Stay up to date with all of the action from the elite women's and elite men's Unbound Gravel 200 as they tackle 202.4 miles of gravel grinding for a signature event in the Flint Hills of Kansas
Route map for 2025 Unbound Gravel 200 (Image credit: Life Time / Garmin)
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the elite women's and elite men's Unbound Gravel 200!
At 202.4 miles (325.6km) in length with 10,189 feet (3,105m) of climbing, today's course for the Unbound Gravel 200 will challenge even the most hardened gravel racers in the bunch.
They will be facing temperatures of up to 86°F (30°C) in dry conditions, however rain in recent days means that there is still some patches of mud out on the course. Wind could also play a factor with speeds of around 5-10mph (8-16km/h) from the west.
The elite men's race is set to get underway in around 15 minutes at 5:50am local time with the elite women starting a further 15 minutes after them at 6:05am local time.
There are some familiar faces on the start line for fans of WorldTour racing. Our reporters on the ground in Emporia have spotted the likes of Thomas De Gendt, Niki Terpstra and Greg Van Avermaet. Other former riders such as Ian Boswell and Petr Vakoč are also taking part.
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(Image credit: Josh Croxton/Future)
(Image credit: Josh Croxton/Future)
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The elite men's race is underway in Emporia. There were some nervous faces on the startline beforehand with more than 200 miles of racing ahead of them.
(Image credit: Josh Croxton/Future)
Meanwhile, the riders in the Unbound XL have already been out all night, having started the 350-mile distance on Friday afternoon at 3pm local time. Lachlan Morton had already torn through around 290 miles after around 14-and-a-half hours of racing according to the race tracking. He is leading the men’s race ahead of Rob Britton and then Laurens Ten Dam. Heather Jackson is out the front solo in the women’s race with what appears to be a substantial gap of more than ten miles to Serena Gordon and then it is Kristen Legan and Lael Wilcox.
Wilcox, who holds the world record for the fastest women's circumnavigation of the globe by bicycle, told Cyclingnews on the start line "I'm so excited, so ready to ride." She said she was entering the race with the goal not being a specific position or time but to "just ride the best I can".
Only a few minutes to go until the start of the women's elite race.
(Image credit: Josh Croxton/Future)
Unbound 200 Men's Elite - 315km to go
The elite men's race has begun in earnest, as Arno Van den Broeck (Classified x Rose) has been setting the early pace. The first attack of the day has come from Californian rider Tobin Ortenblad (Santa Cruz-SRAM htSQD), who has a small gap over the pack at the moment.
A mixture of smiles, game faces and worriment on the start line of the elite women's race in Emporia. Their race is now well underway, with a crash involving Emily Newsom (PAS Racing) leaving her off the back and with ground to make up early on.
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(Image credit: Josh Croxton/Future)
(Image credit: Josh Croxton/Future)
(Image credit: Josh Croxton/Future)
Unbound 200 Men's Elite - 303km to go
A small group currently has a small advantage over the peloton, with Daan Grossemans (Classified x Rose) and Simen Nordahl Svendsen (PAS Racing) among those at the head of the race.
Here is the current composition of the lead group in the men's elite race: Kyle Kalish, Tim McBirney, Julien Gagne, Tobin Ortenblad, Marcus Spratt, Adne Koster, Leandro Messineo, Andrew Dillman, Justin McQuerry, Francesco Bettini, Jonas Orset, Daan Grossemans, Finn Mitchell, Matteo Fontana and Lukas Baum.
It has been a quick start in the men's elite race, as the lead group have set an average speed of around 42.5km/h in the opening kilometres.
Unbound 200 Women's Elite - 305km to go
No attacks as of yet in the women's elite race. The peloton is still all together, with the favourites safely sheltered from the wind in the bunch as they roll along at a steady pace.
Crash! There's been a touch of wheels at the back of the peloton in the women's elite race and several riders have hit the deck. It's currently unclear as to whether any of the favourites are involved.
