Keegan Swenson wins men's Unbound Gravel 200

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Last year’s runner-up Keegan Swenson won the men’s 200-mile race of the 2023 Garmin Unbound Gravel presented by Craft on Saturday, sprinting out of a seven-rider group. Petr Vakoc was second and Lachlan Morton third. 

“It was about the same as last year. Yeah, it was a bit of a tricky finish,” Swenson told Cyclingnews at the finish line. “Everyone seemed like they were going pretty well. There were attacks in the last few miles. The finish chute was quite hectic, so I figured I would go a little bit long, and hopefully, block a bit. It worked out.”

Swenson has now claimed victory in the first two events of the Life Time Grand Prix 2023, starting with the Sea Otter Classic Fuego XL 100K in April, and retains his series lead. He clocked 10:06:02 to win Unbound Gravel 200

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The group of seven riders which also included Laurens ten Dam, 2021 winner Ian Boswell, Russell Finsterwald and Peter Stetina, coalesced with 81 miles to go.

Finsterwald didn’t have water the last two hours, and finished sixth in the seven-rider sprint. “Luckily the cloud cover was there, so it wasn’t too bad. There was a lot of cat and mouse, and I just didn’t play the cards quite right. The finish was wild. It was cool to be there in the end," he told Cyclingnews.

“I played my cards on the hills. It didn’t work out and that’s fine. No one had a real clean run out there,"  Stetina, who finished seventh, told Cyclingnews.

“I was two and half minutes behind after the mud at Cattle Pens. But I was with Laurens [ten Dam], Paul Voss, and Petr Vakoc, and just having that European experience we were just able to [push]. We didn’t even talk, it was synchronicity. We got back, everyone did it, no one shirked a pull. It was a pleasure racing with those guys today. It was a wild ride.”

How it unfolded

The Unbound Gravel 200 is the signature race across the tire-shredding gravel of the Flint Hills, with recent heavy rains turning sun-baked prairie dirt into full-on ponds of mud. The men said goodbye to Emporia in front of the Granada Theatre at 5:50 a.m. CT with the sun trying to make an appearance through overcast skies.

In the opening 15 miles, the elite men encountered the first major mud section on the course, deep standing water filling the gullies and washouts on the ‘D Hill’, a new section of this year’s course. A group of about 10 riders were off the front at Cattle Pens around mile 20, including Kiel Reijnen, Keegan Swenson, Howard Grott and Russell Finsterwald.

By mile 41 on the first pass of Texaco Hill, a solid front group had formed of 11 riders - Lachlan Morton, Paul Voss, Peter Stetina, Adam Roberge, Swenson, Finsterwald, John Kariuki, Laurens ten Dam, Carter Anderson, Petr Vakoc and Ian Boswell. Trailing in a lone chase four-and-a-half minutes back was Payson McElveen.

A second chase group had formed along the ridgeline road of Texaco Hill, having to make up six minutes, that included Kerry Werner, Griffin Easter, Tom Chester, Jasper Ockeloen, Reijnen, Zach Calton, Alexey Vermeulen, Simen Nordahl Svendsen, Cole Paton and Kyle Trudeau. Trying to catch on the back of that group, was Matthew Beers, 1:30 back, and the duo of Jan Bakelants and Jonas Orset, another 2 minutes back.

The first major casualty of the elite men’s field was Payson McElveen. He got off his bike on the approach to Teterhill around mile 46, which is a more technical and steep descent. Texaco Hill, and appeared to have issues with his back.

Other riders to watch who were well off the pace included three US riders, Larry Warbasse, Michael Garrison and Eric Brunner, who rode together 19 minutes off the pace set by the 11 leaders.

At the ‘Beyotch’ section of the course, mile 65, the lead group was down to eight, Roberge, Anderson and Ten Dam off the pace, the Dutchman having suffered a flat tyre.

With 78 miles covered, and the rain holding off at Eureka checkpoint as temperatures and humidity began to climb, the pace was set by Swenson, Finsterwald, Morton, Stetina, Voss, Kariuki, Vakoc and Boswell. But 10 miles later, Vakoc has slipped from the group and joined Ten Dam in the chase, 30 seconds back. Roberge rode with Ockeloen and Trudeau in the second chase group, almost five minutes behind.

Last year’s winner Ivar Slik has slipped well back of the lead pack, riding through the Eureka High School checkpoint in 59th place, 30 minutes back.

By the midpoint of the 205.5-mile journey and 5 hours, 22 minutes passed on the clock, eight of the elite men remained together at the front, but it was Ten Dam who had replaced Kariuki in the mix.

Kenyan rider Kariuki, who won Migration Gravel Race last year, had fallen back to 12th overall, one minute behind the first group of chasers - Roberge, Ockeloen and Trudeau - who had to make up nine-and-a-half minutes to the leaders, who had passed Rocky Ford for the second half of the race. The next bunch included Anderson, Bakelants, Calton, Werner, Vermeulen and Beers.

Passing through Hamilton at a neutral Water Oasis with 81 miles to go, seven of the previous eight worked together at the front - Swenson, Finsterwald, Morton, Stetina, Ten Dam, Vakoc and Boswell - with Voss dropping a minute back. All seven at the front stopped for hydration and Stetina was the first to leave.

Heading across the Texaco Hill ‘Redux’ climb between mile 143 to 146, Stetina started to lag a bit but he remained with Swenson, Finsterwald, Morton, Ten Dam, Vakoc and Boswell. The riders began to show some wear and tear under the mid-afternoon sunshine and heat, forming clouds on the horizon.

Across the second pass of Texaco Hill, the chase group trailed 16 minutes later, Roberge and Ockeloen leading the way with Calton, Beers and Vermeulen. Trudeau had dropped back as well as Anderson, then Bakelants, all three riding solo to round out the current top 15.

At the checkpoint in Madison, 38 miles to go, the front group of seven remained intact. At the finish line, the weather changed completely, the clouds and wind arriving high from the sky and signalling rain storms. The impending storm on the ground signalled a sprint finish.