’ and who doesn’t. Wouldn’t that make gravel more exclusive, the exact thing we’re aiming to avoid?

Field Sizes

It’s basic maths: more riders mean a greater risk of crashes. We can all agree on that, right?

The 2025 edition of Unbound saw 173 elite men and 93 elite women registered. These are two numbers that are very reasonable. For reference, on the road, the UCI caps startlists at a maximum of 176 riders.

I would be more than happy for the Unbound organisers to cap both the elite races at 200 riders. That seems more than reasonable. However, if crashes aren’t coming from a bloating field size, then the number of riders isn’t the problem.

Last year’s second-place finisher and former WorldTour pro, Chad Haga, commented: “I saw a lot of crashes [in the elite men's race], but all lone riders. Nothing like sprint stage pileups.”

It’s worth asking why the women’s race seemed more crash-prone (this year). That’s not a judgment on skill or safety, it could simply be down to race dynamics. Smaller fields often lead to more surging, less drafting, and less predictability, which can ironically make things sketchier. It’s not about riders being less capable. It’s about how the race unfolds when there’s less structure.

Once again, is this possible to regulate? I think not.

“The Course Isn’t Safe.”

“When Unbound began in 2006, it featured just 34 people on self-supported adventures through the dusty gravel roads of the Flint Hills. It was never intended to be the world’s premier gravel race. It was designed to be an individual pursuit where people tested their personal limits,” rider and journalist Caroline Dezendorf wrote.

Yeah, sorry, I’m not having that argument. Arenberg Forest wasn’t made for racing either. Neither was that insane singletrack at BWR, nor whatever narrow descent in the Tour de France. I agree that it is not safe to race at 50kph into a muddy section like we had at Eskridge in Unbound. But, what are we going to do, put in a speed limit?

There are inherent risks to bike racing at all levels. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a Cat 5 crit, racing the Tour de France, or racing Unbound. Wherever people race bikes, there will always be unavoidable crashes for stupid reasons.

A Note About Medical Assistance

While racers are happy to shoulder the risk that comes with racing, there is also a duty of care that should come from the organiser. As we’ve seen many times, things can go bad very quickly, and when that happens, there has to be a plan in place.

Women’s elite rider Klara Sofie Skovgaard spent 90-minutes injured in a roadside ditch before she received any medical assistance. Once taken to hospital, she underwent surgery for a dislocated, fractured shoulder and an open knee wound. No matter what the small print on the entry forms says, this is unacceptable.

For all distances and all riders, this is where the organisers can improve. Maybe there’s an emergency number on our frame plate that we can call in case of an emergency. Maybe there are medical teams stationed every 20 miles who can act fast. Maybe the lead group of both pro races, where crashes are more likely due to the higher speeds, has a medical motorbike following.

It’s a logistical nightmare trying to figure this out on a course like Unbound, but that’s not an excuse. If you can figure a livestream with a helicopter, you can figure safety protocols in the case of an emergency. It might come at a high cost, but Life Time has the resources.

Conclusion

I am as angry and frustrated as anyone else when I am caught in, or injured, by a crash beyond my control. But, if we’re going to start talking about regulation to the levels that some are suggesting, I believe we could create a dangerous precedent.

Crashes are horrible, but they’re part of the game. If we try to over-regulate Unbound, we risk killing the very thing that makes it special. Yes, we should fix the obvious stuff, like enforcing a rule at feed zones and making sure riders get the medical care they need. But trying to gatekeep who gets to race, or sanitise the course, misses the point.

Gravel, nor any bike racing, is supposed to be predictable or perfectly safe. If you want guaranteed safety, ride alone. If you want glory, accept it comes with the risk.

*Slams laptop closed, sits back, sips coffee, and waits for the comments to come.*

Klara Sofie Skovgaard (Canyon Factory Racing) suffered a serious crash early in the women’s elite race at Unbound Gravel on Saturday, and consequently spent 90 minutes injured in a roadside ditch before receiving any medical assistance.

Two fellow competitors, Luise Valentin (Enough Cycling Collective) and Lucy Hempstead (Classified x Rose), stopped their race to call for help and stay with Skovgaard until initial aid arrived. According to the riders, it took two hours before an ambulance reached the scene and transported her to a hospital, where she later underwent surgery for a dislocated, fractured shoulder and an open knee wound.

“I wanted to leave my body, and I was getting hypothermic,” Skovgaard wrote in a social media post, with Valentin adding that the medical team’s long response time was “honestly unbelievable.”

The incident has raised concerns about emergency response logistics at the Unbound Gravel, a race that draws the top off-road cyclists in the world to the rugged, remote terrain of the Kansas Flint Hills.

“Travelling across the world to race means accepting risks, but I never expected to feel unsafe,” Skovgaard stated. “I truly hope the organisers work to improve emergency access.”

For the first time in its 19-year history, Unbound Gravel organisers managed the complex logistics required to offer live coverage of the elite men’s and women’s 200-mile races, using footage captured by helicopter and a 4x4 buggy. Skovgaard noted that the presence of that media helicopter overhead while she lay injured felt 'ironic', given the difficulty responders had reaching her on the ground.

"I just find it unbelievable that multiple media motorbikes and helicopters passed by without a single medical person," Skobgaard told Cycling Weekly. "I believe the most important [thing] is that we create awareness for other events in the future, too. My helmet was split in two and [it] could have been way worse. In that case, 90 minutes is simply way too long. Luckily, I’m okay and safe."

Despite the circumstances, the rider expressed gratitude toward her fellow athletes who stopped, the medical team and her sponsors for their support both before and after the event.

"I’m forever grateful to everyone who offered help and kindness when things got tough," she said.

"I had a few age groupers stopping by shortly, who worked as a doctor and nurse. They gave me an emergency blanket as I was lying there. But it should not be other riders responsibility, although I’m incredibly grateful for their kindness."

Unbound Gravel has grown into the world’s marquee gravel event, offering five race distances and drawing more than 5,000 registered riders, along with thousands more in support, media and spectators. The event distances range from 25 miles to 350 miles, with the 200-mile race celebrated as the flagship event. The course’s remote and rugged nature is part of the race’s appeal and legend, but it also presents challenges for emergency response.

Cycling Weekly reached out to Life Time for comment but as of publication, the organisers had not yet issued a public statement regarding the incident. We will update the article when more information becomes available.

Racing aside, Unbound Gravel is where bike tech earns its stripes. It is as much a test of the equipment as it is of the rider’s fitness and bike handling skills. Unlike road racing, every piece of gear at Unbound reflects the rider’s personal preferences, smart setup choices, and the need for equipment tough enough to survive hundreds of punishing miles.

From the 200-mile Elite race to the gruelling 350-mile XL, here are the battle-tested rigs that crossed the line first. See if you can spot the commonalities.

Cameron Jones’ Scott Addict Gravel RC

New Zealander Cameron Jones won the men’s elite race after a 150-mile / 240-km breakaway together with Simon Pellaud (Tudor Pro Cycling). The unlikely duo broke free after just 50 miles of racing and consequently spent the majority of the day working together as teammates. But as the gravel turned to pavement in the final miles of the race, Jones took control of the outcome, riding Pellaud off his wheel and powering to victory on his own.

His bike setup is a bit of a hodgepodge of components. He built up a standard (but very cool) colourway Scott Addict Gravel RC frame with a deda stem and Enve SES Aero bars, Syncros Capitol 1.0S wheels and a drivetrain consisting of Ultegra, Dura Ace and GRX components. Even his tyres are mix-matched (more on that later) with a 50mm Schwalbe G-One RS in the front and a 45mm G-One RX Pro in the rear.

• Frameset: Scott Addict Gravel RC HMX
• Groupset: Shimano Di2 Ultegra levers, Dura Ace crankset with 4iii powermeter, GRX Di2 rear derailleur
• Wheelset: Syncros Capitol 1.0S wheels
• Stem: Deda
• Bar: Enve SES AR Aero
• Tyres: 50mm Schwalbe G-One RS in the front and 45mm Schwalbe G-One RX Pro in the back

Note his tyre choice. While it's increasingly common to see riders opt for a bigger, knobbier tyre in the front, Jones opted to have more tread in the back.

Karolina Migoń’s Rose Backroad FF

Back-to-back Traka 360 champion Karolina Migoń (PAS Racing) has been making quite a name for herself on the European gravel circuit, but until this season, we hadn’t seen much of the Polish rider on US soil. At her Unbound debut last year, she suffered mechanicals that kept her from the pointy end of the race. This year, however, no flat tyre could hold her back.

Migoń launched a bold move early in the race, forming a select trio with PAS teammate Cecily Decker and U.S. national gravel champion Lauren Stephens. The trio worked well together at first, but when Stephens stopped taking turns and Decker, too, started to fatigue, Migoń decided to go it alone, despite the fact that 130 miles were still to go.

Migoń’s victory marks back-to-back Unbound wins for German bike manufacturer Rose in the women's elite race, with Rosa Kloser winning aboard a Rose Backroad FF last year. Here’s the machine that carried her through a dominating solo performance.

• Frameset: Rose Backroad FF
• Groupset: SRAM Red XPLR AXS
• Wheelset: DT Swiss GRC 1100.
• Saddle: Fizik Vento Argo R1 Adaptive.
• Stem: Enve IN-Route Aero Road Stem.
• Bar: Enve SES AR Road IN-Route Handlebar in 35 cm.
• Tyres: Schwalbe Thunder Burt 2.10 front and 45mm Schwalbe G-One RS in the back. (Pre ride: G-One RX in the front)

Migoń told Cycling Weekly that after her tyre fiasco in 2024, she opted to run her tubless tyres without inserts this time around. While she nurses a slowly leaking puncture during her long solo, the sealant eventually did its job, allowing her to forgo a wheel swap and continue motoring on.

Rob Britton’s Factor Ostro Gravel

In a duel with Lachlan Morton (EF Pro Cycling-EasyPost), Canadian Rob Britton (Castelli SOG) obliterated the Unbound XL record, blazing through the gruelling 358-mile (576 km) course in 17 hours and 49 minutes.

While Morton took the lead early, Britton, a former Canadian national time trial champion, was never far behind. The two entered the final 60 kilometres together, with a margin so thin that it remained anyone's race to win. But Morton ran out of steam and ultimately, it was the 40-year-old Canadian who rolled into Emporia first, with Morton arriving six minutes later.

Instead of the brand-new Factor gravel bike that broke cover at Unbound, Britton rode the same bike he’s been riding for more than a year: a custom-painted Factor Ostro Gravel with a Fox 32 TC suspension fork swapped out for the regular, rigid, fork. That 40mm of cushioning did a good job ‘taking the edge off,’ said Britton.

• Frame: Factor Ostro Gravel
• Fork: Fox 32 TC
• Groupset: 2x Shimano GRX Di2 with Easton EC90 cranks
• Wheelset: Black Inc 48|58
• Saddle: Custom saddle from Reform Saddles
• Stem/Bar: Black In
• Aerobars: Factor
• Tyres: 45mm Schwalbe G-One RX
• Lights: Exposure

Prototype skinsuit:

Britton was wearing a prototype Castelli skinsuit with a built-in hydration bladder pocket, three full-size pockets on the back of the jersey and pockets also on the thighs of each leg – presumably for gels.