Unbound 200 Men's Elite - 285km to go
Magnus Bak Klaris (PAS Racing) has suffered an early puncture in the men's elite race, leaving him off the back and chasing.
Unbound 200 Women's Elite - 290km to go
A four-rider group has established itself at the front of the women's elite race, with Gabby Traxler (Enough Cycling), Kirstine Frida Rysbjerg (Castelli SOG), Haley Smith (Trek Driftless) and Ann-Christine Allik going clear. They currently have a gap of around 20 seconds over the chasing bunch.
Winner of this year's Traka 360, Karolina Migon (PAS Racing) has now launched a solo move off the front of the bunch in the women's elite race.
Gabby Traxler (Enough Cycling) is now leading solo in the women's elite race after a big effort on Kaw Hill Road, which has extended her gap to around a minute over the chasers. Another chasing group including Paige Onweller (Trek Driftless) is a further minute behind them, with the peloton currently sitting at a gap of around four minutes.
Unbound 200 Women's Elite - 275km to go
Gabby Traxler has now extended her gap over the chasers to two minutes and 27 seconds, with Haley Smith, Kirstine Frida Rysbjerg and Ann-Christine Allik still all together in the group behind. No response from the peloton just yet.
Unbound 200 Men's Elite - 258km to go
The men's elite race has entered onto Divide Road, the first major section of rough gravel. Rainfall in the days prior mean that conditions are pretty muddy for the riders.
Our reports from the ground suggest that the front of the race has splintered into small groups, with Paul Voss, Jasper Ockeloen, Brendan Johnston, Pete Stetina, Ian Boswell and Tobin Ortenblad among the leaders at the head of the race, with Bradyn Lange (Orange Seal Academy) and Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz-SRAM htSQD) sitting in the second group on the road.
Mattia de Marchi (Enough Cycling) is off the back after suffering a broken chain. Magnus Bak Klaris (PAS Racing) also finds himself well down the order, having been unable to recover from his early puncture.
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(Image credit: Josh Croxton/Future)
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(Image credit: Josh Croxton/Future)
(Image credit: Josh Croxton/Future)
(Image credit: Josh Croxton/Future)
(Image credit: Josh Croxton/Future)
(Image credit: Josh Croxton/Future)
(Image credit: Josh Croxton/Future)
(Image credit: Josh Croxton/Future)
Unbound 200 Women's Elite - 260km to go
Gabby Traxler now holds a gap of over three minutes on the chasers behind as the women's elite race approaches the Divide Road sector.
Simon Pellaud (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Cameron Jones have gone up the road in the men's elite race and currently have a gap of around a minute and a half over a chasing group led by John Borstelmann (Ventum Racing).
Unbound XL - Result
Rob Britton (Castelli SOG) has won the 2025 Unbound XL, beating Lachlan Morton (EF Education-EasyPost) and setting a new course record after racing through the night over the 350-mile race.
Speaking to Cyclingnews at the finish in Emporia, Britton said "everybody's beatable. Lachlan and I, we've raced each other his whole career. We've had a lot of similar results. We've both won Gila and Utah. It's special, this is such a mega day."
"I was chasing him [Morton] forever. He made a very good tactical call. He carried a lot of water, so when we stopped at about 240km he just kept going and I chased for 200km. I finally caught him and I think his wheels kind of came off a bit, then I turned around at one point and he just wasn't there anymore."
"We were just both on the absolute limit. I think for the first 100km we were on the same time as last year's 200 and I think were about 6km/h faster than last year's XL. It was just huge."
On breaking the record, the Canadian stated "it's pretty special. It's been a rough year for me, but this makes up for it."
Unbound 200 Women's Elite - 242km to go
Gabby Traxler has maintained her three-minute lead over the chasing group, who have now been joined by Karolina Migon, Cecily Decker and Lauren Stephens.
A larger group sits at around five minutes down, with Annika Langvad, Rosa Klöser, Sofía Gómez Villafañe, Carolin Schiff, Morgan Aguirre and Gee Schreurs among them.
