Backwards tyres and self-lubing chains: We peel back the mud at the Unbound Gravel finish line to reveal some curious tech choices

Your Elite Men's Unbound 200 winning bike, Mads Würtz Schmidt's S-Works Crux, complete with teammate Keegan Swenson's rear wheel.

It is custom-painted to reflect Schmidt's status as European champion. You might not be able to tell with all that mud, though.

These are 170mm cranks, and despite all the walking required on course, Schmidt opted for road pedals and shoes. Check out the buildup of mud around the bottom bracket and on the underside of the down tube, too.

The seatstay yoke collected its fair share of mud too.

Mads' rear derailleur picked up a bit of vegetation along the way, but looks to have cleared out the mud fairly well.

On closer inspection, that does appear to be pretty clogged up. The clean section is likely from the wheel swap.

It's unclear what size chainring this is, but the Crux has clearance for 52T. I'm still impressed that he used road pedals in these conditions.

These Pathfinder tyres are a popular choice, but it's unclear what size he chose. Given the clearance to the seat tube, I expect he didn't max it out, and instead left room for the mud to clear.

Matt Beers ran the Pathfinder tyres, which feature a smooth-rolling centre and file tread either side.

Although disguised by the mud, you can see a zip-tied chain-lube applicator here on Beers' seat tube.

He also suffered from mud clogging, no doubt like everyone else on the day.

He also used a Quarq Tyrewiz pressure sensor on his tyres.

The podium ran like an advert for the new Crux. Here's Tobias Kongstad's, albeit in a funky, swirly stripy paint theme.

He too ran Pathfinder tyres, but in the already-mud-coloured tan wall options.

And unlike Beers and Schmidt, Kongstad used a Shimano drivetrain, courtesy of the new wireless GRX groupset.

Specialized will be pleased.

Kongstad went rogue from the Roval cockpit, though, and instead used this narrow Aerocoach Ornix bar, which are 325mm wide at the hoods, 375mm at the drops, and have a long 91mm reach.

4th place Brendan Johnston's prototype Giant is hidden somewhere beneath that mud. Those clean sections on the downtube and top tube suggest he may have been shouldering his bike at some point. Also, those bottles might look the same, but strangely, the down tube bottle was made by Elite while the seat tube bottle made by Tacx. Likely a result of different batches being created by the Aid Station brand.

The tyres are the new Terra Competitions from Continental. The bike has clearance for at least 2.2in but we're unsure what he's using here.

His cockpit has a couple of extra padded sections, and what look like inbuilt buttons on either side of the stem. The cue sheet was clearly abandoned, too.

Cameron Jones ran a Scott prototype with 32" wheels. It barely fits in the stand. That rear tyre looks like it's been fitted backwards too. The direction of those diagonal sipes are the wrong way round vs what the Schwalbe design usually dictates. This could be intentional, though!

Unlike Schmidt, Jones went for mountain bike pedals and shoes, which are much easier to walk in, and then clip back in afterwards.

If this level of mud was built up in a road pedal, you'd have no chance.

Floris de Tier's bike looks remarkably clean, save for the rear of the seatpost here, on which a CO2 canister has been buried.

Adne Koster used the Seka Exaero gravel bike, complete with Reynolds wheels and Shimano GRX derailleur and 2x Dura-Ace chainset.

Most riders have an emergency CO2 canister taped somewhere onto their frame, and Simon Pelaud is no different.

His Maxxis Rambler tyre boasted a much chunkier tread than his competitors. It looks to have shed the mud impressively well though.

Check out the size of that bottle – not sure how that cage managed to hold that.

Cyclo-cross racer Daan Sooete's crew brought their own power washer to the finish

He was also running the biggest tyres that I saw all weekend.

Most elite athletes fashion their own aero number holders, but Sooete kept things simple with pipe cleaner.

Alexey Vermeulen's dog, Sir Willie, rode shotgun aboard the American's Enve bike.

Vermeulen typically fits plugs to his seatstays for the race too. This makes them quick and easy to grab in the event of a puncture.

The mud has definitely shrunk the Enve Mog's 50mm tyre clearance a little here.

Cole Paton was also on the new Giant, which we presume will be an update to the Revolt, with chunky Vittoria tyres (T30 front and T50 rear) which we believe were both 55mm. He also ran a mismatched Shimano groupset, with an XTR derailleur, Dura-Ace front chainset, 1X chainring from WolfTooth, and XTR pedals. He ran a Silca Mattone saddlebag which boasts a Boa dial for closure (and clogs up badly in mud), and three bottles. It's unclear what's in the box under his top tube though, presumably spares.

Drew Dillman ran the Lauf Seigla with its leafspring fork, those wild Enve G SES 6.7 wheels, shod with Continental Dubnital tyres, and a SRAM Red AXS XPLR groupset. He ran a neat top tube flask, called the HSC250 from Profile Design, alongside two one-litre bottles. He also had a GoPro under his stem, which is naturally covered in mud.

