Last year's Unbound Gravel 200 champion Cameron Jones (Scott Sports USA-RCC) called his attempt on Saturday to defend the title a battle to survive.
His losses were measured against mud, lack of late momentum and then precious time, going from fifth position to 10th late in the race when choosing the wrong line cost him. However, there was a rainbow at the end of the ride for him in Kansas as "a good points haul" in the Life Time Grand Prix series moved him into the top 10 overall in that competition.
Jones was in the chase of Specialized-Off-road duo Mads Würtz Schmidt and Keegan Swenson, who had more than eight minutes on a strung-out field with 75 miles to go.
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The dynamics abruptly changed when Würtz Schmidt suffered a torn rear wheel, and Swenson donated his back wheel to let the Dane sail off for a solo victory. Jones had connected with the five other contenders, including eventual runner-up Matt Beers (Specialized Off-Road) and third-place finisher Tobias Kongstad (PAS Racing).
"Yeah, it went relatively smoothly to start. Made it through all the early mud sections and made all the right splits. I had good legs, and with like 50 miles to go, I was in a group fighting for second," he told Cyclingnews Sunday morning at a local Emporia coffee shop. Swenson would battle back with Emil Herzog (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) to join Jones' group.
"Then I think I got a little bit behind on nutrition, it was taking a bit longer than I thought, maybe I dropped something or missed something. [For a while] I was riding solo, I thought I was just bleeding time, but I got a good rhythm, kept aero. Then with 30 miles to go, there's a little muddy road, and I just took a wrong line and got clogged up, lost a couple of minutes, got caught by six people, and they all beat me.
"So went from a solid fifth place to like 10th in the end, so that stung a bit, but it was good to know that I was right there."
The final two hours were under brilliant sunshine, but there was nothing radiant about the other seven hours and 39 minutes.
"At one point I thought, 'Oh, that maybe this is hail'. It was maybe just the raindrops, but yeah, it was some biblical weather out there. We went through five different rainstorms, and it was super wet. The eyes are probably the part that's suffering the most after the race, because your glasses can only do so much ... I took them off with about a quarter of the way to go."
Jones gained star power last year when he won Unbound Gravel 200, which also earned him a wild card spot in the Life Time Grand Prix. He went on to win the overall six-race off-road series, unseating three-time winner Keegan Swenson (Specialized Off-road).
His 2026 Grand Prix campaign had a similar start to last year, with a modest showing at Sea Otter Classic Gravel, this year 20th overall but good for 14th in the series standings. While a repeat victory and even a podium were off the cards in Kansas on Saturday, he salvaged "an emerald effort" with his top 10 and fourth-place in the points for the Life Time Grand Prix – given not all Unbound riders are part of the series – which has moved him into the top 10 of the series standings as well.
"I am happy with the day. So top five for Life Time is sort of an emerald effort for defending it. If I'd done a bit less work, I might have got a better placing, but you've got to fight for the win, even if it means you get a bit worse place in the end. You've got to at least try and win and defend it," he said.
With solid points behind him, and some obviously strong form, now his attention can turn to the next race on the series calendar.
"I'm looking forward to Leadville," the rider with a mountain biking background said.
Before he takes on the first mountain bike race of the Life Time Grand Prix, Leadville Trail 100 MTB, Jones told Cyclingnews he was headed to Tulsa, Oklahoma for criterium racing next weekend. He said he would race with some friends at Tulsa Tough, the three-day set of criterium events in Oklahoma, just 180 miles (288 km) north of Emporia, staying safe at the front of races and going for some primes. Then he'd get in some time at altitude in Utah before heading to Leadville, Colorado for the July race.
"The race in Leadville itself isn't really mountain bikey, but the training you do is very much on the mountain bike. I will just go out and do some big high country missions in the Colorado mountains, and it's a lot of fun," he said.
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