Who will win 2025 Unbound Gravel 200? – Examining a stacked field to uncover the favourites

The race the gravel world orbits round, Life Time Unbound Gravel 200 offered by Shimano, is almost right here as soon as once more and the highest riders from across the globe and amateurs alike have gathered in Kansas, swelling the inhabitants of Emporia to just about a bursting level.

The race, as at all times, is sure to be unpredictable with so many variables at play within the 202.4 mile (326km) occasion by way of the Flint Hills of Kansas – from the climate to the mechanicals, the techniques, the crashes and the vagaries of how the physique will carry out after such a protracted day within the saddle.

It’s a race the place a lot can go fallacious and a lot has to go proper to even be in with an opportunity of climbing to the highest step in Emporia, although the status of doing simply that retains some riders coming again yr after yr whereas additionally drawing the strongest of newcomers, lining as much as show their mettle and chase a win that may rework a profession.

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Nonetheless, whereas there’s a diploma of unpredictability, there are some clear stand outs on the beginning checklist which have displayed the shape and expertise to carry them in good stead throughout this gruelling gravel check. Learn on to search out out extra about a few of these key riders to observe when the race units off within the early morning gentle of Emporia on Saturday, Could 31.

The 2023 Unbound Gravel 200 champion has had an up-and-down season up to now, one he known as ‘difficult’. Regardless of three victories – BWR Arizona, Sea Otter Traditional Gravel and The Growler – he has had disappointments too – sickness at Cape Epic stored him and teammate Matt Beers from factoring within the total, solely eleventh at Valley of Tears Gravel, and he didn’t take the beginning at Whiskey Off-road 50.

Spanning the previous couple of years of US gravel and endurance mountain bike races, not one single rider was higher than Keegan Swenson, one among his boldest achievements up to now having received Leadville Path 100 MTB 4 consecutive instances, together with a course file in 2023 when he smashed the earlier file by over quarter-hour. So it was no shock {that a} yr after he received his first Leadville title, he sprinted for the victory at his first Unbound Gravel race in 2022, however ended second to Ivar Slik. He rebounded to win the following time.

Final yr a crash hindered his momentum for a high 10 in Emporia. Swenson has targeted solely on making ready for his return this yr to combat for the highly-coveted elite males’s title. And because the solely males’s champion of the Life Time Grand Prix up to now – profitable all three years – the factors from a high end at Unbound hold him on the high of the leaderboard, nonetheless. (JT)

Mattia De Marchi (Sufficient Biking) has lengthy been one of many riders to observe at Unbound 200 together with his three Traka 360 wins in a row by way of to 2023 making him inconceivable to look previous with regards to the long-distance gravel challenges. Unbound could have confirmed a troublesome nut to crack for the rider who’s at house on the rockier gravel of Italy, however he proved his means to combat on the entrance of the race in Kansas when he claimed a excessive of fifth at Unbound 200 in 2024.

Any rider that may hit the rostrum on his debut at this occasion is one which has clearly earned his spot on the favourites checklist, not to mention one which has additionally simply received Traka 360. When Tobias Kongstad lined up in 2024 he wasn’t an entire unknown – not after two high 5 outcomes at The Traka – however the PAS Racing rider was flying below the radar sufficient to be allowed to slide away within the early break.

This time he’ll be a marked man, however whereas the eye could have stepped up a notch, so has he. Kongstad has had extra coaching time after swapping his full-time job for work with the PAS Racing workforce that elements in some leeway to get in additional hours on the bike. If his spectacular solo win at The Traka 360, after round 5 hours out entrance alone, is something to go by he has reaped the rewards in kind. Add to that the expertise from have already got taken on the race and that nothing to lose confidence that comes from already having notched up an enormous win this season and the rider from Denmark appears to coming into the race this yr with all the important thing substances for a high efficiency lined up – now to see what occurs when they’re put within the stress cooker that’s race day. (SG)

Beers has been on a powerful run, taking second at LIfe Time Sea Otter Traditional in April, defending his title at Belgian Waffle Journey California later that month after which in Could taking second in his first time racing The Traka 200. The Specialised Off-Highway racer additionally threw Levi’s Gran Fondo into the combo, coming fourth even on the street and with loads of climbing alongside the way in which.

