Unbound Gravel - 10 Riders to Watch

Amity Rockwell was in disbelief as she crossed the line for the win after working her way up through the women's field in 2019 (Image credit: Wil Matthews)

On June 5 the biggest gravel race of the year takes place with a stellar field descending on Kansas for Unbound Gravel. The 200-mile race features some of the most demanding dirt roads in the US, with the top athletes set to race for around 10 hours.

After a one-year hiatus due to the global pandemic the race returns, and ahead of the event Cyclingnews has highlighted 10 of the biggest names on the start list for you to follow. There's a great mix of experience, with defending champions Amity Rockwell and Colin Strickland looking to repeat their 2019 successes.

There's a strong WorldTour contingent with Movistar and Trek-Segafredo both sending riders to compete in the men's race, while solid all-rounders like Alison Tetrick and Rebecca Fahringer will provide stiff opposition in the women's race.

Rockwell won Unbound Gravel in 2019, the last edition held before COVID-19 shut down racing and the event was cancelled last year. She had a series of strong performances that season: fourth at LandRun 100, first at Sweetwater Grasshopper, second at King Ridge Grasshopper, and first at Old Growth Classic, which bode well for her arrival at Unbound Gravel, an assurance that she may not have this year due to races only beginning to open up again in the US.

“’Taking it easy,’ or something like that. Anyone who knows me knows how much I prefer training to actually racing my bike, but the cycle of it all is kinda fun, especially in the swing of a real season. I look forward to Unbound Gravel but mostly I look forward to a week after it, when I can do some big dumb soul ride and not have it hanging over my head anymore," Rockwell wrote in a post on Instagram.

There were still several hours of racing to go when Strickland attacked but as he told Cyclingnews last year: “I put in some big digs until I was out of sight but at no point did I think that the race was over. Not with so far still to race. I had three minutes but from there I still had 70 miles to go. I made a concerted effort not to get excited about winning that race until I got to the final climb. The moment you start letting your concentration slip, that’s when bad things can happen.”

Even the ever-popular Dutchman surprised even himself with a standout performance in Gravel Locos a few weeks ago. The veteran rider and former top-10 finisher in the Tour de France tore away from the group of favourites that included many of his Unbound rivals to take a convincing and morale boosting victory. That victory has certainly marked Ten Dam’s card ahead of this weekend and many riders will see him as the rider to beat – despite his relative lack of experience in gravel racing.

The 40-year-old hadn’t raced since Il Lombardia 2019 until showing up in Texas but he’s clearly not lost his competitive edge, while the distance shouldn’t be a major factor given his recent demonstration of strength. Assuming he has no major bad luck and doesn’t make any mistakes in fuelling or strategy Ten Dam will be involved in the pointy end of the race. His legs, as he showed in Texas, are certainly good enough.

He has a mountain bike background and set the fastest time on Utah's White Rim trail and was second in the Leadville 100 in 2019, so the terrain shouldn’t be any issue, while at the same time he’s been posting 30-plus hour training weeks with specific efforts tailored towards the event.

Simmons, unlike most of the male riders on this list, comes into the race with a full spring campaign under his belt and that could make a significant difference when compared to some of the US-based riders who have barely raced in the last 18 months. It’s true that he hasn’t pushed a pedal in anger since a DNF in the Tour of Flanders, but 14 days of European competition is still a huge amount of racing compared to others on this list. Based purely on natural talent, Simmons cannot be ignored.

If Simmons' two weeks of Euro racing looks substantial it pales in comparison to Jorgenson’s 40 days of competition with the American jetting back to the US just a few days after finishing his maiden Grand Tour at the Giro d’Italia. That base of racing will either see Jorgenson fly across the Kansas gravel or come unstuck after three weeks of energy sapping and draining racing in Italy. It’s hard to tell how the 21-year-old’s body will react at this point.

Ian Boswell, Ted King, and former US National road champion Greg Daniel are competing in Unbound Gravel and are all worth a follow, but the final male rider on our list in Peter Stetina. The 33-year-old was second behind Strickland a couple of years ago and was in the mix at Gravel Locos until an untimely mechanical took him out of the running. Unlike two years ago, however, when Stetina was merely dabbling with gravel as he combined those extra-curriculum activities with his road career, he’s now a fully-fledged gravel pro. As such he’s built his entire season around this block of racing and he touches down in Kansas as one of the main favourites for the title.

Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.

Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.

She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.