Heather Jackson’s Canyon Grail

Heather Jackson’s past life as one of the best American triathletes of her time paid dividends at Unbound XL on May 31. The 41-year-old New Hampshire native took to the front of the XL peloton, settled into her tri bars, and simply stayed there, motoring along at more than 17 miles per hour. While she led the race for nearly 21 relentless hours, it was far from smooth sailing. She crashed. She feared her bike had been broken. The mud clogged her derailleur, and she couldn’t shift. Her headlamp died. But she persevered, and her determination paid off.

Going into the race, she leaned on her time trialling expertise and set her bike up accordingly, telling Cycling Weekly: “I would say I am a TTer at heart. We set my Canyon Grail up just like my TT bike and I was just TTing all day. It was awesome.”

• Frameset: Canyon Grail
• Groupset: 2x Shimano GRX Di2 with a Dura Ace crankset
• Wheelset: Shimano WH-RX880
• Stem/Bar: Canyon
• Aerobars: Canyon GEAR GROOVE Aero Extension
• Tyres: 47mm IRC Boken Doublecross
• Lights: Exposure

The Clear Winners:

Gravel might love 1x groupsets, but this year’s Unbound results told a different story: Shimano and 2x drivetrains dominated the top step. When it came to rubber, Schwalbe led the pack, with the G-One RX and RS combo being the preferred choice.

In our reviews, these products impressed as well. Find out why 2x is far from dead, and what we think of Schwalbe tyres here.

Unbound has become the biggest gravel event in North America, if not the world. With more than 5,000 people racing five different distances—and thousands more coming to support or cheer on friends, family and teammates—Emporia, Kansas, is now the ultimate gravel mecca.

But Unbound is more than a race: it’s a five-day celebration of all things gravel, kicking off the Wednesday before and culminating on the Sunday after race day.

This year, I didn’t race Unbound. I went just for the shakeout and pre-rides. Beginning last Tuesday, I participated in five days of group rides ranging from small pre-rides with two other people to massive shakeouts with 300-plus of my closest gravel friends. In total, I rode 201 miles (seems appropriate) in 12 hours and 36 minutes. I joined five organised shakeout rides and two group rides over the course of six days in Emporia. The only day I didn’t ride was Saturday—race day—as I was working.

“I think everybody comes to Unbound now for the week,” said Amanda Nauman, two-time Unbound 200 champion and this year’s Gravel Hall of Fame inductee. “That's the best part about this [event]—it’s not just about the ride on Saturday. It’s really about everything leading up to it and after it, which I think is beautiful.”

While the pros now arrive in Emporia over a week early to scout the course, I came to Kansas simply to ride with everyone else. On Tuesday, I joined Serena Bishop Gordon, the second-place finisher in the Unbound XL, and Yuri Hauswald, the 2015 Unbound 200 champion, on a casual 92-mile ride from Lawrence, Kansas, to Emporia. We visited Casey’s convenience stores and scoped out the gravel roads as Bishop Gordon planned for her first race at Unbound.

From there, the week took off. On Wednesday, I joined the 'legends of gravel' for the Gravel Hall of Fame shakeout ride. With more than 60 riders, we set out for a social 15-mile lap around Emporia. I made new friends, caught up with old ones, and admired all the denim jackets worn by Hall of Fame members.

Thursday brought rain and a slow start. The first ride, hosted by Bishop Gordon, turned into a Q&A about nutrition. We gathered inside the Gravel Hall of Fame, eating pastries and sipping espresso. Afterwards, I headed straight to Alexey Vermeulen’s shakeout ride. Truthfully, I was there to see his dog, Sir Willie.

“Everyone’s here to see the dog,” Vermeulen joked.

Sir Willie, who clearly led the ride, perched comfortably—and dry—in Vermeulen’s backpack as he guided the 50-rider group through puddles nearly 10 meters long.

It was incredible to see the variety of causes behind each shakeout ride. Vermeulen, a former WorldTour pro, acknowledged that gravel racing lacks the development support seen in other disciplines. He used the ride to announce he’s raising funds to support the top five men and women in the U23 Life Time Grand Prix competition.

As the weather improved and the sun returned, people began emerging from their rentals and hotel rooms. The next ride on my list was called “More Women, More Miles,” and I was eager to see how many women would attend. Led by Ali Tetrick and Girls Gone Gravel, more than 120 women of all ages and abilities showed up to ride together.

“It’s showing that women are really showing up [to ride] when we create space for them and for each other,” Tetrick said.

Across all five race distances, female participation at Unbound reached 25%, up from 21% in 2024.

Honestly, this theme of togetherness and inclusivity carried through every ride I attended. From Drop Bars Not Hate, which benefited Bloom House Youth Services, to the Major Taylor Cycling Club’s ride focused on community growth, every event felt like a celebration of bikes and people.

“We just need more kindness and joy in the world right now,” Hauswald said. “And this is one way I can tap into the community here versus competition.”

Mitchell Williams, president of the Major Taylor Cycling Club, made sure everyone felt welcome on his ride.

“I had the opportunity to ride with a young lady from Mexico,” Williams said. “She was about ready to give it up, and I said, ‘This is Major Taylor. Our rides are no drop.’ I told her I’d ride with her—and I did. We had a good time.”

Looking back, the reason I love showing up to Unbound—even if I’m not racing—is the community. The people I’ve met through cycling continue to inspire me. These shakeout rides were a perfect reminder of why I love this sport: no competition, no pressure—just joy and enthusiasm.

If I had attended every shakeout ride, I could have joined 12 different groups and ridden more than 180 miles in just three days. I wish I could have done them all; the energy at each was contagious and brought a huge smile to my face.

“I think [the group rides are] a good reminder of where we came from and how to keep that in mind as we look toward the future,” Nauman said.

See you next year, Emporia.

With a sweltering time of 10:03:54, Karolina Migoń (PAS Racing) has been crowned the 2025 Champion of Unbound 200.

In a field of nearly 100 of the best gravel athletes from all over the world, the race came down to tactics, teamwork and a little bit of luck.

The PAS rider made a decisive move early on, joined by PAS teammate Cecily Decker and American national gravel champion Lauren Stephens. The trio worked together well, but on their way toward the second feedzone, Stephens stopped taking turns and Decker, too, was struggling to match her teammate's pace. That's when Migoń decided to go it alone, despite the fact that 130 miles were still to go.

"I don't know if it was a good idea or not," said Migoń. "But I'm happy it worked out."

Five minutes behind Migoń, Cecily Decker claimed second place. Ten minutes behind her, Sofia Gomez Villafañe rounded out the podium.

How the racing unfolded

After torrential rain early in the week, riders lined up on Saturday morning, uncertain of the conditions awaiting them on Kansas’ notoriously rough and minimally maintained roads.

Unbound is renowned for its brutal conditions, high risk of mechanicals and punishing terrain. As the peloton set off from downtown Emporia, Kansas, for 201 miles / 325km through the Flint Hills, the nervous energy was palpable. With most athletes spending more than a week in Kansas to preview the entire course, they knew exactly where the first pinch point would come. Around 43 miles / 70 km in, they hit the race’s most decisive section: Divide Road.

“The race was kind of decided on Divide Road because it was super muddy and unfortunately, there were so many crashes,” said Rosa Klöser, the 2024 Unbound winner. “The ruts were bad and too many people were going down. I got caught up, and by the time we realised there was a group of three ahead, they already had five minutes.”

Migoń made her decisive move early, avoiding the crashes that took out pre-race favourites including Sarah Sturm and Klara Skovgaard Hansen, the latter of whom was taken to hospital with a suspected broken collarbone.

Unlike last year, when a lead peloton of over 40 riders strong remained together through Aid Station 1 in Alma, Kansas, this year’s group began to splinter earlier. Lauren Stephens (Aegis Cycling Foundation) led the charge into Aid 1, closely followed by Migoń and her teammate Cecily Decker (PAS).

“I was so happy to have my teammate with me,” Migoń said. “We were working with Lauren until the second aid station—then Lauren stopped taking turns.”

The race began to resemble a road event, full of tactical plays. However, unlike road racing—where teams can organise structured chases—the only effective team collaboration appeared to be between Migoń and Decker.

“We got into a big chase group and it was really negative racing,” said Lauren De Crescenzo (Factor), the 2021 Unbound winner. “But once we broke into a smaller group, we worked together much more cohesively—just like road racing.”

Klöser, now racing for Canyon-SRAM Zondocrypto, agreed. “I really tried everything to whittle down the group,” she said. “There were a lot of Specialized riders who didn’t really want to work.”

This raises a key question in modern gravel racing: as races become more tactical, with whom do privateers collaborate? Many riders share sponsors but are not part of the same teams and have little incentive to work together. However, Mignoń, who is from Poland, and Decker, who is from the United States, and have not had many chances to race together, decided to form an alliance that would ultimately benefit both with podium finishes.

With more than 80 kilometres remaining, and temperatures soaring to 89°F / 32 °C with high humidity, the heat began to take a toll on the athletes. The lead trio was whittled to one as Stephens dropped off first, followed by Decker. Mignoń made the decision to push on solo, testing her strength and her luck.

“I don't know if it was a good idea or not,” Migoń admitted. “But I'm happy it worked out.”

A back-to-back winner of the Traka 360, Migoń has already proven herself a dominant force on Europe’s gravel scene. But in her Unbound debut last year, mechanicals kept her from the front. This year, she rode strategically and defensively.

“In the beginning, there were many crashes, so I decided to stay at the front all the time,” she said. When a potential disaster did strike, her tyre sealant held, allowing her to power on and maintain her lead.

Asked whether winning Traka or Unbound meant more to her, Migoń said she prefers Traka’s technical terrain, but acknowledged that the level of competition at Unbound is unparalleled.

“This field had 90 very, very strong women,” Migoń said. “This race was a lot harder to win, and all the girls were really strong—but it turned out I was the strongest.”

Women's Top 10

1. Karolina Migoń - 10:03:54
2. Cecily Decker - 10:12:29
3. Sofia Gomez Villafañe - 10:22:24
4. Rosa Kloeser - 10:22:24
5. Cecile Lejeune - 10:22:24
6. Lauren de Crescenzo - 10:22:25
7. Geerike Schreurs - 10:27:00
8. Annika Langvad - 10:27:02
9. Morgan Aguirre - 10:27:03
10. Sarah Lange - 10:27:11

Cameron Jones (Scott) has won the 2025 Unbound Gravel after a 150-mile breakaway with Simon Pellaud (Tudor Pro Cycling). The unlikely duo broke free after just 50 miles of racing and consequently spent the majority of the day working together as teammates. But as the gravel turned to pavement in the final miles of the race, Jones took control of the outcome, riding Pellaud off his wheel and powering to victory on his own.

"I knew I had as good a chance as anyone. Training's been going good and it's a course that suits me but so much in the race has got to come together. I had great legs today. It's always fun to be leading a race," the New Zealander said, adding that hearing the occasional time split gave the duo the 'extra watts and morale' needed to bring them home.