All in all it appears just like the South African is carrying a powerful run of kind as he heads into his third Unbound. Beers hasn’t but managed to search out his means into the highest ten in Emporia, ending thirteenth in 2024 and coming eleventh within the mudfest that was Unbound 2023, however on this unpredictable occasion he has the understand how and kind to make the most effective of any alternative that will come his means in 2025. (SG)

Apart from Keegan Swenson, essentially the most constant US riders on off-road endurance occasions have been Peter Stetina (Canyon), Alexey Vermeulen (ENVE Composites), Brennan Wertz (Scott Sports activities), Dylan Johnson (Felt Un1td), Payson McElveen (Allied Cycle Works-Purple Bull) and Russell Finsterwald (Trek-driftless). Nonetheless, that checklist for Unbound was drastically depleted when each McElveen and Johnson just lately withdrew due to accidents.

At 37 years of age, Stetina stays on the high of the contenders checklist as he refuses to decelerate within the huge occasions, this yr second at BWR California and seventh at The Traka 360, the race he received in 2024. Till final yr, Unbound has been pleasant to the previous WorldTour race, however an early puncture stored him in chase mode all day and he’s nonetheless to seize the elusive title.

Australia’s Brendan Johnston (Big-SRAM) returns to the US after he received Salty Lizard in Utah and went fifth at Sea Otter Traditional Gravel in California. At house he received Soiled Warrny and Melbourne to Warrnambool on the street, and simply three weeks in the past took victory on the Gravel World Sequence cease at The Devils Cardigan. He is trying to maximize his efforts on one other US swing and take high factors within the Life Time Grand Prix. (JT)

Since then she has not made headlines with lead-up races to Kansas however as a substitute returned to her winter house in Tucson, Arizona for a two-week block of coaching “to organize for the endure fest that’s subsequent with Unbound Gravel”. Throughout these two weeks she logged greater than 46 hours with 783 miles and 44,384 ft of elevation achieve, the climbing equal to 4 Unbound 200 rides. She’ll be dialed in for her third podium in 4 years, searching for the highest step once more. (JT)

Rosa Klöser could not precisely have been an unknown when she sprinted to victory at Unbound 200 in 2024 –having already stood on a substantial variety of UCI Gravel World Sequence podiums and in addition having taken third at The Traka 200 – however she was untested within the packed US fields and among the many Flint HIlls of Kansas. Although a lot has modified since then for the rider who was then a full-time PhD scholar.

The best way she rode straight to the highest of the category within the final gravel check, even managing to combat again from a puncture, helped open up the arrogance and doorways for the German who solely began racing in 2022. After that, and in addition coming ninth on the German nationwide street championships, she opened up discussions with Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto, so she now enters her second Unbound not simply as defending champion but additionally as a Girls’s WorldTour skilled. She has been combining street and gravel, one thing the squad is nicely used to, given one among her teammates consists of Australian gravel champion Tiffany Cromwell, flicking gears from Paris-Roubaix Femmes in April to The Traka 200, the place she got here second.

Klöser could now carry the drawback of being a watched rider however – given the know-how she is sure to have gathered previously yr and the energy she demonstrated final yr – being alert to the menace she poses could not equate to having the ability to do something to counter it. (SG)

The 2-time Traka 360 champion comes into Unbound Gravel 200 on an actual scorching streak. First, she charged away on singletrack from Axelle Dubau-Prévot and Sarah Sturm in early Could to take back-to-back 360km victories on the Spanish race. Then she scored her first US victory in dominant style on Saturday at Gravel Locos, the place the temperatures soared above 34°C, to distance Emily Newsom and Morgan Aguirre by 14 and a half minutes.

At her debut in Unbound Gravel 200 final yr, she succumbed to challenges of two punctures and a mechanical throughout the center of the path to roll throughout the end on Business Road in Emporia in twenty first place within the elite ladies’s race. Trying again at her unbelievable 2024 season with PAS Racing, Migoń scored fifth place or higher in 13 races, profitable the general title on the Gravel Earth Sequence.

