Mattia de Marchi heads into this year’s Unbound Gravel 200 with a renewed mindset and a sharpened sense of purpose. After taking fifth place in 2024, the Italian gravel specialist is ready to embrace the chaos of the Flint Hills once again—this time, with a focus on staying relaxed and trusting his preparation.
For the three-time Traka 360 champion, Unbound offers a unique test of endurance and mental fortitude. While his European races have helped build his strength, the demands of Unbound go beyond the legs.
“I’ve been racing the Traka 200 and 360 for the last three years and found it to be great preparation for Unbound last year,” he said. “It’s important to get a good block of training in to have good legs but it’s also really tough to stay fully focused and sharp for nine hours while racing. But I love this kind of race and I’m ready.
"The conditions this year might be different though. I’m used to racing on dry, European gravel and, with the weather forecast in Emporia this week, it might be a very different race to 2024.”
De Marchi knows that in the Flint Hills, anything can happen—rain, mud, mechanicals—and he’s learned to expect the unexpected.
“In my first year here it was dry at the start, then it rained for the last four hours, and I lost the top 10 because I didn’t have glasses and I couldn’t see. Last year the rain came the day before and the course changed completely,” he recalled. “That’s Unbound; you have to be ready for anything.”
This year De Marchi’s preparation has been more streamlined. Instead of a longer U.S. racing block after The Traka—where he came sixth in the 360 even as his race was curtailed by a mechanical—he flew in just four days before the event. His first stop? There nothing has changed from last year, it was the supermarket.
“The first rule is to go to the market and buy a lot of pasta,” he said, laughing. “The days before the race, it’s pasta for every dinner or lunch. And you need maybe some junk food for your mind.”
De Marchi will race Unbound on a Basso frame fitted with unreleased Fulcrum Sharq wheels, a setup that gave him confidence last year when he finished fifth, behind Lachlan Morton, Chad Haga and a strong field that included Greg van Avermaet and Keegan Swenson. But as always, he knows that equipment is just one piece of the puzzle, and that luck and focus play a huge role.
“Maybe it’s the best day of your life, but if you don’t have luck, maybe not,” he said. “You can have the best legs, but anything can happen.”
As for how he thinks the men’s race will unfold this year, De Marchi expects a tactical day.
“Maybe after the feed zone, there will be 20 riders left, and if you have the energy, you make the break with three or four guys,” he predicted. “Maybe the finish line is a sprint with four or five guys, maximum.”
After Unbound, De Marchi will return to Europe for the Italian Gravel Championships at the end of June, followed by races like Safari Gravel in Kenya, Migration Gravel, and Memory Gravel—an unsupported bikepacking adventure through northern Italy. While he admits the dream of racing the Giro d’Italia will never fully fade now his focus is on gravel, where he has found both a community and a challenge.
“It’s just a race, and I don’t want to put a lot of stress on my body,” De Marchi said. “I love it. I love this situation.”
Unbound Gravel 200 kicks off Saturday morning in Emporia, Kansas, with a stacked field and a forecast that, once again, may throw surprises into the mix. But whatever happens, a pasta-fueled De Marchi is ready to ride it out.
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