Unbound by name, unbound by nature? I guess so, to an extent, and yet there’s no doubt that things are getting pro roadie-like serious at the dirty and sweaty end of elite gravel racing. Unbound is arguably leading the charge in this respect, playing a hugely influential role in shaping the fast-rising, and scarily fast-moving definition of gravel racing.

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Although it isn’t actually the oldest gravel race out there, Unbound is now certainly the biggest, the brightest, the most prestigious, and important gravel race on the calendar. It’s a race that seems to have emerged as the gravel equivalent of a pro road monument classic, one that can make a rider’s career – all within a genre of the sport that’s still very much cutting its teeth in cycling terms.

Unbound Gravel 2025 night time shot - Unbound Gravel.png, by Unbound Gravel

Image credit: Unbound Gravel

Despite Unbound being a huge event that is now part of the Life Time organisation, and with an entry limit of 5,000 riders, the race has managed to evade the fate that befell mountain biking (or helped make MTB racing what it is today, depending how you view it), holding on to its independence and home-cooked recipe for success. It sets a good example to organisers of other major independent events around the world, and one could also argue that the prestige of events like Unbound also prevents cycling’s governing body, the UCI, from exercising control over the entire sport of cycling.

In maintaining this, gravel events like Unbound, the Traka, and numerous others have carved out more than a niche in cycling terms. They’re demonstrating that, so far, the more uniformed UCI Gravel World Series style races and independent ones can co-exist, without the former affecting the popularity and prestige of the latter.

Things are getting serious

Unbound gravel finish line photo 2025 - credit Unbound Gravel.jpg, by Unbound Gravel

Image credit: Unbound Gravel

Things have moved at a fast pace in the past 2-3 years of Unbound, much as they have with the Traka – although, it has to be said that Unbound is still very much the race and place to be at nowadays, not only for the riders, but also for the media and the bike industry in general.

Unbound in particular has become a crucial event for brands to pre-release and launch new, high-end products, which is changing how the ‘niche’ high-end part of the industry goes about things. Trade shows such as Eurobike and the now discontinued Interbike started the trend of feeding new product into the system outside of established mass launches with strict embargoes, and now races like Unbound have arguably become an even more fruitful ground to unveil new bikes and tech in a more unconventional way.

Canyon gravel bike from Unbound 2025 full 2, by Luca Phil Franze

Image credit: Luca Phil Franze

Somewhat ironically, where many considered early gravel bikes to be illegitimate mechanical love children of early ‘90s MTBs (which to an extent they largely were), they have evolved at a rapid-fire pace. This is mostly for the better, and if anything gravel bikes are golden geese for the industry. Needless to say, there was certainly no shortage of new, and probably soon-to-be-new bikes and products out there around the trails of Kansas.

With such varied terrain, styles of races, distances and conditions now found in gravel riding, plus the high level of individuality of riders, their demands, their cycling backgrounds and theories, gravel has come to the fore with both technical and micro drop bar bike evolution.

Unbound bikes and kit: the highlights

Lael Wilcox on new Specialized Diverge - credit Unbound Gravel.jpg, by Unbound Gravel

Image credit: Unbound Gravel

Amongst the numerous new and refined bikes out there were the new Specialized Diverge (which we covered last week), a revamped and yet to be named new Pinarello, and what looked like two new Factor models.

 

 

 

 

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One of the Factor bikes was David Millar’s allroad gravel style Aluto, and perhaps more interestingly was the lower hung front suspension bike ridden by company owner Rob Gitelis and XL course winner Robbie Britton. 

There was also a sweet looking OOLab branded Orbea, which we believe will be the brand’s new Terra, a fresh aero-road bike with bigger tyre clearence from Willier, and a new bike from Ventum with wider tyre clearance and aero credentials.

On the component side, we saw what appeared to be a new electronic Campagnolo rear clutch gearing system gracing Mattia De Marchi’s Wilier bike, as well as several ‘secret’ tyres, and new bags – including Lachlan Morton’s new aero bar bag, which he hooked up with a Tailfin rear rack and top tube piped hydration system.