Forty seconds after Jones crossed the finish line to thunderous applause and a spray of champagne, 32-year-old Swiss rider Pellaud followed, claiming a major victory for himself and the Tudor Team.

With Norwegian Torbjørn Andre Røed rounding out the podium, this is the first time Unbound Gravel did not have an American rider on the elite men's podium. And with a finishing time of 8:37, this was also the fastest 200-mile Unbound Gravel race yet.

How the race unfolded

“I don’t think a duo is going to get away this year,” the men’s peloton predicted the day before Unbound Gravel. “No one’s going to let that happen again.”

Yet that is exactly what happened.

After a crash early in the race, the front end of the peloton was broken up as it manoeuvred through the technical Divide Road, allowing Jones, a former mountain biker, and Pellaud to make a break for it. It was opportunistic, early, and bold but it paid off. The duo was never to be seen again.

“I came here to show my qualities and to make a show,” Pellaud shared, adding that his preferred racing style, always, is to be chased rather than having to do the chasing. A characteristic that has earned him combativity awards at Grand Tours like the Vuelta a España.

As the two found a rhythm pretty quickly, Americans Ian Boswell and John Borstelmann were among the first to spring into action. The chase group soon swelled to include Australian national gravel champion Brendan Johnston, Keegan Swenson, Joris Nieuwenhuis, Andrew L’Esperance, Torbjørn Røed and Jasper Ockeloen.

But as the miles ticked by, the notoriously rough terrain claimed some victims with punctures (Magnus Bak Klaris), crashes (Keegan Swenson) and broken chains (Mattia di Marchi), as did the sheer attrition and the rising temperatures. The chase group splintered, reformed and splintered again.

With 125km to go, the duo had stretched out their lead to seven minutes. There was a lot of ground yet to cover, but without cohesion among the chasers, the victory was at risk of slipping away.

The dispersed groups of chasers never managed to rejoin and instead small groups or trios were strewn across the course. At one point, the 2021-winner Boswell was attempting to secure a third-place finish, but the heat, headwind and previous efforts proved to be too much.

The leaders continued to take even pulls over the rollers, working in unison to make their efforts stick.

“The hardest moment was just after Council Grove, that final headwind stretch,” Jones said. “I definitely had to dig deep there. But when we turned the corner, we had cross- or tailwinds all the way home.”

“When we got the eight-minute time splits, it was actually pretty cruisy toward the end.”

But while Jones was cruising, Pellaud began faltering and was unable to take turns.

“We’d been together all day and worked so hard together that it was good to just get both of us home,” said Jones.

On the final climb into town, the Kiwi put in a final dig and rode to the finish solo.

With this win, Jones also punched his ticket for a wildcard spot in the Life Time Grand Prix, which means we’ll be seeing him compete at the Leadville 100 next.

Unbound Gravel Men's Elite Top 10

1. Cameron Jones - 8:37:09
2. Simon Pellaud - 8:37:51
3. Torbjorn Roed - 8:42:31
4. Mads Wurtz Schmidth - 8:42:33
5. Brendan Johnston - 8:47:43
6. Ramon Sinkeldam - 8:48:15
7. Keegan Swenson - 8:49:09
8. Ian Boswell - 8:49:09
9. Jasper Ockeloen - 8:49:09
10. Tobias Kongstad - 8:49:54

Heather Jackson’s past life as one of the best American triathletes of her time paid dividends at Unbound XL on 31 May. The 41-year-old New Hampshire native took to the front of the XL peloton, settled into her tri bars, and simply stayed there, motoring along at more than 17 miles per hour.

After nearly 21 relentless hours in the lead, Jackson rolled into Emporia, Kansas, having conquered the infamously rough 358-mile (576 km) course in 20:57:57. With this time, Jackson smashed the previous women’s record of 22:25:15, set by Cynthia Frazier in 2022, and placed eighth overall, beating the majority of the men’s field in the process.

Behind her, Serena Bishop Gordon chased furiously but never succeeded in catching the expert time triallist ahead. “It was so epic,” Jackson told Cycling Weekly at the finish line. “That was a journey, and I have done long things.”

A former Princeton hockey player turned elite triathlete, Jackson has long been a powerhouse in endurance sports, with multiple podium finishes at Ironman World Championships and numerous Ironman victories under her belt. In 2022, she turned her attention to gravel racing and ultra-endurance trail running. Since then, she’s made waves in the gravel scene with wins at the Belgian Waffle Ride San Diego and Stetina’s Paydirt, among others.

Her past time trialling experience served her well, she said, stating: “I would say I am a TTer at heart. We set my Canyon Grail up just like my TT bike and I was just TTing all day. It was awesome.”

But it was far from smooth sailing. “Oofff, what didn’t happen out there?” Jackson commented. “Five potential race-ending things happened within the span of an hour. I never wanted to see a sunrise more.”

She crashed. She feared her bike had been broken. The mud clogged her derailleur and she couldn’t shift. Her headlamp died. But she persevered, and her determination paid off. What’s more, she said she’d do it again—and would encourage XL-curious women to do so, too.

Jackson had been intrigued by the longest Unbound Gravel challenge for some time, and after two or three years of wavering, she finally pulled the trigger and signed up. And she wasn’t the only pro drawn to the ultra-endurance event.

As gravel racing has become more structured, more professional, and certainly faster, the XL has seen an uptick in popularity among both pros and amateurs. This year’s edition drew its largest and most competitive field to date, with 208 riders lining up for the overnight test. Among them: notable names like Lachlan Morton, Ted King, Rob Britton and Lael Wilcox.

In the men’s race, Canadian Rob Britton obliterated the previous course record by more than two hours, completing the route in just 17 hours and 49 minutes.

Going forward, Jackson won’t have much time to rest. In just a few weeks' time, she’s headed to Western States, a legendary, challenging 100-mile ultramarathon across California’s Sierra Nevada mountains.

Rob Britton (Castelli SOG) has obliterated the Unbound XL record, blazing through the gruelling 358-mile (576 km) course in 17 hours and 49 minutes. The Canadian endurance specialist held off a relentless challenge from Australian Lachlan Morton (EF Pro Cycling-EasyPost) in an exciting battle for the dot-watchers to follow throughout the night and early morning.

While Morton took the lead early, Britton, a former Canadian national time trial champion, was never far behind. The two entered the final 60 kilometres together, with a margin so thin that it remained anyone's race to win.

"It was just a friggin' grind for ever. I was chasing for hours and hours and hours, and finally I saw this blink of his taillight," Britton told Cycling Weekly. "I didn't make a bigger effort, I just tried to hold him. After the final gas station stop, he was in my sight the whole time. With about 60k, we finally linked up, and we kind of rotated. I've raced him my whole career, and there is a ton of mutual respect between us."

Ultimately, it was the 40-year-old Canadian who rolled into Emporia first, with Morton arriving six minutes later.

"At one point, I turned around and he wasn't there anymore. I don't think it was necessary so much a big effort from me. We were both so on the limit, I just think I had a little bit more in the tank," Britton said.

Like Morton, Britton's background is on the road. He raced professionally from 2010 through 2021, predominantly in North America. He spent much of his professional career racing for teams like Team Raleigh and Rally Cycling (formerly Optum), where he earned a reputation as a consistent GC contender with wins at the Tour of Utah, and Tour of the Gila. He retired in 2021 and turned to off-road adventures instead.

"I have done a decent amount of these [ultra endurance events] now, and I think this kind of solidifies that this is probably what I am good at now."

With strict rules, team tactics, and full support crews, professional gravel racing has become increasingly similar to WorldTour road racing. The XL, on the other hand, remains completely self-supported, with strict rules prohibiting interactions with anyone not in the race. Refuelling only at the occasional gas stations, riders are responsible for their own nutrition, wayfinding on the unmarked course and bike repairs if needed. No support crews. No aid stations. Just the rider, their bike and the open road.

Morton and Britton weren’t the only pro riders drawn to the more adventurous nature of the XL. This year’s XL drew its most competitive field yet, with 208 riders taking on the challenge, including gravel legends and endurance specialists like Ted King, Heather Jackson, Lael Wilcox and Serena Bishop Gordon. According to race organisers at Life Time, it marked the strongest lineup in the discipline to date.

Motoring at an average pace above 20mph, Morton broke away early in the race and appeared to have a smooth, mechanical-free ride, across the infamously rough Flint Hills. Britton, however, was never far behind, keeping the pressure high.

The race pace was so unexpectedly high that it sent organisers scrambling to change the start/finish line setup where the 50- and 25-mile amateur races were still preparing to start, and thousands of riders were still filing into the corrals.

With his finishing time, Britton shattered the previous Unbound XL record of 20:05:36, set by Germany’s Sebastian Breuer in 2024.

A long-range flyer crossing the finish solo. A nine-up sprint coming down the chute. A five-person breakaway detonating in the final kilometre. Expected victors and unknown Unbound debutants. Year after year, Unbound Gravel ends differently, and on the eve of the world’s biggest gravel race, the only certainty is uncertainty.

Every factor of the race is challenging: the long, 200-mile distance, the terrain known for its tyre-slicing rocks and undulating profile, and the self-sufficiency. Without follow cars, riders have to possess some mechanical know-how to fix issues on the fly while also carrying enough water and nutrition to last up to 70 miles at a time. Even the absolute fastest pros need more than 9 hours to complete the course.

And then there's the weather. From unseasonable heat waves to powerful headwinds and the bike-destroying mud, the elements in remote Kansas can be a rider's biggest adversary.

As is often the case on this storied course, mud has dominated the conversation in the days leading up to the race. It had been raining early in the week and when wet, the thick clay has been known to cause crashes, clog up drivetrains, rip derailleurs off and, in general, dash riders’ dreams. But the course will have had two days to dry out by the time the 200-mile flagship race gets going, and the bigger factor may instead be the humidity and muggy conditions.

All of this adds up to a race that is wide open, and predictions, frankly, feel futile.

“I’m excited to see who wins Unbound,” commented race-favourite Sarah Sturm. Half in jest, perhaps, but with so many unknowns, from the weather to the increasingly global field full of hidden talents, victory could come from anywhere. Just last year, Rosa Kloser stunned the gravel world with a breakout win as a virtual unknown.

Still, we asked the pros to weigh in and share their expectations.

The Women’s Race

The women’s elite race got its own, separate race start in 2024, and they made it count. The race ended in an unprecedented and thrilling finish with a nine-rider breakaway contesting the sprint, with Rosa Kloser emerging as the victor.

While exciting to watch for the race fans, another multi-rider sprint would be an undesired outcome for some of the contestants.

“I’ll bet there will be more tactics than last year,” said Sturm. “No one took any risk. This year, I think there’s going to be more risks taken because some of us don’t want to be in a sprint.”

Tactics aside, the American added that mud always plays a big factor in how a race unfolds.

“If we hit a muddy road, that’s going to be a divider for sure,” she said, adding that the race quickly becomes one of attrition.

“It keeps shedding people until it gets down to a core group and then the race tactics will start.”

British rider Danni Shrosbree, currently sidelined by injury but present in Kansas nonetheless, echoed Sturm’s sentiment.

“I do think people will try and split it up earlier this year. Mud will do it naturally, but even within a smaller group, people are going to try and split it up.”