Unbound 200 Men's Elite - 212km to go
In the elite men's race, Simon Pellaud and Cameron Jones were first through the aid station at Alma, with four chasers including Ian Boswell and Brendan Johnston behind them and another three-rider group a further 30 seconds back.
Unbound 200 Women's Elite - 212km to go
Cecily Decker, Karolina Migon and Lauren Stephens have caught and passed Gabby Traxler, with the leading trio passing through the aid station at Alma in front. Traxler is still in fourth, with Haley Smith just behind her in fifth.
Meanwhile, Carolin Schiff has punctured from the main group of favourites, which is currently around seven minutes behind the leaders.
A quick wheel change for defending champion Rosa Klöser (Canyon-SRAM) at the aid station in Alma.
Klara Sofie Skovgård Hansen (Canyon Factory Racing) has abandoned the women's elite race with a suspected broken collarbone after suffering a crash.
Unbound 200 Women's Elite - 185km to go
Karolina Migoń slightly overcooks a corner, but stays on her bike as the three leaders in the women's elite race continue to push the pace and extend their gap over the chasing group. Their advantage is nearing ten minutes as they now begin to catch some of the backmarkers from the elite men's race.
Unbound 200 Men's Elite - 125km to go
Cameron Jones and Simon Pellaud still lead the men's elite race and have extended their gap to nearly seven minutes over the chasing group, which includes Joris Nieuwenhuis, Brendan Johnston, Ian Boswell, Andrew L’Esperance, Torbjørn Røed and Jasper Ockeloen.
Unbound 200 Women's Elite - 165km to go
The gap to the leading trio has now gone well above ten minutes as they enter the Little Egypt sector, with a lack of cohesion in the chasing group massively contributing to their advantage.
Unbound 200 Men's Elite - 95km to go
Cameron Jones and Simon Pellaud are continuing to work well together, with their advantage growing to nearly eight minutes. A chance at victory is slowly slipping away for the chasers and they will have to get organised if they want to close the gap.
Unbound 200 Women's Elite - 149km to go
The top 3 women - Cecily Decker, Karoline Migoń and Lauren Stephens - are working well together after the Little Egypt section. The trio have over 10 minutes to the chasers.
Unbound 200 Men's Elite - 72km to go
Lead duo of Simon Pellaud and Cameron Jones working well together, are passing riders on the road. They have skipped a few feeds as they are focused on the work. Jones has his water bottle down his jersey - cooling factor or aerodynamic, or a bit of both?
Keegan Swenson crashed in the chase group, and is now trying to chase back onto the second group on the road.
After suffering a broken chain, Mattia de Marchi (Enough Cycling) has now abandoned the women's elite race.
Back in March, Simon Pellaud, who is in the lead group in the men's elite, swept up the overall victory at the eight stage Transcordilleras in Colombia. A week later he claimed a solo win at the UCI Gravel World Series Brasil, after a hot day of racing.
Also in the lead duo, Cameron Jones, finished 17th at last year’s Unbound. He took the win at The Graveler, on homesoil in New Zealand, in February.
If the rapid pace continues, the winner in the elite men may break the nine minute barrier.
Both the elite men and elite women are passing riders from other categories as they race on the flint roads.
After crashing in the men’s elite race, Swenson caught back on and went to the front of the chase group, setting a fast pace but cohesion is not great in the group. Not all are working. There’s another group close behind them.
Unbound 200 Women's Elite - 143km to go
Lead trio of Decker, Migoń and Stephens have a 14-minute lead to the chase group. Teammate Decker and Mignon were chatting and sharing a bottle.
Team dynamics are coming into play in the chase group with teammate of Decker and Mignon obviously not pulling.
According to math from our man on the ground, Josh Croxton, if they continue on the current pace, the elite men’s leading duo of Pellaud and Jones will finish a little over 8 hours and 30 minutes! Last year, Lachlan Morton win the race with a time of 9 hours and 11 minutes.