Canyon gravel bike from Unbound 2025 suspension fork, by Luca Phil Franze

Image credit: Luca Phil Franze

When it came to race day ride choice, and given that it was hellishly muddy all week, most riders left their final choice of bike and setup right until the last moment. We also saw an increasing number of staff on hand with back-up kit and bikes for the riders to plan for all eventualities in the muddy conditions, with many of the bigger teams and their riders having two different bike options. Some Canyon athletes had both Grail and Grizl bikes on site, and plenty of teams had both rigid and suspension fork options, plus numerous tyre and gearing choices at their disposal. This is far evolved from where we were just a few years ago.

Keegan Swenson double valve wheels - credit Keegan Swenson.png, by Keegan Swenson

Keegan Swenson's doubled-valved wheels (credit: Keegan Swenson)

Clearly tyres and tyre clearance are still getting wider, with a lot more attention being paid to profiles and rolling resistance. Keegan Swenson and his teammates even rode home some bodged double-valve wheels – with one being for a flat inner tube that was placed inside the sealant filled tyre for the very worst case scenarios.

Swenson was also a prime example of the shift towards shorter cranks, riding on 160mm, though some of the older road pros were still on 172.5mm, as were some from mountain bike background.

Canyon gravel bike from Unbound 2025 with Dura-Ace, by Luca Phil Franze

A number of pros still opted for a more conventional 2x setup over the Kansan trails (image credit: Luca Phil Franze)

Single chainrings and SRAM’s Transmission 13-speed groupset were prominent among elite and amateur riders, with many using anything between a 46-50T on the day. That said, many leading riders also opted to stick with double chainrings, where Shimano Dura-Ace seemed to be the most popular. Naturally, electronic gearing was used by most of the main contenders, yet some still chose to opt for mechanical shifting, likely for the simplicity and reliability it offers.

How about the racing?

Cameron Jones wins Unbound Gravel 200 2025 - Unbound Gravel.png, by Unbound Gravel

Image credit: Unbound Gravel

The darling race of the weekend is the Unbound 200, which in a somewhat cruel twist is actually just over at 202 miles long. This year’s race was televised live on YouTube, and is also a Life Time Grand Prix counting race.

As the weather slowly dried out, a fast and close race was envisaged. With many teams and bigger names in the sport out for glory, few expected that it would unravel in the way it did this year with solo victors in both the men’s and woman’s races. Both were won at record speeds, as was the case in the XL race.

At around 50 miles in, the Swiss-made, Colombian-based, former road pro-turned travelling endurance gravel monster, Simon Pellaud (Tudor Pro Cycling) took off with New Zealander and wild card entry Cameron Jones (Scott). Few gave them much hope of staying away… but that’s exactly what they did, for 150 long miles.  

On the final drag towards the finish, Jones rode away from Pellaud to take a solo victory, average a staggering 22.49mph for the race.

In the women’s 200, Polish former double Unbound XL winner Karolina Migon (PAS Studio) took off alone with 50 miles to go, and never looked back as she went on to a lonesome and speedy win, averaging 20.12mph. Cecily Decker (USA/PAS Studio) took second place ahead of Sofia Gomez Villafane (USA-Argentina/Specialized).

Heather Jackson Unbound Gravel 2025 - credit Unbound Gravel.jpg, by Unbound Gravel

Heather Jackson on her way to a hugely impressive victory in the XL (image credit: Unbound Gravel)

The Unbound XL went large in many ways this year, rolling out at 359 miles long, and with a prize of a field too. In the men’s race, the favourite and last year’s 200 winner, Lachlan Morton (AUS/EF Education-EasyPost) forced the pace early on, forging ahead in what looked set to be a solo victory for the Aussie. However, Canadian endurance ace Rob Britton (Factor) had other ideas, and slowly hauled him hack in in. In the last 10 miles Morton began to suffer, and Britton rode away from him to claim a fine solo victory.

Just a few places behind the men’s winner was former Ironman Triathlon ace Heather Jackson (USA/Herbalife-Canyon) who took the woman’s title, just shy of 2.5 hours ahead of 12th placed overall, and second woman, Serena Bishop Gordon (USA).

Lachlan Morton front box - credit Unbound Gravel.jpg, by Unbound Gravel

Image credit: Unbound Gravel

All things considered, the racing, the infrastructure, the support, and the profile of Unbound Gravel is growing with every edition. It will be interesting to see just how far this evolution will go, and if the event will hang on to its Dirty Kanza roots and ideals as things inevitably heat up even more in future editions.