Paige Onweller was aboard a Trek Checkpoint. It was fitted with DT-Swiss GRC 1100 wheels, shod with fairly chunky 48mm Gravel Thundero tyres from Tufo. She too had a camera up front, albeit a much smaller version from Insta360. She had a top tube bag, but the tape around her top tube just behind it suggests she used whatever was originally there.

The Dynaplug and saddlebag under her saddle went untouched though.

Geerike Schreurs went detailed with her stem notes. MMR is likely 'Minimal Maintenance Road'. BUF eludes me, and FUN, I presume, is just a reminder to enjoy herself. The Garmin suggests she's set a new distance PR too, although given she's raced this before I assume it's just a new Garmin. Those fuelling notes are excellent, too.

Schreurs ran a 46T chainring. It looks like the rubber bung over the power meter has worked itself loose in the chaos. The chain keeper looks to be mounted to the bottle cage bolts. I don't think it's the K-Edge one though, unless Schreurs' mechanic has hacked off the outer plate.

Her bike was fitted with a SWAT box for storage below the down tube bottle, as well as an Apidura top tube bag behind the stem. The lid of the down tube bottle has "just breathe" written on it, and the elastic bands around them suggest they were collected with gels attached, for a bit of extra speed at the transitions. Her left lever looked to have sustained a knock too. It's very much on the wonk.

Rosa Kloser was aboard the mystery new Canyon we previously spotted at the Traka, with its slightly unusual stepped seat tube, which cuts in just beneath the seat stays. The clearance looks great, with clear daylight between the fork and the front tyre. I'm obsessed with those mega bottles, which upon closer inspection, are still only a litre in size, but Arundel bottle cages are rock solid so I'm not surprised it's still there. Her paint stick, taped to the top tube, remains untouched, as is whatever she's zip-tied under her saddle, but the toolkit on the top tube is missing, suggesting it was put to use or fell off.

Continental did a lot of work with Kloser ahead of the race to quantify the fastest setup, and evidently landed on the Terra Competition for Unbound.

Those stem notes are simply hand-written and taped into place. There's a mention of Train Tunnel Mud, Taco, and more mentions of MMR - minimum maintenance road - like Schreurs above. Note the three plugs taped to the top tube too

While those plugs weren't used, some clearly where.

Sofia Gomez Villafane's bike was.. Yet another Crux. She too had an unused paint stick taped to the top tube, and a similar - but smaller - Apidura top tube bag to Schreurs. Her cranks are 165mm long - denoted by the red marker that you can see on the inside of the non-driveside arm.

Why use pipe cleaners to hold your race number when you've got a custom-made aero number holder that straps into place with a small rubber band?

Here's how it looked before its day in the mud. I really like the idea to use a black quick link in the chain. It stands out from the rest, and no doubt speeds up finding it when you're hurriedly needing to remove it due to a mechanical. I also like her Argentina-themed water bottles.

Cecily Decker, for the second year running, had a two-pronged mud scraper rubber-banded onto her stem. It also looks like she ran the wrong top cap for the Enve one-piece cockpit, or dropped 5mm from her usual position.

Here's that custom mud scraper in action. Sort of.

She also taped a multi-tool to the underside of her top tube, and a CO2 canister to the top.

She had a custom-made chain-lube dispenser built into her chain keeper, too.

Cecile Lejeune's bike was fitted with chunky Continental Race King tyre up front, plus an Insta360 camera beneath her Hammerhead computer. Content is king! Note the SRAM blips under the handlebar too.

At the rear, she ran the smoother file tread Continental Terra Competition tyre.

Lauren Stephens and Cecily Decker both opted for the same Vittoria Terreno T30 tyre in the brown finish.

32in wheels were the talk of the town, and there were a couple of ready bikes in the expo area. Here's the BTCHN Cycles titanium bike from Shimano display. It's cheaper to produce a small run of frames in titanium or steel than it is carbon fibre, since you don't need moulds for each size.

I enjoyed this fun little eye-catcher from Silca.

The most critical piece of tech at Unbound: The paint stirrer, for clearing the mud.

I also really liked this Lancia Stratos rally car tribute from Rodeo Labs; a bike that was equipped with Campagnolo's Super Record gravel groupset. The wheelbase appears to have some adjustment at the rear on this frame too.

This tribute to Campagnolo's Delta brakes was a neat touch too.

For those saying 32in wheels are only for tall riders, Salsa would like a word. This is a size small Fargo.

This GS1 from Ventum looked pretty good with the Fox fork and fat Maxxis Rambler tyres. The 'Ivy' on the SRAM AXS battery tells us this is likely owned by Ventum rider, Ivy Audrain.

This was a nice minimalist Lauf Seigla, set up ready for the 350XL with an Apidura top tube bag, time trial extensions, and a massive Exposure front light.

And this was a more maximalist setup, with a full frame bag housing water reservoir, an extra bag atop the top tube and rear fender.

This Dogma GR sits somewhere in the middle, with an emphasis on aero, with Apidura aero frame bags and the TT extensions.

Another hot-dog mention, this bike's bags have a definite foodie theme.

And to wrap us up, this carbon fibre Calfee Mountain is pitched as the 'most capable mountain tandem ever designed'.