This yr the Polish rider with a base in Switzerland rides on a brand new Rose bike, has a brand new coach and was allowed a number of months off from a full-time job to give attention to biking, which has seen her rip by way of her early calendar discovering the rostrum in three out of 5 occasions and nothing out of the highest 10. Whereas she will not go unnoticed this yr within the ladies’s area, she often is the one the opposite riders have to worry essentially the most now. (JT)

In 2022 she received solo at Massive Sugar Gravel and was invited the following yr to participate within the Life Time Grand Prix collection. After going seventh total within the collection, she then vaulted to 3rd total utilizing a third-place end at Unbound Gravel 200 as her foremost springboard, getting high factors as the primary Grand Prix lady throughout the end line. Final yr’s podium end at Unbound was an enormous turnaround from the mechanical that gave her a DNF the yr earlier than in Kansas.

Onweller is available in with high 10s at Sea Otter Traditional Gravel and the gruelling 137-mile The Growler at Levi’s Gran Fondo with 14,000 ft of elevation achieve, then received the timed-climbing race at Stetina’s Paydirt. She handed on different occasions to permit her physique and thoughts to relaxation and focus “extra particular and intentional Unbound prep”, which incorporates street intervals. She lives in Arkansas just some hours away from the Unbound course, so count on the main target to repay in an enormous means at her third begin in Emporia. (JT)

Axelle Dubau-Prévôt is one other a type of riders who could not have discovered their proper slot in different disciplines however appear ideally suited to the rising realm of gravel. Having as soon as raced on the street professionally in addition to dabbling in mountain bike and cyclocross, final yr the French rider started to really immerse herself in gravel and it wasn’t lengthy earlier than the podiums began flowing. She dipped her toe within the water at Unbound final yr, coming thirty ninth but it surely looks like this yr the rider who comes from a biking household – sure she is expounded to Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt – has risen to a brand new degree.

Dubau-Prévôt has put collectively the Numero 31 par Cafe du Cycliste biking workforce with Hugo Drechou, secured a spot within the Life Time Grand Prix Sequence for 2025 and launched into the racing for 2025 with a win at Bescanonina Gravel in Spain. Her first US block then included a fourth at Belgian Waffle Journey Arizona, however what’s sure to have actually made her rivals rise up and take discover was the second putting at The Traka 360 behind an inform Migoń. With a efficiency like that over an identical distance in a area with that depth of competitors, Dubau-Prévôt has proven each indication that she may very well be a power to be reckoned with this yr in Kansas. (SG)

The 2023 winner Carolin Schiff (Canyon CLLCTV) can be on the beginning line, and whereas she has been racing with a damaged rib, that isn’t sufficient of a motive to put in writing her off. For a begin she already raced to sixth at The Traka 200 by way of it and she or he’s had much more time to heal and prepare since then. One other confirmed performer who has needed to grapple with damage is Geerike Schreurs (SD Worx-Protime). She crashed throughout The Traka 360 and fractured her elbow so it has been contact and go whether or not the Dutch bike owner will line up on the occasion, though she was nonetheless on the beginning checklist launched over the weekend. If it weren’t for that crash and damage, she would have been proper close to the highest of the favourites checklist.

Sarah Sturm (Specialised) has completed within the high seven of Unbound 200 the final three years, reaching the rostrum in 2023. After coming third at The Traka 360 on the lead into this yr, it appears just like the Colorado rider has the shape in addition to the expertise. Then there may be additionally 2021 Unbound 200 winner Lauren De Crescenzo (Issue-The Feed), who sat out the USA Professional Highway Championships to give attention to preparation for her return for a sixth journey in Emporia.

The beginning lists additionally revealed one other wild card, with Annika Langvad (Specialised-Off street) going to Emporia. There must be no doubting her means to immediately make her mark, not given the facility of the six-time mountain bike world champion’s return. She has already scooped up the win at Santa Vall earlier than heading to Cape Epic to clinch a sixth title, using alongside Villafañe. Then she went on to take the third step of the rostrum at The Traka 200, so there must be no underestimating her at Unbound, particularly if the climate delivers difficult terrain and provides an additional benefit to these with the mountain bike expertise. (SG)

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