Given the gap, the chase group will need to average 25mph, which is 1.5mph more than they’ve managed so far.
Word is that Emily Newsom (PAS Racing) abandoned the race. She had crashed earlier in the day.
Unbound 200 Women's Elite - 123km to go
More math from Josh Croxton. The lead trio in the elite women’s race are heading for around a 10 hours and 20 minutes finish time, with an ETA of 4;25pm local time (CT). Last year's winning time was 10 minutes and 26 seconds.
Obviously, a lot can happen between now and the finish,
Lead trio of Cecily Decker, Karolina Migoń both PAS Racing and Lauren Stephens, who bridged up to the early breakaway, have a gap of over 14 minutes to the chase group in the elite women's race.
Chase group includes Geerike Schreurs, Rosa Kloeser, Lauren de Crescenzo, Cecile Lejeune, Morgan Aguirre, Sofia Gomez Villafañe, Sarah Lange and Annika Langvad. Head shaking shows a lack of cohesion in the chase.
Emma Langley, Whitney Allison, Maude Farrell and Alexis Skarda are in a further group about 30 seconds back.
Unbound 200 Women's Elite - 62km to go
In the elite men’s race, Simon Pellaud (Tudor) and Cameron Jones went clear around 241 km to go. Working well together, they have a gap of around nine minutes to a chase group.
The chase group includes Joris Nieuwenhuis, Ian Boswell, Torbjørn Røed, Andrew L’Esperance, and Brendan Johnson. 20 seconds behind are Paul Voss and Mads Wurtz Schmidt.
Heather Jackson (Herbalife-Canyon) took the solo victory in the 2025 Unbound XL. She recorded the fastest women's time on the 350-mile course for eighth overall and the women's title.
"It was so epic. I would say I am a TTer at heart and I set up my Canyon Grail just like my TT bike and that was awesome," Jackson told media gathered at the finish line, including Cyclingnews.
Lauren Stephens, in the lead trio in the elite women’s race, is a multi-discipline rider who has won two US Gravel National Championships and the Pan-American road race title.
Again in 2025, she has been mixing gravel and road racing. After winning The Growler at Levi's Gran Fondo, she successfully defended her overall title at the Tour of the Gila, claimed the overall victory at the Tour de Bloom, and asecond in the road race at the USA National Championships.
Unbound 200 Men's Elite - 53km to go
Attrition and fatigue have hit the chase group in the elite men’s race.
The two leaders, Pellaud and Jones, have around seven minutes to three riders, Mads Wurtz Schmidt, Torbjørn Røed and Brendan Johnson. Behind at about two minutes are Ian Boswell, Andrew L’Esperance and Joris Nieuwenhuis.
A further two minutes are Keegan Swenson, Ramon Sinkeldam and Tobias Kongstad.
Tiffany Cromwell took the win in the women's Unbound 100 and Hayden Christian claimed the men's race.
Elite men’s lead duo are tackling the longest climb of the day, the half-mile Kahola Hill, where Unbound 100 riders are pulling aside to cheer them on.
Cameron Jones gave a little tap to one of the Unbound 100 riders who all over Kahola Hill. Simon Pellaud had a conversation to someone running alongside on the Hill just before going over the top.
Both Jones and Pellaud are showing signs of fatigue.
Unbound 200 Women's Elite - 88km to go
The chase group in the elite women’s race also splintered over the hard terrain and hot and windy conditions.
Decker, Migoń and Stephens have a gap of 13 minutes to a eight-rider chase group. Decker has been on her cell phone, we assume getting information from a team staff member.
Chase group consists of Sarah Lange, Geerike Schreurs, Morgan Aguirre, Rosa Kloeser, Cecile Lejeune, Lauren De Crescenzo, Sofia Gomez Villafañe and Annika Langvad.
De Crescenzo crashed in a rut in an uphill section but was able to get back into the group.
