Gravel cyclists aren't all the same: a guide to the climbers, punchers and all-rounders of the dirt roads

The skills and backgrounds of professional gravel racers are just as diverse as the events themselves. This dynamic discipline now boasts a wide range of races, from the fast, mixed-terrain Belgian Waffle Ride California to gruelling 200-mile epics like Unbound Gravel in Kansas. These events attract athletes from every corner of cycling: mountain bikers, roadies, gravel specialists, and hybrids of all kinds.

Road cycling has well-established categories of riders. Sepp Kuss is a climber. Felippo Ganna is a time trialist. Jasper Philipsen is a sprinter. Gravel racing isn’t as neatly defined, but similar archetypes exist, albeit with more crossover.

Take Keegan Swenson as an example. Often lauded as the best off-road rider in the country, Swenson started his racing career as an XCO mountain biker before discovering a talent for the longer-distance disciplines of marathon racing and gravel. He has the technical prowess you’d expect from his mountain biking roots, combined with an engine that appears almost unbeatable. He can climb, excelling in courses like Crusher in the Tushar and the Leadville 100, which both feature long, steep climbs at high altitudes. He has also won the 200-mile Unbound, which he did in a bunch sprint. For these reasons, we'd label him an all-rounder. Meet the archetypes of the gravel peloton.

The all-rounders

Like Swenson, the all-rounders are lethal on nearly any course profile. It’s this diversity of skill and ability that makes them well-suited to gravel, be it fast-paced off-road races with pack dynamics to rough singletrack terrain where most would prefer a mountain bike.

Lachlan Morton can also be considered an all-rounder. When he was a roadie, the Aussie-turned-American was considered more of a climber, but the EF rider can do more than go up hills with his featherlight frame. His biggest victory thus far came at this year’s Unbound, where he outmatched Chad Haga in a tactical finale.

I’d also place a rider like Sarah Sturm in this category. Sturm’s background ranges from mountain biking to cyclocross, and the American has found success in races like the Gravel Earth Series’ Migration Stage race in Kenya and the Life Time Grand Prix circuit. With two overall victories in the Life Time Grand Prix, Sofia Gomez Villafaňe has also proven herself to be a formidable all-rounder and a podium threat no matter the course.

The climbers

Some riders use their power-to-weight ratio to their advantage. This doesn’t mean they can’t win in other scenarios, but they really shine when the dirt road points skyward. Pete Stetina made the most of his reported 63kg frame to net a second-place finish at the vertiginous Crusher in the Tushar, and his WorldTour background gives him the power and group racing experience to be lethal.

Cole Paton and Howard Grotts are also examples of lightweight men who can climb like mountain goats. Both are mountain bikers at heart, giving them superb technical skills in addition to their climbing skills.

In the women’s peloton, Haley Smith's another example of a mountain biker who can climb. She showcased her exceptional climbing ability in winning the 2023 edition of Crushar in the Tushar on her way to clinching the overall title of the Life Time Grand Prix that year. Leadville winner Melisa Rollins earns a spot in the climbers club as well after her race-winning move on the Columbine climb. Former soccer player Iz King burst onto the cycling scene after claiming Strava QOMS all over Southern California and is one to watch out for on the climbs as well.

The Gravel Specialists

From Lauren Stephens to Lauren De Crescenzo and Paige Onweller, some racers are most at home on rolling gravel roads. Stephens raced a mixed calendar of road and gravel this year, which led to a fantastic summer in the dirt winning the U.S. National Gravel Championships, the unofficial Gravel Worlds and SBT GRVL. De Crescenzo also has a road background but has found her niche on gravel roads, winning Unbound in 2021 and racking up marquee gravel wins every year since.

Onweller has found a niche in winning races like Big Sugar, where she won in 2022 as an unknown name to many.

Another rider who could fit into this category of specialists is Alexey Vermeulen, who came to gravel after a short U23 stint on the WorldTour. Vermeulen was among the first to succeed as a gravel privateer, finding more joy and a better income in this new avenue than he did in traditional cycling.

The Big Guys

Names like Matt Beers, Brennan Wertz and John Borstelmann might be considered the rouleurs of the gravel peloton. These larger riders can still go uphill at a rapid pace, but they find the most success on rolling or flat terrain where they can really lay down the power. Beers has been known to take some massive pulls, while Wertz won the U.S. National Championships in Nebraska this year. Borstelmann is a multi-time (unofficial) Gravel Worlds winner which also takes place in the rolling terrain of the American Midwest.

The domestiques

Domestiques and team tactics in gravel are a grey area that will spur many opinions, but there’s no denying that alliances (both official and unofficial) exist in the gravel peloton.

At Unbound in 2023, Howard Grotts gave Russel Finsterwald his wheel after his then-Specialized teammate punctured. At this year's event, the Pas Normal team was out in full force, with riders fiercely attacking early in the race to allow Chad Haga to end up in the race-defining break and finish in second place.

And then there's Santa Cruz rider Tobin Ortenblad, who often works for his teammate Swenson. Their partnership was most notable at Leadville 2023 where Ortenbad set a blistering pace early on to help Swenson break the course record. We wouldn’t say that any one rider has made being a domestique their sole identity as a gravel racer yet, but it’s something to keep an eye on.

The Euros

As gravel racing develops, differences in terrain and race styles between the U.S. and European scenes become increasingly apparent. The U.S. thinks of itself as a rebel, with a variety of different races and little input from sanctioning bodies.

In Europe, races are more road-like, with WorldTour tactics and UCI-sanctioned races. The last two editions of the UCI Gravel World Championships have seen winners in Matej Mohoric, Kasia Niewiadoma, Marianne Vos and Mathieu van der Poel. These riders wear the gravel rainbow jersey, but are they really gravel riders? Many would consider them roadies who happened to win a gravel race, influenced by courses and race dynamics that suited their road backgrounds.

Of course, there are plenty of European gravel specialists, too. And there is a growing presence of them at American races like Laurens ten Dam and his so-called Dutch mafia.

Still, gravel is anyone's game

As the above examples illustrate, gravel attracts riders from all backgrounds, and the categories have considerable overlap. The point isn’t to put labels on riders for the sake of putting a label on, but rather to point out their skills and what types of races they typically succeed at. Gravel has blurred the lines of cycling disciplines. Likewise, this dynamic discipline is still defining its archetypes. Is Lauren de Crescenzo actually a climber? Should there be a mountain biker category? What about the ultra-endurance racers and bikepackers who ride gravel like Lael Wilcox and Lachlan Morton? Perhaps it’s this lack of hard definitions that makes gravel so fun to follow – anyone can win.