Unbound Gravel 200 LIVE: Heavy rain, bolts of lightning and bursts of sunshine for the riders as the race is shaping up nicely

The leading trio have over two minutes on the chase group led by Bardet who has rejoined that group.

Second service zone

Würtz Schmidt, Swenson and Freeburn all stop for technical support, fuel and a pressure wash to get the mud off.

Würtz Schmidt, Swenson and Freeburn have dragged out their lead to 1’45” on the chasing group.

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In the Unbound XL men’s race the leader, Robin Gemperle has covered 297 miles with Alex McCormack close behind him.

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Winning Unbound 200 last year may have set the rider from New Zealand up for a career in gravel but “there’s lots to gain by getting another one”.

Lejeune makes it back to the front group with former WorldTour rider Mieke Kroger also in this group.

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Keegan Swenson told Cyclingnews at Specialized product launch on Thursday:

“It’s kind of been the trend every year. It seems like it gets faster and faster, and guys are more willing to gamble on early attacks and early moves and breakaways, and yeah, no one really. I think we’ve learned we can push hard all day, you know, and no one really respects a distance anymore. We just ride flat out from the start, so yeah, we’ll see how it goes.”

Attack

Würtz Schmidt
Swenson
Freeburn

They have 25″ on the chasing group of about 16 riders.

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The sun is out on the riders for the moment but the rain is falling at the finish as the junior 50 mile race sets off.

Around nine riders out front after the race broke down on a muddier section.

Frain is back racing but has blood pouring down her left leg, her fingers and left shoulder. She looks in a heck of a lot of pain.

Lachlan Morton is rumoured to have abandoned the race at about mile 50. Not confirmed yet, though.

(Image credit: Future l Ethan Glading)

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Haley Smith, 2022 LTGP overall women’s winner, told Cyclingnews in the Unbound Expo this week:

“This has been a good year so far. I have raced far less, and I wasn’t able to race Sea Otter just with the parasite I picked up from Cape Epic, but that’s all resolved now. I had like a season and a half that were quite a bit tougher dealing with the repercussions of long COVID, and I was pretty ill for a while. So I’m through that, and I’m feeling strong and healthy, and just enjoying the racing opportunities I have had, so I’m looking forward to the weekend.”

Crash

Nicole Frain goes down. The former Australian national road champion looks like she is in a lot of pain and is struggling to straighten her bars.

On Texaco Hill the lead group is getting split up with mud beginning to be an issue as Matt Beers coming back from a problem. Vermeulen and Pellaud also working hard to come back too.

The men’s group sits up and the chasers regain contact with a group of about 25 to 30 riders now lead the race with just inside 150 miles left to go.

Cecille Lejeune goes down in the deep ford crossing and is now off the back of the chase group.

Mock sits up as the group behind him looks as if it is splitting up.

Klöser is riding hard to try and get back on. She has passed a few dropped riders from the lead group and is riding well.

Mock is flying here and has 30″ on the peloton as he flies through a very rough and rocky section.

Attack

Daxton Mock

He has about 5″ on 21 rider strong group.

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Simon Pellaud said on the event pre-race show The Leadout

“My season started not the way I would have like it to because I’ve been injured for more than two months. I hit my knee against a car door and, yeah, it’s been pretty rough. I had to skip a couple of races and I’m still not quite 100 percent recovered now so it’s also still pretty rough mentally. I didn’t have the preparation that I would have loved to so yeah, its a bit messed up but I trust the process and I know that at some point everything will just stick and roll further.”

Teams impact

“It will depend on the weather forecast too I would say because if at mile 15 we already are all running around its going to be a different situation but I’m quite sure that its going to be the first real different Unbound this year with so many teams around and ready to help each other to reach the victory.”

“Even if the weather is not so good, there are not so many really muddy section and still if we have 20km lets say of mud, its still 315km of fast riding so for sure there will be some team tactics.”

Various issues for the men going through a deep ford of water before a steep climb with a crash and a few mechanicals.

Klöser has been distanced by the leaders. Unsure what happened but she is fighting to get back in.

Thomas De Gendt leads the front group into the first feed zone

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It isn’t going to plan for Tour de France stage winner Michael Woods…

Simon Pellaud is off the back of the lead group. Something has happened to last year’s runner up.

Mechanical for Andreas Seewald who has dropped his chain. He was trying to keep riding while also pulling his chain back on but it isn’t working.

Swenson, Morton and Herzog are all over a minute out of the back.

Simon Pellaud bridging to two attackers but Matt Beers closes things down again.

Leaders:

Danni Shrosbree
Cecily Decker
Nicole Fraine
Lauren Stephens
Geerike Schreurs
Carolin Schiff
Samara Sheppard
Rosa Klöser
Paige Onweller

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All the riders are already completely covered in mud from head to toe.

About 12 riders clear out front as the mud becomes much more rideable.

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The mud appears to have compacted down a bit more with both the men and women settling into the race now as the groups have been formed thanks to that chaotic mud section.