Emma Langley and Maude Farrell are in the third group on the road, a further two minutes down.
Johnson has been dropped from the chase group in the men's elite race.
Meanwhile behind Nieuwenhuis had a mechanical in the third group. Bosell continues solo from that group, dropping also L'Esperance. He's on the hunt for a possible top 5 finish.
The chase duo of Wurtz-Schmidt and Røed have closed down the gap to five minutes to the lead duo of Jones and Pellaud with 29km to go.
In the women’s elite race, Stephens has dropped off the back after going through the feedzone at Council Grove at mile 148, taking a massive ice pack. Migoń is setting the pace with her teammate Decker on her wheel.
Unbound 200 Men's Elite - 23km to go
Pellaud and Jones continue to work well together in the hot and windy conditions as they head to the finish line in Emporia. Both are stretching and shaking their legs.
Behind them, at around five minutes, are Wurtz-Schmidt and Røed.
All four riders are fully committed.
Looking back at Kahola Hill which the lead riders in the elite men's race just tackled.
Migoń is now on her own, having dropped Decker and Stephens from the lead group.
Behind, in the third (or fourth?) group on the road, there doesn't seem to have a sense of urgency or cohesion in the eight-rider group.
Pellaud is pointing at his wrist, asking for time gaps from the moto in the lead group of the elite men's race.
Chase group is over five minutes back.
Heading towards a two-up sprint for Pellaud and Jones with 11km to go in the elite men's race.
Wurtz-Schmidt and Røed are still around five minutes back, followed by Jones around three minutes behind, and Boswell at a further two minutes.
Migoń is solo in the elite women’s race with 70km to go. She has a frozen? water bottle down her jersey on a very hot day, and is going full gas.
The gap in the lead group was created when the trio turned onto the gravel road after the Council Grove feedzone.
Tiffany Cromwell all smiles after winning 2025 Unbound Gravel 100 (Image credit: Future / Rosael Torres-Davis)
Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) dominated the women's division at Unbound Gravel 100 , while Hayden Christian out-sprinted Isaac Allred for the men's title.
"The goal was to win, and I got the win," Cromwell told select media, including Cyclingnews, at the finish. "I was pretty sure I was in the lead. I felt strong.”
The men's podium was a sweep by the U23 riders, all in the Life Time Grand Prix competition.
Pellaud and Jones are speeding towards the finish line, and should crack the nine-hour mark for the first time ever.
Jones flicked his elbow to get Pellaud to come to the front to set the pace, but Pellaud shook his head, playing the road game.
Tactics in the elite men’s race between the veteran, Simon Pellaud, 32, and the less experienced, Cameron Jones, 24. Pellaud has not come through for pulls for the kilometres or so while Jones continues to set a hard pace.
On paper, Jones has the fastest sprint.
Inside of two miles to go in the elite men's race, Jones attacks with no response from Pellaud.
Cameron Jones wins Unbound 200, cracking the nine-minute mark. He has enough time to high-five fans on the finish straight.
Simon Pellaud tosses a bottle to the crowd before crossing the finish line for second place.
In the battle for third place, Wurtz-Schmidt attacks Røed at the same spot where Jones made his move. He gets a small gap of about 10 bike lengths.
Røed got onto the back wheel of Wurtz-Schmidt before overtaking him to take third. Wurtz-Schmidt finished fourth.
Unbound 200 Women's Elite - 55km to go
Migoń is solo off the front with a gap of over three minutes to Decker. Stephens is now at seven minutes down.
Group of four riders with De Crescenzo, Kloeser, Lejeune and Gomez Villafañe are seven minutes from Stephens.
Migoń, on a solo break in the women's elite race, came into Unbound Gravel 200 on a real hot streak. She charged away on singletrack in early May to take back-to-back 360km victories at the Spanish race. Then she scored her first US victory in dominant fashion at Gravel Locos, where the temperatures soared above 34°C.
In the elite men’s race, the top 22 racers have all broken the nine-minute mark.
