Unbound Gravel 200 women: Sofia Gomez Villafañe emerges from the mud to win gruelling 20th anniversary edition from five-way sprint

Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-road) claimed her second victory at Unbound Gravel 200, emerging victorious from a muddy elite women's race after topping her rivals in a five-way sprint.

A mud-caked Villafañe finished the race in 10:31:37, celebrating in the sunshine with the earlier rain and brutal mud now just a memory. Teammate Geerike Schreurs was second, a second back, while Cecily Decker (PAS Racing) took third.

"The plan was for Gee to try to go solo and put in attacks and then I would help her in any way I could with that," said Villafañe in the post-race interview on the live stream. "But then if it came to the sprint, we were going all in on my sprint, and to go one two is unreal."

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It became clear well before the race was coming into Emporia that the battle for the podium would be down to the leading group, which took shape in the first half of the race.

Try as they might to reel those riders in, the chasers couldn't make the junction with Villafañe, Decker, Schreurs, Rosa Klöser (Canyon-SRAM-MAAP) and Paige Onweller (Trek Driftless), who lost contact at times but just kept coming back.

The group of five came into the final climb all together and then Schreurs attacked, but 2024 winner Klöser was quick to react and they all came into the barriers together. Villafañe made her move within sight of the line and there was little any of her rivals could do to stop the 2022 champion adding another title to her tally and continuing her gravel winning streak in 2026, which earlier this month also included claiming victory at The Traka 200.

After Schreurs and Decker crossed the line, Onweller claimed fourth while 2024 winner Klöser was fifth.

How it unfolded

Fifteen minutes after the pro men took the start from Commercial Street in Emporia, the first gleams of sunlight brought the pro women into view. After the opening 2.5 miles of neutral pavement, the field hit dirt roads, which had turned to mud from overnight rain.

US riders Laurel Quinones and Emma Langley (Ventum) were the first to try an attack, which seemed to be just a test for the legs. A large puddle along Road D caused some chaos, and a few riders went down, Michaela Thompson appearing to have a rear puncture in that area.

Coming out of the muddy mess, 12 riders went clear at the front: Danni Shrosbree (Rapha-Argon 18), Cecily Decker (PAS Racing), Nicole Frain (Factor Racing), Lauren Stephens (Aegis x LOE), Geerike Schreurs (Specialized Off-road), Carolin Schiff (Canyon x DT Swiss ATR), Samara Sheppard, Rosa Klöser Canyon-SRAM-MAAP) and Paige Onweller (Trek Driftless). All the riders were already covered in mud from head to toe.

Frain dropped out of the group before the first Feed Zone as she crashed hard and struggled to straighten her handlebars. On the Life Time livestream camera, Frain was seen rubbing her left leg, with a considerable amount of blood on her leg and wound on her left shoulder.

After the first Feed Zone at mile 43.5, the women's lead group saw Onweller, Schreurs, Klöser, Decker, Schiff joined now by Haley Preen (Factor Racing), Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-road), Sarah Lange (Kenda), Nele Laing (Canyon x DT Swiss ATR) and Cecile Lejeune (Trek Driftless).

Closing to the second Feed Zone, on a long straight stretch of dirt after Texaco Hill, Morgan Aguirre (PAS Racing) chased solo, three minutes back, and not far behind her were Stephens, Stella Hobbs, Langley, and then a small group of Jade Treffeisen (Canyon x DT Swiss All-Terrain), Clara Koppenburg (Tudor), Alexis Skarda (Q36.5 - Scott), Nathalie Eklund, Hartog and Frain.

A paved stretch led to the second Feed Zone, 82 miles done, had mechanics and pro support crews positioned on the right side of a very narrow dirt road with trees on one side and farmland on the other.

A group of four entered together at the front - Specialized duo Schreurs and Villafañe with Decker and Klöser. Only 18 seconds behind were Lejeune, Lange, Schiff, Onweller, Sheppard, Laing and Preen, the South African struggling with her stop to grab a water bottle.

When Frain pulled into the Feed Zone, she took a longer stop than the others, taking off her gloves and cleaning the road rash from her wrists and arms. Shrosbree pulled into the area, and the two rode off together, as more rain started to fall.

Rolling terrain rolled north 16 more miles and passed through Matfield, Kansas, with Onweller making inroads to the four leaders, and made the catch at the halfway point of the race.

More rain fell, which in turn just splattered the mud on the leaders as they kicked on at an average of 20.5 mph.

Through mile 115, the leading quintet of Schreurs, Villafañe, Decker, Klöser and Onweller marched on and carved out an advantage of nearly six minutes on their closest rival, Mieke Kröger (Rose Racing), the World and Olympic Team Pursuit champion riding solo. A trio of chasers were 30 seconds behind the German - Lange, Laing and Preen.

Riding through Chase County to the north, passing just east of the famous Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, the group charged on. They handled the minimum maintenance road, W Road, handily, the one-mile stretch just grass and rocks, not gravel. Schreurs, Villafane, Decker and Kloser stayed on the gas, while Onweller, who had fallen off the pace, rejoined.

The third and final Feed Zone at mile 149 was dry, but the wind was blowing hard. Onweller stopped for some supplies while the other grabbed bottles on the fly, and Onweller rejoins. Krõger was still on a solo sortie.

Apparently, other riders had to stop and wait for a train to pass, which allowed Lauren De Crescenzo to join the second group with Preen and Lange. Stephens was another two minutes back. Laing had dropped well back.

With 75% of the route done and just 55 miles to go, the five leaders continued to work together, now under sunny skies and dry dirt, but the wind was making all the flat roads like liquid hills. Urgency behind saw De Crescenzo and Lange try to wipe away a portion of a 14-minute gap.

The table was set for a wide-angle podium.

Onweller may have been yo-yoing but she continued to fight her way back, and the five headed into the final 15 miles together. There had been some shifts behind, however, with De Crescenzo now the leading pursuer, and while she held sixth, the gap proved insurmountable.

It was over ten hours of racing when the attacks in the lead group started with Schreurs, and though that initial effort didn't stick, all of a sudden everyone was casting a wary eye behind. It all, however, came down to a sprint.