All the riders who were on the podium last year, Jones, Pellaud and Røed are all in the lead group.

The two groups come together to form a group of 17 but a few issues for riders sees the group drop to 14.

Lead group

Mads Würtz Schmidt
Cobe Freeburn
Torbjørn Andre Røed
Romain Bardet
Nils Brun
Matthew Beers
Daxton Mock
John Borstelmann
Daan Seote
Frederick Raßmann

Chase +27″

Lachlan Morton
Brendan Johnson
Arno van den Broeck
Caleb Botcher
Cameron Jones
Simon Pellaud
Adne Koster

Peloton +1’15”

The women’s peloton comes back together but they hit the huge puddle as a rider goes down and the riders who made it through are now getting caught up by the mud just like the men.

The front of the race sees about 10 to 12 riders well ahead of the rest of the groups as the riders who made it through the mud unscathed are taking a real advantage early doors.

Michaela Thompson with a rear puncture. She is left fixing the wheel. It is taking her a while as she is struggling to pump it back up. She is being passed by some of the amateur riders, she has been there for a while.

Keegan Swenson and Emil Herzog are a couple of riders having issues with mud clogging the wheels and cogs. So many riders left behind to try and get the mud out.

Riders having to ride through a huge puddle that covers the entire track. Some have had to come off and push through as the peloton bunch up through it and several riders have to stop on the mud straight afterwards and it sees Sens and Borstelmann get caught as they are completely clogged their bikes with mud.

Borstelmann and Sens have lost a lot of time and are now about 30″ ahead of the peloton that are strung out.

Attackers

Laurel Quinones
Emma Langley

They have a decent gap growing as they hit the first climb of the day as they will hit the mud the men have recently rolled over soon.

The first moves go off the front as a crash sees Stella Hobbs and Peta Mullins go down. Both back riding, though.

In the break today is Connor Sens who is from Bendigo in Australia. He was the 2023 Australian national gravel champion winning the title at Devils Cardigan on Tasmania where the prize includes a homemade cardigan with the name of each winner sewn in as well as a sack of local potatoes. Obvious prizes, of course.

The peloton is just rolling along as the riders settle into the racing.

The riders are onto the first climb and the gravel is more mud than anything else. It doesn’t look awful but a little bit slippy and difficult to navigate. Some riders already losing contact with a long way to go.

There is a group chasing the leaders of Borstelmann and Sens that includes Nathan Spratt. No word on the size of that group yet or the timings.

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It is interesting to see the difference in riders. Some wearing vests and some just having the jerseys. There’s a real split.

Racing begins with a steady start on the first bits of gravel. It is a very dusty start but mud may be an issue later in the day.

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67 riders in the women’s peloton and 133 riders in the men’s peloton.

John Borstelmann
Connor Sens

They have a small gap on the bunch.

In the women’s side of things, Gomez, Lance, De Crescenzo, Kloser, Frain, Decker, Hartog, Schreurs and defending champion Migoń all among the big contendors.

Straight onto the gravel and it looks very dry despite that storm. The riders are pushing hard on this early part of the race as they look to make the selection early.

Racing begins for the men with over 200 miles/333km of racing on the menu with moves off the front already.

The women set off in their neutral start. The same 3 mile neutralised zone as the men.

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If you are new to gravel racing, Cam Jones won last year with Matthew Beers, Keegan Swenson, Torbjørn Røed, Alexey Vermeulen, Lachlan Morton are all big names to look out for with former WorldTour road riders like Romain Bardet, Thomas De Gendt, Simon Pellaud and Mads Würtz Schmidt all racing with the last two being big favourites for this race.

The men set off on their neutral zone in the dawn light. The neutralised section is around 3 miles long to just get them out of Emporia before they race.

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The riders are all lined up in Emporia. It is currently dry but there was apparently a big storm in the night with mud looking like it could be a real issue.

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There have been changes made to the way the support stations work with the pros and amateurs with the elite riders getting their own areas to avoid the chaos of previous years.

Last year’s winner, Cameron Jones, is for the changes and told Cyclingnews: “The first year out at the feed zones really opened my eyes – just how many people were at the feed zones, it was like a whole city long, four or five blocks, and you’re trying to watch out for your people,” He said.

“So, last year was a lot less stressful being in a small group. I think it’s a good call that they’ve split them up from the amateurs, because we’re coming through with a lot more urgency than the age groupers. It’s nice to have a bit less going on, less distractions.”

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The startlist is a blend of former and current road riders, gravel specialists and the odd full blown all-rounders in both the men’s and women’s lineups.

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The race has upped it’s prize pot for this year with $60,000 being split between the top five riders in both the men’s and women’s races.

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Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews’ live updates of the 2026 Life Time Unbound Gravel presented by Shimano.

The 200 mile/333km race is the one that starts very soon. However, yesterday saw the start of Unbound XL, a 300 mile epic that is still racing now after an all nighter on the brutal gravel. They set off 3pm local time and are due to finish in around four to five hours time.