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Interesting combination in the lead group as team tactics will come into play with teammates Gomez Villafañe and Schreurs vs solo riders.
Reminder that the group also includes two previous winners Klöser (2024) and Gomez Villafañe (2022).
Report that winds are impacting the race with strong headwind.
Onweller catches back onto the lead group, after being dropped on W road. Again. Back to five riders in the lead group.
Klöser is back with the front group with Onweller 11 seconds back after 140 miles.
Mile 136 is beyond the Preserve and the course bends back to the west to the third and final Feed Zone for pros – at approximately mile 149.6 – approximately 57 miles to go.
The course passes to the east of the famous Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, established in 1996 to protect a significant remnant of the once vast tallgrass prairie ecosystem – many rare plants and rare species of birds and other animals. Tallgrass prairie once covered 170 million acres of North America in what is now the US and Canada, but now only 4% remains.
Women’s race – 79 miles to go
After 128 miles, three riders in the lead group: Gomez Villafañe, Schreurs, Decker
Klöser was 20 seconds back, a few seconds ahead of Onweller
Kroger is 7 minutes behind.
Jones has lost one minute in one kilometre. No visible mechanical issue to be seen,
Chase duo is going through Council Grove, the northernmost section of this year’s course
Jones has drifted off of the chase group, doesn’t seem to be a mechanical.
Chase group is now down to 2 riders: Beers and Kongstad
Würtz Schmidt is crossing Council Grove, racing on approximately 10 miles of paved roads in this area.
He is heading towards Flint Hill trails which is may provide 5 miles of recovery.
Men’s race – 56 miles to go
After 151 miles of racing, Würtz Schmidt has around 7 minutes on chase group of Jones, Kongstad and Beers.
Johnston is a further 2 minutes back
Women’s Race
Coming out W Road, Gomez Villafañe and Decker pulled briefly away but Klöser was able to catch back on while Onweller is chasing.
Unbound XL
Gimperle says he was throwing up in the night and ran/walked roughly a half marathon due to the mud.
Women’s race
The chasers have been caught at a level crossing as a train passes them. Absolutely massive freight train.
Men’s race
Würtz Schmidt has stopped in the third and final aid station and is now riding again after getting a new back wheel. He has 7’00” on Jones, Beers, Johnston and Kongstad.
Women’s race
The two Specialized rider make it through the first ford crossing but everyone else comes down in the water and are now struggling to get going again.
Women’s race
The leaders head onto the brand new MMR section of W Road. It is a 1 mile mess, really. Just grass and rocks, not gravel at all as Schreurs goes to the front.
Unbound XL finish
Robin Gemperle has crossed the line and wins the 2026 Unbound XL in 21 hours and 16 minutes. He set off at 3pm yesterday. Incredible ride in awful conditions.
Men’s race
Swenson is finally back riding again. That took a huge amount of time and has wrecked his race.
Men’s race
Swenson has been caught and passed by the chase group as he still tries to sort things. He finally gets riding again.
The chasers of Beers, Herzog, Jones, Freeburn, Johnston and Kongstad fly by with Swenson stopping again! He has lost some key parts from his cassette. Absolute nightmare for the man who was a certainty for at least second and now won’t even get a top seven.
Men’s race
Romain Bardet abandons the race after being in the chase group. Meanwhile, Keegan Swenson is STILL working on this punctured wheel.
Men’s race
This is a very long change for Würtz Schmidt and Swenson but now the Dane is on his way after losing about half the gap with Swenson waving bye to the motorbike camera.
Men’s race (68 miles)
Puncture
Mads Würtz Schmidt with a major impact puncture and it is taking a long time to get it sorted. Swenson has stopped with him as the gap will be coming down but they are being very calm about this.
Swenson is giving his wheel to Würtz Schmidt. This is major drama. The Specialized squad clearly have Würtz Schmidt as the leader with Swenson struggling.
Women’s race
Onweller was briefly gapped and the leaders pushed hard to try and drop her but she has made it back on again.
The leaders in the men’s race have 72 miles to go whereas the women’s leading group of five have 93 miles to go.
Some biggest names crashed out of the 200 and the XL with rainstorms causing havoc in the various pelotons…
Men’s race (75 miles to go)
Swenson and Würtz Schmidt have 9’00” on the chase group that have now caught Freeburn. They have a huge gap.
Take a look at what happened earlier on in the day with the riders facing difficult thick and gloopy mud that caused various crashes as well as completely clogging up the bikes.
>>> The mud mayhem arrives again early at Unbound 200 with fields shattered early
Women’s race (at mile 106 time check)
The five leaders had a gap of over six minutes and it is still growing.
Women’s race
Onweller is now working with the other four leaders after a period briefly on the back.
Women’s race
Onweller is about to catch the leading group of four riders. An absolutely superb ride by her as the rider from Arkansas is about to make the bridge.
It looks as though the rain may have eased or even stopped for both lead groups in the men’s and women’s races. However, they are all absolutely caked in mud at the front from the top of their helmet to the bottom of their shoes.
Men’s average speed so far is at 23mph and the women are at 20.5mph. They are flying considering the brutal conditions.
Women’s race (roughly 100 miles to go)
Paige Onweller was said to be at 30″ at the last time check and got so close to bridging but may now be fading again.
Men’s race (85 miles to go)
Würtz Schmidt and Swenson have a little chat and a fist bump. The European champion had been drilling a tough pace and his Specialized teammate Swenson looked to be hurting so they may be easing things as they have the winning gap at the moment.
Men’s race
Freeburn now almost five minutes off Würtz Schmidt and Swenson. He’s either sat up or is having an issue.
Men’s race (93 miles to go)
Swenson and Würtz Schmidt have 1’24” on Freeburn and 8’14” on the 12 man chase group.