Jones clocked a winning time of 8:37:09, and Pellaud crossed the line 42 seconds later.
Unbound 200 winner Cameron Jones (Image credit: Future)
Unbound 200 Women's Elite - 32km to go
Migoń is absolutely on fire, she now has over five minutes on her teammate Decker as she navigates around riders from other category.
Stephens has been caught by a chase group, who are over 16 minutes back. The group includes three previous winners of Unbound: Klöser (2024), Gomez Villafañe (2022) and De Crescenzo (2021). Lejeune is the fifth rider in the group.
Migoń is taking on fuel, rocking side by side as she pushes forward.
The chase group were looking unified earlier but cohesion seems to be gone, as the five are across the wheel in the late kilometres of a very hot and dusty Unbound. Lejeune is trying to get the group organised, waving at the others to get on her wheel.
Villafañe waved her hand, and is sitting on in the chase group which is over 16 minutes behind solo leader Migoń.
Migoń is down on the drops, taking advantage of a tailwind as she speeds towards Emporia with 25km to go.
Villafañe attacks the chase group but Klöser jumps and immediately closes the gap with the others on her wheel.
Villafañe’s move has reduced the chase group down to four riders. Klöser, Lejeune and De Crescenzo stayed with her acceleration.
Unbound 200 Women's Elite - 10km to go
Migoń has over a six-minute lead over Decker and is on her way to victory.
The chase group of Klöser, Villafañe, Lejeune and De Crescenzo are over 17 minutes down, locked in a battle for third place.
Solo in second place on the road, Decker has lost some time on the chase group, but still holds almost 11 minutes inside of 10 kilometres to go.
Migoń keeps on drinking with five kilometres to go to the finish line in Emporia. The victory is almost hers.
Karolina Migoń (PAS Racing) claims victory at Unbound 200 with a powerful long-range solo attack in the elite women’s race. The Polish rider had plenty of time to zip up her jersey and celebrate with hands in the air before crossing the line after spending two hours solo off the front.
Cecily Decker (PAS Racing) takes second, crossing the line over eight minutes after her teammate, and should take over the top of the leaderboard of the Life Time Grand Prix standings.
Four riders - Klöser, Villafañe, Lejeune and De Crescenzo - are still locked together in the battle for third place. The quartet is heading toward Highland Hill.
Quartet is soft-pedalling as De Crescenzo is at the front, always looking bad. No one wants to take the front.
Lejeune makes the first move, a huge acceleration with Klöser closes it down.
De Crescenzo was dropped by that Lejeune’s acceleration but made it back to the group. Klöser went the wrong way, but is able to get back on.
Tight sprint for third place won by Sofia Gomez Villafañe. Rosa Klöser is fourth, Cecile Lejeune fifth, and Lauren De Crescenzo is sixth.
Migoń clocked a time of 10:03:54 over the 202.4km route, setting a new record for the fastest time ever in the elite women’s race.
Unbound 200 Men's Elite - winner Cameron Jones
Let's hear from winner Cameron Jones.
“Like I was saying yesterday, it's probably in my best interest to play it safe, because it is more than just like the race on the line, there's the chance to be in the Grand Prix that I could potentially lose if I did do anything reckless. But I was the whole time just saying, Who am I kidding? I'm just gonna send it."
"I just rode straight through the initial break through the other side. And got with Simon [Pellaud]. I was a bit unsure for a start, but he assured me that it was a good thing to do. So we got like, 30 seconds a minute, minute and a half, and it will have been good to see what happened behind. But at one point we had like 40 or 50 in a peloton, like three minutes back. And that was sort of a bit concerning, because it's a lot of firepower and not a huge gap, like that was before halfway in the race. And then, we got some more positive splits. Hearing that there's only 12 behind. It was like five minutes and 10 minutes to the rest of them. That was pretty cool feeling."