A new and growing factor this year could be the presence of team tactics. While the Specialized-sponsored riders attempted to collaborate informally in 2024, gravel racing is increasingly seeing the rise of organised teams, such as PAS Racing.

“I do think it makes a difference and we want to, for sure, use team tactics if we can,” Karolina Migoń, a PAS rider and winner of the Traka 360, told Cycling Weekly.

“But we have a field of like 100 women and I think at least 15 can win Unbound,” Migoń said. “It’s too hard to predict.”

The Polish rider has been a very strong contender in Europe’s gravel scene, but at her Unbound debut last year, she suffered mechanicals that kept her from the pointy end of the race.

“I hope that I won’t have bad luck,” Migoń said, highlighting her main objective. “And that I’ll be in the front group and can fight for the win.”

She’s eager to win, but after her repeat victory at the Traka, she feels like the pressure is off.

“I already have something that I won this year so it’s mentally easier to know that I am strong and have no pressure on my side,” she said. “I would love to win Unbound but it’s a very special race.”

The men's race

The men’s elite race at the 2024 Unbound Gravel saw a long-range escape by Lachlan Morton and Chad Haga. The duo spent nearly half the race riding together before Morton out-sprinted Haga to secure his first Unbound Gravel win.

Such an escape is unlikely to repeat, predicted several riders.

“I don’t think a duo is going to get away this year,” said Alexey Vermeulen, always a race favourite.

“No one’s going to let that happen again. Which, sadly, does mean there could be some negative racing.”

Negative racing is a style of racing that is conservative, passive or overly defensive i an effort to prevent breakaways.

Alex Howes, another former road racer, hopes for something more dynamic.

“The more tactics the better, for me personally, for the race, for the ambience,” he said.

As for how he sees the finale shaping up?

“I think it’ll be two to eight guys in the finish. Will he be in it? Ha, probably not.”

How to Watch Unbound Gravel

The racing kicks off at 5:50 a.m. Central time with the men’s elite race. The women’s elite race will leave 15 minutes later, at 6:05 a.m.

For the first time ever, the elite men’s and women’s 200-mile Unbound Gravel races will be broadcast live on the Life Time Grand Prix YouTube channel. The coverage kicks off at 10:00 a.m. CT on Saturday, May 31, with a pre-show before jumping into uninterrupted race action and post-race interviews.

At the finish of last year’s blazingly fast Unbound 200 race, the riders trickled across the line looking battle-worn and wrecked. Everyone was crusted in dust and sweat, some were bleeding, others simply stared a thousand miles into nothing. They crumbled to the ground, wherever there was an unoccupied spot, and stayed down.

Cycling Weekly found Olympic and Roubaix champion Greg van Avermaet sprawled onto a patch of grass, battered and depleted. In his debut Unbound race, the Belgian had experienced just how unforgiving gravel racing in the Flint Hills of Kansas can be. He’d finished in a respectable seventh place, but it had been a crucible of a day.

Over the course of the 330-kilometre race, the 2016 Olympic road race champion was plagued by mechanicals. As the peloton averaged more than 35 kph, he blindly followed wheels, and three times, his tyres were punctured by rocks as sharp as weapons. But as a true champion, Van Avermaet fought back — fixing flats, chasing back on, repeating the pattern for the first 245 kilometres of the race, until he was finally able to get a wheel change at the second supported aid station.

“It took so much energy to come back on [to the group during] the first part of the race that I probably lost places because of that,” Van Avermaet said. “But in the end, I was also quite happy about the seventh place. It’s quite decent for doing that big race and having two flats, etc. I could have also ended up 15th with the same legs and two flats. So, yeah, in the end, I still made a decent, good result.”

While Van Avermaet was happy with his result, it was unclear if he’d ever return to Unbound again. The race is notorious for relentlessly testing the physical and mental limits of athletes. Even the former Gravel World Champion, Matej Mohorič, DNF’d the 2024 race after cracking a rim and vowed to stick to road racing.

At the time, Van Avermaet appeared to have a similar mindset and laughed at the idea of returning, stating: “Now is not the best time to ask. I think if you ask everybody now, the answer will always be no.”

But lo and behold: Van Avermaet is back for 2025.

The 2017 winner of Paris-Roubaix — the “Hell of the North” — knows how to suffer. After all, dealing with adverse conditions, including mechanicals or foul weather, is part of the DNA of Belgian cyclists. They know how to fight back, no matter the challenge.

“The biggest reason why I’m coming back [to Unbound] is just because at the end of the year, I was thinking which races suit me the best and Unbound was one of them,” the 40-year-old said. “I think it’s just one of those races where you at least have a little bit of draft of a peloton… and also the distance [makes the] start a little bit easier because it’s just a big day out — 10 hours on the bike.”

While 10 hours of intense racing may seem daunting to most, Van Avermaet has more than 15 years of WorldTour experience in his legs — something that pays dividends in long, tactical races like Unbound.

“I also feel like on the other gravel races [I’ve done], the longer the distance goes, the better I feel. So, [Unbound is] probably one of the races that will fit me a little bit better after getting more aged and having so many kilometres in the legs." he said.

However, this year Van Avermaet isn’t just at Unbound for himself. He’s built a team, GVA Gold, comprised of three riders, including himself. Jelle Van Damme, a former professional footballer turned gravel cyclist, and newcomer Julian Siemons, who placed sixth at Ranxo Gravel in 2024, round out the squad.

“[Siemons] is expecting a lot of Unbound. It’s kind of cool to have a little bit of a younger guy with us to share our experience with, and also he’s capable of a good result. I think if he has a good day, he can get in the top 20,” Van Avermaet said. “I would love that he just discovers himself and sees how far he can come. I think it’s much more important than having him as a support for me.”

Van Avermaet recognises that racing Unbound requires a team — and that it’s just as important to share his knowledge and experience with the next generation of athletes.

“I think you cannot [race Unbound] on your own and that’s also the great feeling that we experienced last year — that it was not seventh place only for myself but also for the people who took care of me the whole week. Just having the things right at the feed zone, nutrition-wise, cleaning the bikes, etc., etc. That was, for me, a great experience. Like I said, it’s just kind of like what I felt before with road racing — that when you have a professional team, you can reach goals.”

Before Unbound in 2024, Van Avermaet didn’t know what to expect. Never having raced Unbound — or any gravel event in the U.S. — there were a lot of unknowns. This year is quite different. He knows the course. He knows the terrain. He knows to expect anything. And he also knows the calibre of racing is rising. But his ultimate goal is simple: have a race free of problems and ride as hard as he can for 200 miles.

“I just want to have no problems. I think that’s, for me, the biggest [goal]. I would be satisfied with the results… if I can just let out all my energy on that day. No matter what the result is, I will be happy, I think.”

Without a doubt, Unbound Gravel has become the premier gravel race for professional cyclists around the world. Elite fields for the 200-mile event number in the hundreds, with athletes committing to highly specific preparation and training for a shot at Unbound glory. Gone are the days of self-supported adventure racing with paper maps, gas-station snack stops and embracing whatever obstacles the unpredictable Flint Hills of Kansas could throw at racers.

But as the 200 becomes more professionalised, more professional gravel athletes are turning away from it and to the 350-mile XL instead. Has the 200-miler become too fast and competitive, or are athletes turning to the 350-mile XL in a pursuit of the original gravel spirit?

"The line of adventure distance keeps getting redrawn,” says Yuri Hauswald. Hauswald, who won Unbound 200 in 2015, was part of the inaugural group of 34 riders who tackled the XL in 2018. This year, more than 200 riders are signed up for the XL, including almost a dozen professional men and women looking for something different.

“It’s more about the experience,” says Laurens ten Dam. “It’s more about the adventure now, instead of trying to win races. I did that already for more than 20 years as a professional, and now it’s time to really do the adventure stuff.” Ten Dam first raced Unbound in 2021 and, for three years, never finished outside the top five. However, in 2023—arguably the most competitive year for Unbound 200—he finished 50th. “To be honest, I think the younger guys are just too strong for me,” he adds.

Like Lachlan Morton, last year’s 200-mile winner, ten Dam is ready for a change. In addition, several other former WorldTour professionals, each having competed in the Unbound 200 at least three times, are also registered for the XL. Ted King, who attempted the 350 in 2023, is back for redemption, while Rob Britton, who has leaned into ultra-distance racing over the past year, is also testing his luck.

“Gravel racing for me is very much part two of my career and was never intended to be a continuation of road racing,” Britton explains. “I still search out the new races, ones that get me excited and that are different than what I did for 15 years [racing on the road]— something a little less serious and stressful.”

While ten Dam, Morton, and Britton all say they are in it for the adventure, the front end of the XL field will still be incredibly fast and exciting.

“I think the longer events get, the more you need to prepare a bit more meticulously,” Morton says. With no outside support allowed and higher chance of things going wrong over the course of 350 miles (563km), mental preparation is just as important as physical.

“I’ve spent the last couple of weeks dialling in what bags to carry, what lights, how much nutrition I’m going to take, and then [figuring out] the store stops,” explains Heather Jackson, a professional triathlete turned gravel racer who’s also racing the XL this year. “I’ve been going over the course—where am I stopping, what am I getting there, am I carrying a bunch of hydration powder and just getting water?”

Last year, Jackson was part of the lead group of women in the historic Unbound 200, ultimately finishing fifth—a career highlight. But like her male peers, she sees the XL as an opportunity to test her personal limits in a new way. “At this point in my career, I’m trying to explore my personal limits and just go on these adventures,” Jackson says. And while she’s preparing for the XL with the same precision and determination she brings to all her athletic pursuits, it’s also a stepping stone toward her next major goal: the Western States 100 ultra-trail race.

“It’s sort of a weird thing that we have to go longer to get back to the origins of gravel, because of the professionalisation of the sport,” says Serena Bishop Gordon, who will be lining up for the XL at her first Unbound. “I was never very excited about the 200, because it felt—especially as it got bigger—like you had to have the best pit crew, the best equipment. One of the reasons I gravitated toward gravel, and I think a lot of people did, was the adventure, the unknown, the element of being self-supported and self-sufficient out there.”

As the 200 becomes more like a road race, it makes sense that many pros, especially those with backgrounds in other disciplines that, until recently, had stricter rules, are searching for a race that still embodies the true spirit of gravel. “I love the idea of the unknown, and also recognising that all I can focus on is having the best performance I can, and all the other factors and variables will fall as they may,” Gordon says.

Ultimately, what drew people to gravel in the first place was the desire to do something different and difficult. The history of Unbound is rooted in the spirit of adventure and self-discovery. It wasn’t about results, sponsorships, or power numbers. And now, more than ever, the 350 miles of the XL may better reflect that narrative than the 200 does.

It’s an adventure race, full of unknowns—just the kind of event that attracts ultra-endurance athletes like Lael Wilcox, who has built a career on fastest known time (FKT) rides in some of the world’s harshest conditions. “[Unbound XL is] always been competitive, I just think no one cared about it before,” Wilcox says. “I’ve raced unbound XL twice before– in 2019 and 2021– and it’ll be cool to see how it’s changed. The thing about the XL is it’s always hard, no matter what.”