Women’s race (100 miles ridden)
The four riders clear, Gómez Villafañe, Schreurs, Klöser, and Decker are riding together well. No gap given as of yet.
The weather has really descended on the riders with the rain so heavy and the clouds so thick that they can hardly see 100 metres up the road.
The men are 114 miles into the day with the women just under 100 miles in. The four leaders in the women’s race look to be getting further clear of the chase as the two Specialized riders of Würtz Schmidt and Swenson go further and further clear of Freeburn in the men’s race.
The tracks are now extremely wet and the riders are getting coated in mud. Horrible conditions for the riders.
Men’s race
Würtz Schmidt and Swenson now have a gigantic gap on the chasing group of well over seven minutes. Freeburn is fading fast and was 30″ down at the first check.
Men’s race (100 miles to go)
Specialized duo of Swenson and Würtz Schmidt have dropped Freeburn on a little drag.
The weather has closed in again after a sunny spell but now it is very dark with heavy rain, thunder and lightning. The men’s race have just over 100 miles to go as they pass the halfway point. The women have just left the second aid station and are settling back into the pace after slowing to work together as they go clear.
Women’s race (second aid station)
Frain spent a long time in the aid station to clean her wounds and get her bike sorted as well as taking on new fuel. Her teammate Schrosbree joined her and they both rode off together. Possibly the difference between them finishing and not.
Women’s race
Klöser stops in the second aid station for a chain clean with Gómez Villafañe getting a mussette. The Specialized duo of Schreurs and Decker both missed their feed grabs and Schreurs looked very frustrated. Potentially vital for later in the race.
Women’s race
Attack
Gómez Villafañe
Schreurs
Klöser
Decker
They go clear of the lead group and are gaining a good gap with the second aid station.
Men’s race
Chase group
Bardet
Kongstad
Beers
Taylor
Johnston
Botcher
Soete
Havik
Wild
Koster
Herzog
Jones
Røed
Voß
They are at 3’15” from the leading trio.
Men’s race (113 miles to go)
Würtz Schmidt and Swenson riding for Specialized as well as Freeburn for Trek have over three minutes on the chasing group.
Women’s race (roughly 150 miles to go)
The 11 rider lead group are rolling along at a decent tempo but nothing is really pushing as the race seems to be in a bit of a settled point.
The sun is out for the men but it is raining on the women’s race.
Men’s race (124 miles to go)
The leading trio have over two minutes on the chase group led by Bardet who has rejoined that group.
Men’s race
Second service zone
Würtz Schmidt, Swenson and Freeburn all stop for technical support, fuel and a pressure wash to get the mud off.
Men’s race (130 miles to go)
Würtz Schmidt, Swenson and Freeburn have dragged out their lead to 1’45” on the chasing group.
In the Unbound XL men’s race the leader, Robin Gemperle has covered 297 miles with Alex McCormack close behind him.
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”.
Women’s race
Lejeune makes it back to the front group with former WorldTour rider Mieke Kroger also in this group.
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.”
Men’s race (138 miles to go)
Attack
Würtz Schmidt
Swenson
Freeburn
They have 25″ on the chasing group of about 16 riders.
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.
Women’s race
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.
Men’s race
Lachlan Morton is rumoured to have abandoned the race at about mile 50. Not confirmed yet, though.
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.”
Women’s race
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.
Men’s race
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.
Men’s race
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.
Women’s race
Cecille Lejeune goes down in the deep ford crossing and is now off the back of the chase group.
Women’s race
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.
Men’s race
Mock is flying here and has 30″ on the peloton as he flies through a very rough and rocky section.
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.”
Men’s race
Various issues for the men going through a deep ford of water before a steep climb with a crash and a few mechanicals.
Women’s race
Klöser has been distanced by the leaders. Unsure what happened but she is fighting to get back in.
It isn’t going to plan for Tour de France stage winner Michael Woods…
Men’s race
Simon Pellaud is off the back of the lead group. Something has happened to last year’s runner up.
Men’s race
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.
Women’s race
Leaders:
Danni Shrosbree
Cecily Decker
Nicole Fraine
Lauren Stephens
Geerike Schreurs
Carolin Schiff
Samara Sheppard
Rosa Klöser
Paige Onweller
All the riders are already completely covered in mud from head to toe.
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.
Men’s race
All the riders who were on the podium last year, Jones, Pellaud and Røed are all in the lead group.
Men’s race
The two groups come together to form a group of 17 but a few issues for riders sees the group drop to 14.
Men’s race
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”
Women’s race
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.
Men’s race
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.
Women’s race
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.
Men’s race
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.
Men’s race
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.
Men’s race
Borstelmann and Sens have lost a lot of time and are now about 30″ ahead of the peloton that are strung out.
Women’s race
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.
Women’s race attack/crash
The first moves go off the front as a crash sees Stella Hobbs and Peta Mullins go down. Both back riding, though.
Men’s race
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.
Men’s race
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.
Men’s race
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.
It is interesting to see the difference in riders. Some wearing vests and some just having the jerseys. There’s a real split.
Women’s race
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.
67 riders in the women’s peloton and 133 riders in the men’s peloton.
Women’s race
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.
Men’s race
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.
Men’s race
Racing begins for the men with over 200 miles/333km of racing on the menu with moves off the front already.
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.
Men’s 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.
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.
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.”
>>> Unbound Gravel organisers rein in support station chaos, adding feed zones for elite fields only
A mechanics job isn’t an easy one at the best of times, but for gravel mechanics, it is a whole other ball game as it is just you against the terrain with no big team of mechanics around you. Cyclingnews spoke to mechanics of Alexey Vermeulen, Carolin Schiff and more.
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.
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.
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.