It's said that dogs are a man's (or woman's) best friend, and gravel racer and ex-WorldTour pro Alexey Vermeulen certainly seems to have a special bond with his dog Sir Willie.
Vermeulen often rides with Sir Willie (whose Instagram page you can see below) housed safely in a backpack. The American rider finished 5th at Unbound in 2022 and came home in 15th place in this year's Elite 200 race with an average speed of just under 21mph - that was without carrying Sir Willie around the course.
Vermeulen arrived at Unbound Gravel with Sir Willie in tow as well as a special custom-painted Enve Mog gravel bike, which garnered a lot of attention. It also features a very trick custom chainring.
Unlike many of his competitors, who kept their final race-day setups a secret, Vermeulen chose to display his bike at the expo, allowing everyone to check out his new custom paint job from ENVE featuring arguably the most famous dog in cycling. We grabbed some photos before the Unbound mud covered everything.
Cycling tech can get serious sometimes; this is a nice moment to enjoy a cool bike and a celebration of a man's love for his dog.
Check out our Unbound Tech gallery for all the best tech from the weekend's racing.
Here's Vermeulen with his Enve Mog rig pre-race; the dog theme takes the headlines, but it was fitted with some brand-new gravel tech. Those are the new super-aero, super-wide Enve G SES 6.7 wheels. (Image credit: Ethan Glading)
Here's Sir Willie leading the charge on the Enve bar one-piece stem, how well does that red, white and black combo pop, too? (Image credit: Ethan Glading)
He also featured on the bike's headtube. This Mog has a super clean front end, both literally - though it wouldn't stay that way for too long once the racing started - and in terms of cable integration. (Image credit: Ethan Glading)
A windswept Sir Willie on the head tube of Vermeulen's bike, here's a hint of that sticky Unbound muck. (Image credit: Ethan Glading)
Vermeulen had Shimano GRX Di2 shifters and 45mm tyres. That's small by some standards these days, but possibly an asset when it came to mud clearance in the race. (Image credit: Ethan Glading)
This seems to be a common occurence for these best buds! (Image credit: Ethan Glading)
A very cool Sir Willie x Wolf Tooth collab chainring. Vermeulen has opted for the single-ring setup for the first time after a long time sticking with the double. A single ring was surely the right call for the Unbound conditions. (Image credit: Ethan Glading)
Vermeulen was running fairly conventional 45mm Kenda Crusher tyres on the new ENVE G SES 6.7s aero wheelset with, as he told us, "lots of sealant.” (Image credit: Ethan Glading)
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Tom joined the Cyclingnews team in late 2022 as a tech writer. Despite having a degree in English Literature he has spent his entire working life in the cycling industry in one form or another. He has over 10 years of experience as a qualified mechanic, with the last five years before joining Cyclingnews being spent running an independent workshop. This means he is just as happy tinkering away in the garage as he is out on the road bike, and he isn’t afraid to pull a bike apart or get hands-on with it when testing to really see what it’s made of.
He has ridden and raced bikes from an early age up to a national level on the road and track, and has ridden and competed in most disciplines. He has a keen eye for pro-team tech and enjoys spotting new or interesting components in the wild. During his time at Cyclingnews, Tom has already interviewed some of the sport's biggest names including Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar and Alberto Contador. He's also covered various launches from brands such as Pinarello, Ridley, Specialized and more, tackled the Roubaix Challenge sportive aboard his own rim-brake Cannondale SuperSix Evo, tested over 20 aero helmets in the wind tunnel, and has created helpful in-depth buying advice relating to countless categories from torque wrenches to winter clothing.