Gravel racing is evolving. The 2024 edition of Unbound 200 showed just how competitive and professionalised the discipline has become. It’s a positive thing: it’s creating new opportunities in cycling and helping foster a new generation of professional athletes. But some pros haven’t forgotten why they turned to gravel in the first place: the adventure, the challenge, the unknown.

For most cyclists, Unbound Gravel’s 200-mile race is a towering feat of gruelling terrain, unpredictable weather and relentless mileage. It’s a test that humbles elite pros and recreational riders alike. But to Fred Schmid, 92, the Flint Hills of Kansas are something else entirely: a beautiful place to ride a bike.

“I think it’s a wonderful, enjoyable place to ride,” he says from Emporia, where he’s done some pre-riding and is now taking it easy just days before race day. “Lovely roads for doing what we’re doing.”

That attitude may sound casual, even blasé, until you know his backstory. Schmid has attempted the Unbound 200 several times before. In 2021, he made it to mile 115 but began vomiting, from what he now believes was heat exhaustion. This left him to reluctantly call for his wife, Suzanne, to pick him up. In another attempt, he reached mile 120 and realised he was behind the time cut. Though he felt physically capable, he chose to stop—something he now regrets. “I should’ve just gone on my own hook,” he says. Last year, he signed up for the shorter 100-mile event and finished. This year, he’s back for the full 200.

He’s not in perfect health. “I’ve had a rhythm of some sort,” he says, referring to a recent bout of arrhythmia-like symptoms that tend to flare when he’s extremely fatigued. “My heart rate was somewhat higher than normal.” Doctors couldn’t find anything structurally wrong, and Schmid is trying to stay calm. He’s resting, doing light rides, and hoping that by Saturday, he’ll feel good enough to go for it.

And if he doesn’t? “We’ll see,” he says. “But if it takes me 24 hours, I’m going to try.”

It’s a mantra that defines Schmid’s entire relationship with cycling, which began in earnest when Suzanne bought him a mountain bike for Christmas in 1994. He was 61 and newly enchanted by the trails near their home in Waco, Texas. Soon, he was racing, then winning, across multiple disciplines. Over the next three decades, Schmid racked up more than 30 national titles in mountain biking, road racing and cyclocross, along with two Masters World Championship jerseys in mountain biking. By his latest count, he owns 49 national championship jerseys. “I wear them all the time,” he says with a laugh. “You don’t get that many chances to wear them.”

On Saturday, he’ll line up in one of those jerseys: bright, bold and easy to spot, just the way Suzanne likes it. “It helps me find him at the feed zones,” she says. “And the locals recognise him now. Some even pull over to wave.”

Schmid’s toughness wasn’t born on a bike. He spent five decades as a land surveyor in the Texas heat, swinging a bush axe through poison ivy and mosquitoes. The work was brutal, but quitting wasn’t an option. “You just kept going,” he says. “Everyone else was out there doing the same.” That work ethic still drives him today.

Despite the stack of titles, jerseys and medals, Schmid doesn’t see himself as competitive. “I’m just trying to do the Fred thing,” he says. “Ride my bike, enjoy life.”

When it comes to gear and preparation, Schmid approaches Unbound like any other serious rider. He’s meticulous about tyre pressure, rolling resistance and fueling strategy. He rides a Cannondale Flash from the early 2010s with a Lefty fork and 60mm tyres, chosen for comfort and reliability. He’s got a Garmin with hourly fueling alerts, a radar unit to detect cars, and a carefully dialled nutrition plan: 70–80 grams of carbs per hour using SIS Beta Fuel, with backup gels and occasional Fig Newtons for morale.

Part of that preparation includes keeping up with the latest advice. “He likes to know what Dylan Johnson says,” Suzanne adds, referring to the popular cycling YouTuber, coach and Life Time Grand Prix racer. “Fred emails him sometimes, and he always writes back.”

Suzanne, 76, is a retired neuropsychologist, fellow cyclist, and Schmid’s logistical mastermind. She got her own bike not long after surprising her husband with his first one, and the two have been riding together ever since. These days, she focuses more on support than speed, managing hydration, feed zone handoffs and real-time data checks from Fred’s Garmin. “He has reminders to drink every seven and a half minutes,” she says. “And yes, I check if his pack and bottles are empty. If they’re not, I chastise him.”

Schmid doesn’t do it alone. For over 25 years, he’s been coached by Tracey Drews at CTS Coaching, a longtime expert in guiding masters and senior athletes. “I sometimes think she asks too little of me,” Fred says. But Drews, who’s coached riders up and down the age spectrum, understands the balance between pushing and preserving. She helps him plan his training around fatigue, recovery, and the unique challenges that come with racing at 92.

Schmid doesn’t train alone. Most of his riding buddies, like Whitney Fanning, are decades younger. “I ride with Whitney most weekends,” he says. “We’ll do 50 to 100 miles, gravel, road, whatever.” He laughs when asked if younger riders treat him differently. “They’re just friends. Good friends.”

That camaraderie is what keeps him going and what makes the cycling and gravel scenes feel like home. “We see people we haven’t seen for months,” says Suzanne. “You make new friends. It keeps you up about people and relationships.”

Asked about misconceptions around ageing, Schmid is blunt. “People think old folks are different from young people. But the enjoyment of life doesn’t change.” He’s candid about the aches that come with age, like arthritis in his left ankle that keeps him from walking very far, but says it never bothers him on the bike. “I guess I have pain,” he shrugs. “But I ignore it.”

He likes to quote fitness pioneer Jack LaLanne: “Show me someone over 40 with no pain and I’ll show you a liar.” Now, 52 years past 40, Schmid says that pain is real, but it’s not a reason to stop doing the things you love. “Mentally, you just resist the idea that you’re getting old,” he says. “In your head, you’re still 18.”

Suzanne puts it even more plainly: “The biggest mistake people make is letting age dominate their lives,” she says. “They start focusing on what’s wrong and what’s wrong with their friends. If something hurts a little, they think they should quit. But no, don’t quit. Do it some more until it doesn’t hurt. You will get better at it.”

To be clear, neither of them is suggesting you ignore serious injury. There’s a difference between discomfort—the kind that comes with effort—and real pain. “Use your judgment,” Suzanne adds. “But don’t let fear of discomfort keep you from living.”

Schmid has lived a full life, and riding bikes keeps adding to it. He once flew sailplanes and raced gliders, logging thousands of hours in the air. He’s sailed the Gulf Coast with Suzanne and climbed Mount Evans in cold rain, lightning cracking overhead. But of all his adventures, cycling remains the most enduring joy of his later years.

And no, he doesn’t feel pressure to be inspirational. “People say I am,” he says, “but that’s not the goal. I’m just enjoying being Fred.”

If he finishes Unbound this year, it’ll be a story of redemption and quiet triumph. If he doesn’t, it won’t change the fact that he’s already won—at life, at cycling and at making peace with the brutal math of age without ever letting it define him.

When asked if there are any bucket-list rides left, he pauses and shrugs. Nothing comes to mind. It’s as if, after decades of riding trails, mountains and centuries across the country, he’s already done everything he ever needed to do.

“I’ve done several things in my life that I’ve enjoyed tremendously,” he says, “but cycling is the one that’s stayed with me.” After all these years, it’s the simple act that still brings him joy: “Being able to put my leg over the bike, that’s what gives me the most satisfaction.”

You might think it fortunate that David Millar and Lachlan Morton are friends. Millar, a retired Tour de France stage winner, will make his debut at the 200-mile Unbound Gravel this weekend, riding alongside the elites. Morton won the same event last year. Surely the Australian would have some golden advice?

“He’s pretty useless, bless him,” says Millar. “When I was speaking to him about [the Traka] 560 – we went for a ride a couple of weeks before – I asked him a couple of questions and realised it was just pointless, because he’s like, ‘Ah, you can just ride through.’

“For him, he’s done all these sorts of things, so his perception of what’s possible has been pushed so far that he’s got such a sort of pragmatism about it… I’d recommend, if anybody wants advice on doing ultras, don’t ask Lachlan Morton, because he just takes it all in his stride.”

Millar hopes he too will take racing in his stride when he lines up in Kansas this Saturday. It will be the 48-year-old Brit’s first taste of American gravel, at the calendar’s marquee event. His goal is clear: make it to the finish line.

“I’m going in with a fairly open mind,” he tells Cycling Weekly. “I literally don’t know if I’m going to be flying or dying, or even if I can finish it.

“Knowing me, I’ll probably start out going as hard as I can, just to see what it’s like and see what the level is.” He won't try to follow the pros, though. “I made that mistake at Santa Vall earlier in the year and I lasted 2km. Those days are over.”

In the build-up to Unbound, Millar completed the Traka 560 earlier this month, riding 560km unsupported over 30 hours on gravel trails near his home in Girona, Spain. The event, he says, gave him a “huge paradigm shift in distance”, but left him “buckled” and nursing a busted knee.

“I was a mental milkshake, just completely broken, like a walking zombie,” he says, recalling the hallucinations he experienced mid-race, and the fatigue that followed. “It took me to a pretty weird place that I was kind of fascinated by.”

Millar was known throughout his racing career for his speed against the clock. He won time trial stages at the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España, and retired in 2014, aged 37.

In a newly released documentary about his Traka 560 ride, Millar said he reached the “lowest point in my life” two and a half years ago.

“I’d sunk into alcoholism and lost all meaning for life,” he said in a candid piece to camera. “I’d stopped riding my bike, I’d stopped doing sport, I’d never been as unhealthy as I was. I woke up in the morning kind of not looking forward to the day.”

Together with his sister Fran, now the CEO of Rapha, he took part in his first off-road event in 2023 in South Africa’s Cape Epic. Millar has since competed in the Migration Gravel Race in Kenya, the Traka, and other gravel events near his home, challenges he has found “very fulfilling”.

“Now I have a very deep understanding of why people do it, because I think it takes them out of their comfort zone. It gives them an experience that’s so far removed from their everyday life,” he says.

Alongside his full-time role as brand director of Factor Bikes, Millar has done a lot of his Unbound training indoors, on the cycling platform Zwift. He’ll ride Factor’s OSTRO Gravel on race day, a bike that’s so fast, he says, “I broke the Rocacorba road descent [record] on it three weeks ago”.

How is he approaching his debut at gravel’s biggest event? “Unbound is about going out there and getting amongst it, and hoping I don’t puncture,” he says.

“I’m kind of just excited about it. I’ve got no trepidation for it. I’m more worried that, if it rains, I have to go through one of those kilometres of mud walking scenarios.”

The Life Time Unbound Gravel 200 takes place in Kansas, USA on 31 May. The race can be streamed live, for free, on the Life Time Grand Prix YouTube channel from 10am CT (4pm BST).

Live Unbound coverage is back! After FloSport’s coverage of the Life Time Grand Prix came to an abrupt end midway through the 2022 season, coverage of the world’s premier gravel race, Unbound Gravel, was limited to social media, where fans could catch only scattered glimpses and shaky sideline footage 30 seconds at a time. But this year, that all changes.

Now in its 19th year, Unbound Gravel has grown into the world’s marquee gravel event, offering five race distances ranging from 25 to 350 miles and drawing more than 4,000 registered riders to the middle-of-nowhere, Kansas. The race attracts amateurs and elite pros alike, including Grand Tour winners, world champions, Classics victors and Olympians from around the globe, all chasing glory in the infamous Flint Hills.

