Unbound Gravel XL: Robin Gemperle claims victory in horrible conditions, forced to walk for 21km

Emma Grant of New Zealand was the first female finisher in fifth overall in 23:04:17.

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Early in the race, Gemperle revealed to the live broadcast interviewer that he feared he might have to drop out after getting sick 180 kilometres into the race, and after getting going, he had to walk around 21 kilometres because of deep mud and rain.

“After 180 km, I was like, this is never going to work out, so mentally it was super tough. I kind of had issues with my stomach,” he said.

“I thought I wanted to like save a lot of drinks at the beginning so I don’t have to stop early, but then we decided together that we will stop early, which made me drink everything that I had left within 20 ks, which is incredibly stupid, and resulted in me puking.”

Last year, Gemperle set the record on the Tour Divide, a much longer race between Canada and the Mexican border of the USA, and was happy to get the Unbound XL victory so he can get back to ‘ultra’ endurance races.

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“The more often you do this kind of stuff, the further away you get from doing it again, so I do have kind of a focus on these shorter ultras for this year,” he said.

“I’m just super happy that it worked out now with one win, because I don’t want to do this another five years. I want to go back to really long ones, which is where I feel super comfortable. So, yeah, it’s good I’ve made it work.”