While competition is fierce in every distance, the 200-mile race is the celebrated flagship event where cycling careers are forged (or extended) and winners become legends. Yet despite the race’s growing status, the battles in the Flint Hills have largely gone unseen. Until now

For the first time ever, the elite men’s and women’s 200-mile Unbound Gravel races will be broadcast live, in full, to a global audience without paywalls or georestrictions.

The event’s producer, Life Time, has announced it will stream seven full hours of live coverage of the 2025 Unbound Gravel presented by Shimano exclusively on the Life Time Grand Prix YouTube channel. The coverage kicks off at 10:00 a.m. CT on Saturday, May 31, with a pre-show before jumping into uninterrupted race action and post-race interviews.

"At Life Time, we’re focused on elevating the sport of cycling at every level, and bringing live, free-to-stream coverage [...] is a major step in that journey. With real-time storytelling, expert commentary, and a global audience tuning in, we are committed to making this iconic race more accessible and engaging,” said Kimo Seymour, Life Time Senior Vice President of Media & Events, in a statement.

Commentary will be provided by Life Time Grand Prix athlete Payson McElveen, who’s currently sidelined due to an injury he sustained at the series’ opening round at Sea Otter, and Meredith Miller, a former U.S. road and cyclocross pro. Longstanding cycling announcer Bill Elliston will join the two athletes in the commentary box, while Mountain Bike Hall of Famer Nat Ross and former pro Lauren Hall will be providing live updates from the course.

As the legend of Unbound Gravel continues to grow, this year’s elite races are again stacked with world-class talent. Former Unbound winners Keegan Swenson and Sofía Gómez Villafañe have certainly shown excellent form in the opening round of the Life Time Grand Prix, but the competition at Unbound features numerous out-of-series contenders. Defending women’s champion Rosa Klöser from Germany is back to protect her crown, while Grand Tour stage winner Thomas De Gendt of Belgium will make his Unbound debut. And since last year’s men’s winner Lachlan Morton has opted out of the 200-mile event in favour of an even bigger challenge, this year’s men’s race promises a fresh champion, and there are plenty eager to seize the opportunity.

For those unable to watch the full broadcast, extended highlights of both the men’s and women’s elite races will be posted on the Life Time Grand Prix YouTube channel in the days following the event.

“I guess I’ve already won the 200, so it’s like what else could you do?”

If you’re Lachlan Morton (EF Pro Cycling-EasyPost), the reigning champion of the Unbound 200, you go bigger. Morton is no stranger to Kansas gravel. He’s taken to the start line of Unbound 200 four times and finished three—all within the top five. But Morton is never one to settle or turn down a new challenge, and for him, winning Unbound in 2024 meant it was time to move on to something new

On Friday, May 30, Morton will take to the start line of the 2025 Unbound XL, a 350-mile (563 km) gravel race that sees athletes climbing over 5,000 metres through the rolling Flint Hills of Kansas. For Morton, racing the XL presents a new type of challenge and an opportunity to compete in something that feels more personal.

“I already had the experience I wanted to have there [with the 200]. There’s nothing I feel like I could do to have a nicer day [than winning last year]. So, why not just try something different?” Morton explains. “I think Unbound’s so big now that there’s always a lot of expectation that you’ll go, so you have to go. I didn’t feel like doing the 200 anymore. So, it made sense to do the XL.”

In recent years, Morton, who raced on the UCI WorldTour from 2012 to 2019, has fully embraced adventure riding. Aside from his gravel racing accolades, he is now better known for completing unsupported fastest known time (FKT) challenges around the world, including, most recently, riding 648 kilometres across New Zealand in one day. However, ultra-endurance racing is something he has yet to really experience.

“I’ve only done one mass-start long race. So in that way, it’s kind of new,” Morton says. “I’m excited to go to Emporia because obviously it’s a big buzz. But I’m also happy to not be in the hecticness of the 200. And hopefully I will still have a nice experience that’s maybe somewhat more introspective.”

As professional gravel racing becomes increasingly similar to WorldTour road racing—with strict rules, team tactics, and full support crews—it seems only fitting that Morton would gravitate toward the XL. The event is completely self-supported, with success hinged on how each rider overcomes the inevitable challenges that arise over 20-plus hours in the saddle.

“I’m going to go there and race, and I have to ride for 20 hours. It’s so individual. [The outcome] is kind of going to come down to each person and how their body reacts, and how they are mentally. And probably a bit of luck. There’s a whole bunch of things that [a person] could angst over.”

Morton believes mindset is key for an event like the XL. He recognises that being in a positive headspace—open to embracing the unknown—is important for tackling such a long race. While he feels less stress racing the XL than the 200, he does still feel pressure to perform.

“I think there’s probably more expectation, because people just assume I’m great at that sort of stuff,” Morton says. “I think the longer events get, the more you need to probably prepare a bit more meticulously, which I’d say I haven’t really had the chance to do this year. So that definitely adds an element of pressure.”

While Morton may not feel as prepared as he could be, it would be hard not to consider him a favourite. With his pedigree across so many disciplines, he has the physical and mental strength to excel at the XL. Choosing to race the XL is not a decision to be taken lightly. But having the opportunity to race it is something Morton is genuinely excited about.

Who knows what will happen over 20 hours of racing through the Flint Hills of Kansas — but going in with an optimistic and relaxed mindset may just be the key to Morton’s success.

“I’d rather try and have it be a week that’s exciting and fun and hopefully somewhat enjoyable.”

Unbound Gravel is known for its demanding nature. Challenging weather conditions, undulating terrain, a remote location, and the infamous flint rocks — it's a true test of strength and endurance for rider and bike alike. I've tackled the Kansas groads three times now, including the ultimate challenge: the 350-mile long Unbound XL during the infamous mud year.

It took me 28 hours of riding and often carrying my bike to reach the finish line in Emporia, Kansas. We experienced thunderstorms and downpours –resulting in the worst-imaginable mud– as well as stifling heat on the vast, exposed plains. Comfort plays a crucial role when you're spending that much time in the saddle, especially in these varying conditions, and there was only one pair of bibs I trusted for the endeavour: the Velocio Luxe bibs.

The Velocio Luxe Bibs are, as the name –and price tag– indicate, plain luxurious. The bib short's soft feel comes from the "ultra-high gauge fabric" that's both compressive for muscle support yet impressively supple at the same time. The bib shorts feature a three-panel design with minimal seams and a next-to-skin fit. It moves with you, ensuring there is no chafing or irritation. And –perhaps my favourite feature– the shorts sport seamless microfiber bib straps and leg grippers, meaning no sausage legs!

Completing the package are a comfortable, all-day chamois and, of course, Velocio's signature snap- or zipper-free pee-break design, which allows you to simply pull down your bibs when nature calls without having to remove your top.

I'm not surprised that these are Velocio's best-selling bibs because, for riders who spend long days in the saddle, few other options offer both comfort and performance to this degree.

Admittedly, they are costly, but they're currently 30% off. They're still a bit of an investment, but in my nearly 15 years in the sport, they're among the bibs I've ever worn, and mine are in constant rotation. They can't come out of the laundry fast enough!

Want to race Unbound Gravel in 2025? You'll have to throw your name in the hat by November 15, organisers announced today. 

Unbound Gravel, once a gathering of a couple dozen off-road enthusiasts, is now considered to be the world's marquee gravel race with 4,000 riders converging on Emporia, Kansas, to tackle one of its five race courses.

The event attracts some 25,000 people to the small town in the middle of the Flint Hills, including riders and their loved ones, staff, media, race fans and expo exhibitors. The community struggles to host, feed and house the influx of people as it is, which forces the organisers to cap the registration and implement a registration lottery to determine who will be allowed to participate in the event.

For the 2025 event, the lottery will take place earlier than ever before, ensuring that riders can "take on race day more prepared than ever," announced Life Time, the event's organisers, in an email to past participants.

Registration for the 2025 Unbound Gravel will open on Friday, November 1, 2024, and close two weeks later, on November 15. Lottery winners will be announced on November 21, 2024.

 "That’s a full two months earlier than in years past, so use that additional time to hone your effort…no matter what distance you choose," Life Time states. "You will have more time to train, plan, and visualise your ride through the Flint Hills."

Unlike previous years, the lottery registration period is the same for all five race distances: the 25-, 50-, 100-, 200- and 350-mile events. 

Unbound Gravel 2025 Race Schedule

• Unbound XL starts on Friday, May 30, 2025
• The 25, 50, 100- and 200-mile races will start on Saturday, May 31, 2025
• Lottery registration deadline: November 15, 2024
• Lottery winners announcement: November 21, 2024

More ways to score a bib

If you miss out on the lottery or simply don't trust your luck, there are two other ways to score a bib to the 2025 event. 

1.) Partake in a qualifying race

You can also punch your ticket to Emporia by conquering one of two qualifying races, one in the U.S. and one in Belgium:

Heathland Gravel
August 11, 2024 in Lindburg, Belgium

The Life Time Rad Dirt Fest
September 28, 2024 in Trinidad, Colorado

2.) Fundraise for a charity entry

Life Time's charity partners, the Life Time Foundation and the Chris Klug Foundation offer a limited quantity of race entries on a first-come, first-served basis.

What is Unbound Gravel?

Formerly known as the Dirty Kanza, Unbound Gravel is a mass-start event that takes place in the Tallgrass Prairie and Flint Hills around Emporia, Kansas, in the middle of the United States. 

With five race distances on offer and 4,000 attendees —amateurs and pros alike—, Unbound has become the world’s marquee gravel event. 

The flagship 200-mile course is a true test of endurance, self-sufficiency and equipment. In addition to needing to fuel oneself for 11+ hours of riding, the sharp flint rocks are notorious for slicing tires and dashing podium aspirations.  Along the way, riders also need to contend with the undulating terrain and the weather. 

The epic conditions have been building the legend of Unbound for years, and along the way, the calibre of elite riders has soared with Olympic road and mountain bike champions, Paris-Roubaix winners, and current and former WorldTour pros all taking to the start. The allure? Conquering the sheer difficulty and the bragging rights that come with it. 

This year's elite races were won by Lachlan Morton (EF Education-EasyPost) and newcomer Rosa Klöser (Rose Bikes / Maap / Enve). Previous winners of the 200-mile race include former WorldTour pros Ian Boswell, Ted King and Alison Tetrick; pro mountain bikers Keegan Swenson and Sofia Gomez Villafañe; and Europeans Ivar Slik and Carolin Schiff. 

Two former professional cyclists, Laurens ten Dam and Thomas Dekker, have said that they were arrested and jailed ahead of Unbound Gravel this year.

The pair claimed on their their LiveSlowRideFast podcast, as reported by Wielerflits, that they were arrested for "indecent behaviour" in the town of Marietta, Oklahoma, after taking a shower in a car park on a training ride.

They ended up spending a night in jail ahead of the race, and paid bail charges of $185, although according to them, they will not face a court appearance in the US.

"A day after Thomas landed, we were neatly handcuffed and driven in a police car to the prison in Marietta," Ten Dam said. "What had happened? We drove to our regular supermarket and arrived at the parking lot... That supermarket was simply razed to the ground. There had been a tornado. As a result, the supermarket and department store simply disappeared."

"We were going to have lunch at the Mexican," the former Rabobank and Giant-Alpecin pro continued. "It was still quite early. We had completed a three-hour training ride and were now quite hungry. It was half past one in the afternoon. I wanted to take a little cold shower and Thomas throws water over me. We stood between the car doors, taking a shower. Suddenly I hear a man screaming very loudly. But we just wanted to freshen up for the Mexican.

"I actually felt it coming. There were a lot of people in that restaurant. Suddenly there were five police cars. The man who had shouted at us was also there and said: 'You should go to jail for this'... They first focused entirely on Thomas. He was searched and then put in handcuffs. So I thought: s***. Then I had to turn around and I was also handcuffed."

"I didn't dare do anything," Dekker, who used to race for Rabobank and Garmin-Sharp, said. "I had five guns pointed at me."

Ten Dam was known as a solid domestique over a 15 year career, which ended in 2019, which included helping Tom Dumoulin to victory in the 2017 Giro d'Italia. The Dutchman went on to forge a gravel career, moving to the USA.

Dekker has a more glittering palmarès, winning Tirreno-Adriatico in 2006, but later admitted to using EPO, a subject he documented in his 2016 book The Descent.

Having been arrested, Dekker and Ten Dam say they were taken to jail: "We were given something to eat, under a blanket, because we were already cold," Dekker said. "It all took a very long time and fingerprints were taken. We also had to put on an orange suit, we were really inmate Laurens and  inmate Thomas. It's really not allowed there. It did clash with my values."

"The indictment stated that we sprayed each other with water bottles like two gay cyclists," Ten Dam claimed.

At Unbound Gravel, Ten Dam finished 50th, with Dekker in 42nd, behind the winner, Lachlan Morton.

Over the years, Unbound Gravel has earned a formidable reputation, becoming known as the ultimate test of endurance, grit and equipment among cyclists worldwide.

Every factor of the race is challenging: the long, 200-mile distance, the terrain known for its tyre-slicing rocks and undulating profile, and the self-sufficiency. Without follow cars, riders have to possess some mechanical know-how to fix issues on the fly while also carrying enough water and nutrition to last up to 80 miles at a time. While the fastest pros may conquer the course in 10 hours, some amateurs will be in the saddle for well over 20 hours. 

And then there's the weather. From unseasonable heat waves to powerful headwinds and the bike-destroying mud, the elements in remote Kansas can be a rider's biggest adversary. 

Because of these epic conditions, the legend of Unbound grows year after year and the event sells out in record speed.  Along the way, the calibre of elite riders has soared with Olympic road and mountain bike champions, Paris-Roubaix winners, and current and former WorldTour pros all taking to the start. The allure? Conquering the sheer difficulty and the bragging rights that come with it. 

Despite foreboding course descriptions warning of a "relentless onslaught of rough, rocky paths" and Unbound's infamous peanut butter mud, the 2024 race edition was held in the best conditions Emporia, Kansas, had seen in years. The predicted rainfall never materialised and the weather was mild, with a morning overcast shading the riders from the heat for most of the race. 

Thanks to the dry conditions, the pros made quick work of the course. Winner Lachlan Morton averaged 22.05 mph to conquer the 203 miles and 11,850 feet of elevation. 

The competition was fierce, however. The 18-year-old race saw a record 5,000 participants this year, including its biggest international participation yet. Some 28 countries were represented and these riders didn't make the long trek for nothing. They were determined to make their mark. The elite fields were brimming with talent, pitting the likes of Olympic and Roubaix champion Greg van Avermaet and Tour de France stage winner Matej Mohorič (Team Bahrain Victorious) against America's best.

But no matter the length of one's palmares, gravel racing in these elements is something different entirely.

"I think we've seen in the past that a lot of WorldTour riders come expecting to demolish and they're out with mechanicals or it just doesn't play out the way that they're used," commented American gravel pro Peter Stetina, himself a former WorldTour pro, before the race. 

We caught up with some European pros to get their perspectives on this infamously hard race.

Greg van Avermaet

Coming across the finish line, the riders looked battle-worn and shell-shocked. Salty with sweat and crusted in dust, their eyes staring a thousand miles into nothing. They crumbled down onto the pavement and stayed down. 

We found Olympic and Roubaix champion Greg van Avermaet splayed onto a patch of grass long after he'd crossed the finish line. 

Van Avermaet suffered two flat tyres early in the race and consequently spent many miles with his nose in the wind, burning matches in an effort to return to the front group. He still finished in seventh place.

"Ugh where do I start," uttered Greg van Avermaet, getting into a seated position to talk.

"I'm quite tired, yes.  Everybody gives his all. Doesn't matter if you get first or last, everybody has tired legs and feels the same. For sure it's a hard race. It's a long race. Nine hours on the bike is –blows a raspberry– it's really something that plays in the head. You see the kilometres not really moving, especially if you have a little bit of bad luck. It's mentally hard. It's a hard race and it's also gravel so you're not really in a peloton with a draft. You have to be careful for flats, you have to be careful for crashes - it's so mental."

When asked if he'd do it again, he laughed. "Now is not the best time to ask. I think if you ask everybody now, the answer will always be no." 

Matej Mohorič

Gravel world champion Matej Mohorič who also made his Unbound debut this year fared even worse. He never even saw the front group. The Slovenian flatted twice and cracked his rim, ultimately calling it quits.

"We're going to stick to road racing guys," he announced before going to find his support crew at the second aid station for a ride back to the hotel. 

Thijs Zonneveld

Dutch pro cyclist and journalist Thijs Zonneveld returned to Unbound this year after his first attempt was cut short. In 2023, the BEAT cyclist crashed early and landed himself in hospital with a badly injured knee. This time around, he persevered and crossed the finish line, filled with pride for completing the gruelling race and getting his teammate Piot Havik a top-5 result, but utterly battered and drained all the same. 

"It's really extreme," he told Cycling Weekly. "You feel like you've already completed three normal races and then you see that you still have 100 kilometres to go.

"Especially when you're out there by yourself, then those rolling hills feel like uppercuts…The difficulty lies in everything, the combination of it all. There are other long races but they tend to be easier in that you can ride in the group and can draft. Here you are constantly paying attention, fighting for position. It's physically a very tough race but perhaps mentally even more so because you have to be focused for 9.5-10 hours. And that is so tough. Everyone doing Unbound will have a moment where they think 'I'm quitting'."

Tobias Mørch Kongstad

Danish rider Tobias Mørch Kongstad finished in third place after having spent all race in breakaways and solos, yet he was all smiles at the finish.

"[Unbound] is relentless because you're constantly on the pedals. Even though they were just rolling hills, it was super super hard. You never have long breaks like a downhill on proper climbs. I'm super super tired now, but to be honest I'm just a happy amateur."

Danni Shrosbree

In the women's elite field, British rider Danni Shrosbree finished in fourth place in the 2023 mud-bog of a race yet came back for another go.

She explained that Unbound is as hard as everyone says it is because there's nothing else like it. Not in Europe anyway. 

"Traka is probably the European version of Unbound. And Traka is quite mountain bike-y and it is chunky gravel, but it's not sharp gravel. Whereas the gravel here is relentless. It's quite zapping on the legs. So even though there's not like an 8k climb in it, there are so many mini climbs which just zap it out your legs and it becomes a real race of attrition," she said.  

"A lot of people think they can do it until they come over and actually do it. It's 200 miles of pure gravel. A lot of the races in Europe, you'll end up a chunk on the road. And then there's the peanut butter mud. It's a real mental game."

Geerike Schreurs

Pre-race, Dutchwoman Geerike Schreurs wagered that Traka perhaps was harder than Unbound, and that the course and the foreboding tales were perhaps blown a bit out of proportion. She'd end up finishing second in the nine-up sprint finish, and maintained that the course wasn't 'that hard' but the race was. 

"It was very different than anything I've raced so far," the new gravel pro said.

"I think it's so different because the women had their own start and it is truly a very strong field that's competing here. That makes it only more interesting and fun and I think we showed a really good race. In the end, Unbound is about surviving, and I'm happy I was successful in that."

What is age, really? For Roy Lopez, it’s nothing but a fictitious limit, a mere number devoid of true power. At 73, he’s proving that the real measure of vitality lies in the watts he pushes on his bike as he tackles serious cycling goals for the first time in his life.

Over the weekend, Lopez lined up with 859 fellow cyclists for the 50-mile race at Unbound. The course, which actually measured 55 miles, included 90% rocky but fast gravel, undulating rollers totaling 1,900 feet of climbing and one mud pit.

Lopez conquered it all with a smile, crossing the finish line in 3:09:58 and averaging an impressive 17.47 mph. In doing so, he not only clinched the victory in his 70+ age group but also finished 53rd out of 590 men. It was his second win of the season, following taking the 60+ age group victory at Wild Horse Gravel in May. 

“It means everything,” said an overjoyed Lopez as he clutched his wooden plaque following the award ceremony. This victory a visual anchor for him, a motivation to continue striving for progress and exploring his limits.

“I gotta tell ya, I'm just starting. I don't know where those limits are.”

Meet Roy

Lopez is a semi-retired realtor from Centennial, Colorado. His passion for cycling began in his childhood in Cuba, where he would race his brother and friends on a Schwinn single-speed bike around the neighborhood. Over the years, he evolved from exploring nature and chasing roadies on a hardtail mountain bike to getting speedy on a road bike, eventually finding the ‘best of both worlds’ in gravel riding in 2018. Each bike brought new adventures and – crashes notwithstanding – a deeper love for the sport.

“The bike is everything. The feeling of not only freedom but just joy. I mean, people always say that I smile when I ride, and I’m like, ‘yeah, ‘cause I feel it!’," Lopez says.

After a 45-year career in real estate, Lopez decided to work less, freeing up time to get serious about his cycling.

“When I work, it’s 150%. When I bike, it’s the same thing. But trying to do both was really difficult,” Lopez explains.

“I do about 7 or 8 events a year. This is the first time that I decided, you know, if I’m going to go to these things, I might as well win something. This year is the first time that I’m trying to see where the limits are.”

His journey into competitive cycling started six months ago, catalyzed by the Rapha Festive 500 challenge. Since then, he has made a ‘contract between himself and the bike,’ throwing himself into training wholeheartedly.

Lopez has been following a CTS training schedule and has seized opportunities like the Trans Rockies Gravel Royale camp in Patagonia, Arizona, to learn from the pros. One of these pros is Gravel Hall of Famer Yuri Hauswald, who mentored Lopez this spring and even surprised him by appearing at the Unbound 50 start line, ready to accompany him for the Kansas adventure.

"We got along great, and he kind of took me under his wings,” says Lopez. "Yuri is a perfect example of an ambassador to the gravel cycling world; unselfishly giving and helping others. He taught me a few things about gravel and equipment which have been awesome. I needed it because I was kind of a novice."

Lopez discovered that training works, regardless of age.

“Age means nothing. It’s the attitude and the work. Applying yourself is essential to placing in a race,” he says. “Do I get tired quicker? Sure, it happens. So you just compensate for the reality of your age, but don’t let age be the barrier. It’s never too late. You don’t know your limits until you test them.”

Lopez enjoys the learning process and gets genuinely excited about training and the progress he’s made.

“The student’s ears are completely open. My eyes are open. If I could only become a professional cyclist, that would be a dream come true,” he jokes. “If a nursing home wants to sponsor me because of my age, hey, go for it, I’ll do it. I just love it. It’s just that pure joy of being able to get outdoors, be competitive, and ride.

“The ultimate benefit is to improve your health, both physically and mentally. The older you are, the more benefits you’ll realize by biking at whatever level you choose. If you need an electric bike, get an electric bike, but just start pedaling. And then, don’t stop pedaling.”

The Future is Ambitious

Looking ahead, Lopez has ambitious plans. He aims to participate in more races, starting with the Maratona dles Dolomites, a 150k road event with 14,000 feet of climbing. From there, he'll attend '"a couple of fun events" to finish the year, but his serious sights are already set to Unbound 2025.  

“I’m totally stoked about planning for gravel races in 2025. Unbound Gravel 100 miler is a must; however, I’m seriously considering the 200 miles,” he says. “I believe this is the first year Unbound has offered the 70+ category for the 200, and I don’t believe any 70+ finished the 200 race this year. I’ve learned that by doing what’s not been done, that can set you apart from the crowd.”

Giving back is a big part of Lopez’s cycling aims, too. He previously gifted 67 bikes to 67 health-compromised children in a regional hospital in the Dominican Republic. Now, he’s looking at cyclists his own age.

“By the time I’m 75, and with hopes of winning more races, I’d love to start promoting cycling at an advanced age,” he says.

We look forward to following Lopez's journey and seeing how far his determination and spirit will take him at Unbound 2025 and beyond.

Kansas is known for many things. Err, there’s the Wizard of Oz, Brown v. Board of Education, being the home of Pizza Hut. Once a year, however, there is a new reason this Midwest US state attracts attention: Unbound Gravel.

The event has gone from being a strange and slightly unique event to one of the biggest things in cycling, a Mecca for the industry, for those among us who like big adventures. It’s where the hottest gravel tech is shown off, where the best gravel professionals, semi-pros and amateurs can all compete on the same stage, and it’s a huge deal.

At the weekend, Lachlan Morton and Rosa Klöser won the elite blue riband race, the Unbound 200, but a few thousand more descended on Emporia, Kansas, to either take part or join the carnival of off-road racing.

It’s clearly influential. It has been the most read-about thing on Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews over the last week, and worth its weight in gold in terms of stories, from those about the bike industry to little nuggets. I love that the women’s race was won by Klöser, a German PhD student, and that Morton was successful. As our North American editor Anne Marije-Rook - who was covering the event live on the ground - noted, he’s the "people’s favourite".

I know it’s important. The interest is clear from the numbers, and from the plethora of inspiring stories brought to us by Rook. And yet, personally, I struggle to truly get swept away by the spectacle of the off-road peloton. 

That’s partly because I am a road cyclist at heart, and so that’s what I drift towards. It’s also because I grew up with an innate love of road racing, and I understand this, it’s what I like, so anything that’s different to that feels a bit odd, and I don’t welcome it with open arms. Gravel is the coming thing, and yet I feel a bit cold about it; I’m the Test cricket fan as Twenty20 rolls along, I’m the person defending the familiar in the face of the new. I am, perhaps, sliding into becoming the older generation. 

The Critérium du Dauphiné, the key Tour de France warm-up race, is happening this week, and that’s much more my speed - the best road racers in the world on the mountains of France. Yet I know that I’m not necessarily in the majority, especially not in the USA, where gravel is king. 

I know that elite gravel racing is no longer simply ex-road WorldTour professionals trying to stretch out their time on two wheels and that it is just a different form of cycling (although, Greg Van Avermaet did finish seventh) . I should love it. I think it’s great that it’s much more inclusive than road racing; basically, anyone can sign up and race, and you would be alongside the elites. It feels, refreshingly, a lot more mass participation, like a marathon, rather than exclusive as the WorldTour is.

Perhaps the greatest barrier to piquing my interest is the fact that the event is not readily available to view on my television. I can watch every stage of the Dauphiné pretty much in my time zone, at a time that is convenient to me, and crucially I understand it and know the main players too. 

The TV coverage aspect feels like the biggest issue with gravel racing right now. As domestic road racing in the UK has found, it’s difficult to get a large audience engaged with a sport if it can’t be viewed via a professional broadcast.

With gravel’s growing popularity, perhaps in time, all this will change - it may not be long before I can become captivated by the sight of dirt-stained riders zooming along peanut butter trails. As it is, the Tour de France, the Classics, they remain the pinnacle of bike racing for me. It might be a while until that changes. Sorry Kansas, I know that all of cycling has its eyes on you - and for good reason - but for me, you’re still just the home of the  Wizard of Oz, for now. 

This piece is part of The Leadout, the offering of newsletters from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.

If you want to get in touch with Adam, email adam.becket@futurenet.com.

 As the North American gravel season gets underway each year with Sea Otter and Unbound, so too does the debuting of new tech to shake up the gravel grinding world, from hybridized hydration vest-cycling kits to a 13-speed groupset to solid helmet straps. 

And yet, amid the bustling tech scene at these races, there are always a few reminders that at the end of the day, what’s important is finding joy in riding any bike at all. 

The folks from the Colorado-based bike manufacturer Rodeo Labs tapped into the “spirit of gravel” by showing up to the Unbound 200 start line on…get ready for it… Walmart-brand beach cruisers.

Rodeo Labs’ Founder Stephen Fitzgerald shared the story behind this unique approach to one of the most arduous gravel races in the world via Instagram. 

Like a few thousand fellow racers, Fitzgerald and the Rodeo Labs crew arrived in Emporia, Kansas, a few days prior to race day. The one key difference: Fitzgerald hadn’t brought a bike.

Instead, Fitzgerald and the Rodeo Labs folks purchased three $200 Kent single speed beach cruiser bicycles from the local Walmart in Emporia with the intention of riding them as far as they’d go on race day. 

The Kent bikes feature a welded steel frame, hi-tensile steel fork, coaster brakes, alloy wheels, a “deluxe” padded saddle and a single-speed drivetrain.

Rodeo Labs stripped them of parts, painted them with “sick fades," and then reassembled the bikes.  

Why go attempt a 200-mile,10,000-feet-of-elevation-gain route on some questionable Walmart beach cruisers?

“We aim to complete the Unbound 200 on these bikes, and moreover we aim to have fun along the way,” Fitzgerald wrote on Instagram before race day. “We do not know if either objective is actually attainable. Failure is possible, and depending on who you ask, probable. And therein lies the allure of it all: The absolute unknown of what [race day] holds.”

Taking on unique challenges is part of Rodeo Labs’ blood:

“Saying that we are a lab means we’ve got restless minds and we want to use them to try to make meaningful contributions to cycling,” says the team at Rodeo Labs. “If we have an idea and it is good enough, it becomes a lab project [which could be] anything: a race concept…a way to do something better…[or] an elaborate joke.

What likely started as an elaborate joke indeed turned into an emotional adventure for the three Rodeo Labs cyclists: all three finished the race - together - in 16 hours and 50 minutes with 15 hours of moving time, nearly eight hours after men’s elite winner Lachlan Morton crossed the finish line in 9 hours and 11 minutes and six-and-a-half hours after women’s elite winner Rosa Klöser claimed victory in a nine-woman sprint for the win.

Fitzgerald wrote on Instagram across two separate posts after the race: “Gravel started because it was fun, and today it felt like we touched just a bit of that live wire...Out there in those hills, everyone was equal. We were all just trying to get there. It’s never before been made that simple for me to understand.”

Unbound Gravel was a hotspot for unreleased new bike tech this year. We spotted SRAM's unreleased 13-speed Red XPLR AXS groupset, a COROS bike computer with 90+ hours of battery life, new niche race kit and new wheels.

We also got glimpses of new bikes, including a prototype Giant, which we are pretty sure is a new top-end Revolt.

This bike was raced by Australian Brendan Johnston, a.k.a Trekky, of the Giant Factory Team in the men's elite 200-mile event. Johnston finished in 15th place after an impressive performance in a "cruel" race that saw him suffer three flat tyres.

Giant remains mum on the details of the new bike, but here's what we know:

Giant introduced the Revolt gravel bike a decade ago, and several iterations have since been released, addressing the need for ever-more capable and faster off-terrain steeds.

The range's flagship model, the Revolt Advanced Pro, has pushed the boundaries of weight while striking a balance of compliance and capabilities with speed and race geometries.

Innovations over the past few iterations include:

- A flip chip rear dropout to allow riders to adjust the wheelbase to fine-tune the handling for different types of terrain.

- The lowering of seatstay junctions with thinner-diameter tubes to improve rear-end compliance.

- The brand's proprietary D-Fuse seatpost aimed at reducing shocks and vibrations from the rough surface.

Many of these technologies appear to be present in this prototype as well.

At first glance, the biggest change is the addition of downtube storage—an increasing trend in gravel bikes and something that riders, rather than racers, have been asking for, Giant revealed.

Incorporating storage into the downtube involves more than simply cutting a hole in the carbon. There are complex design elements to consider, including devising an access door or cover, hinges and latches, ensuring that the compartment and the contents don't interfere with the internal cable routing, and, of course, the structural integrity of the downtube. To compensate for the cutout, manufacturers must add extra material, meaning that this new prototype may not be any lighter or even as light as its predecessors.

New also is the internal frame routing. Internal routing isn't the easiest for home mechanics to work on, but it does create clean—perhaps even more aerodynamic—lines and allows riders to attach accessories without the interference of cables.

The D-Fuse seatpost and flip-chip are present on this prototype as well, but notably missing is the addition of a UDH interface. Introduced by SRAM in 2019, the Universal Derailleur Hanger (UDH) standardizes the derailleur mounting interface across different bike frames, aimed at improving shifting performance and increasing the system's robustness.

A UDH interface is required to run the new 13-speed SRAM Red XPLR AXS derailleur we spotted, which Trekky, while being an SRAM-sponsored athlete, could not make use of. While he did use the new SRAM red brake-shift levers, carried over from the newly released SRAM Red road groupset, Trekky has to make do with a SRAM mullet build consisting of a 1x chaining in the front and a 12-speed mountain bike transmission derailleur and Eagle cassette in the rear. Whether this bike, once commercially available, will feature a UDH interface is as of yet unknown.

The cockpit on Trekky's bike appears to be CADEX's Aero Integrated Handlebar, a $699 upgrade that we're guessing will not be standard issue on the commercially available bikes or perhaps on the very top-end models only.

For his course recon rides, Trekky was running CADEX AR 35 Disc Tubeless gravel wheels with carbon spokes and wrapped in 50mm Pirelli Cinturato tyres with ample clearance left.

As with the current model, the prototype sports accessory mounts on the toptube and downtube.

Again, Giant would not reveal anything about this other than what our own eyes could see but we're certain it will be released later this season. Stay tuned.