"We both managed to keep morale high and help each other as much as we could. Like he lubed my chain, I gave him some water. Yeah, try to just do even pulls. He went through a bit of a low moment early on, then me a bit later on, and you know that you're going to come out the end of it. And we both knew that, so just do what you can when you're feeling good. And then, yeah, coming to the finish, I was sort of keen to leave it to a sprint and just ride hard up the hill. And riding hard up the hill was enough to break the elastic and got to savor the roll into town."
Unbound 200 Men's Elite - second place Simon Pellaud
Let's hear from second place Simon Pellaud
"We are a little bit crazy [on attacking so early]. But it was super interesting situation to be as soon as possible in the front of the race today, especially with such a strong wind and powerful fields behind, but not a real collaboration. I already saw that at Sea Otter, and I really wanted to be in the front and not be in the same position as I was in Traka one month ago, almost when I was chasing, I wanted the other to chase today."
"And that's my that's always been my my way of racing on the road already, and always say it's in since the first interviews around that I'm here to to show my qualities and my abilities and to make the show, to make the public understand and enjoy cycling, and also to have fun myself and until the last 50 K's, I had a lot of fun."
[About racing at Leadville] "I need to, first of all, I need to get a mountain bike, then to get some housing, housing there. So if anybody in Leadville house, I'm still willing to find a spot anywhere. No, I'm kidding."
"It’s a lot of preparation until Leadville. I still have big objectives. Also, I'm racing with the national team. I'm flying to Canada next weekend for Festival of Gravel Earth series. Then I'm racing on the road with the national team for the biggest road event in Switzerland. Then, the gravel UCI gravel in Switzerland, the national championship. And then I fly to China for Qinghai lake for eight days of hardcore racing at altitude to get ready for Leadville. So still a long road to go."
Unbound 200 Men's Elite - third place Torbjørn Røed
Let's hear from third place Torbjørn Røed:
[About getting the gaps to lead duo] “We were hearing like seven, eight minutes, I don't know, maybe two hours ago, and we thought we were going pretty fast, and then it was down to five. it was the last I heard.”
“I was little optimistic at first, but I don't know, in the tail wind, everyone's going fast, and they really wanted it of course, so we werent quite able to catch them.”
“It was definitely a fast one. I was looking down when I hit the first aid zone, like, whoa, we’re like, 20 minutes ahead of time or whatever, what we were last year. So I was like, okay, this is going to be a fast one. And then we had a bit of headwind up on the north and heading west on top, and slowed us down a little bit, but from there it was cross or tailwind, and pretty much all the way home, we were just flying.”
Cameron Jones accelerated away from breakaway companion Simon Pellaud with two miles to go and won Unbound Gravel 200 in Emporia, Kansas.
[About going solo with 64km to go] “I just thought if I was stupid or genius. I didn't know if I would make it to the finish. I would say till last 5k.”
“I was not aware [of the big gaps]. I knew that Cecily [Decker] was back, but I also know that she is super strong. You also can have a flat, you can crash. You never know.”
“The last tarmac climb. Then I knew that I won, I started to really smiling and just couldn't believe it.”
[About the break] In Eskeridge, that was the first crucial section of the race. It was really hectic. The terrain was technical. There was a lot of math, and I knew that I have to be in the front. So this Cecily, so two there with also other girls. But in the end, it was just three of us at the end of the of the big climb there.”
“I always come to the race, and I try to have a mindset that I'm a winner, but there are many people around that doubt you, and I think right now, I just believe in myself.”
Unbound 200 Women's Elite - second place Cecily Decker
Let's hear from second place Cecily Decker:
“I'm just completely wrecked. I kind of botched my first feed and only ended up with two bottles. Obviously, that's not enough for 80 miles. I was out of water a long time and just so horribly dehydrated.”
“I was just so, so wrecked by the time we came through that second feed, and Karo [Migoń] kind of like, what is ahead of me? And I just like, I couldn't go anymore, so I just kind of chugged everything. And it took a little while for the water to just seep back into my legs. And then I kind of just survived.”
“I kind of knew I had a big lead. But to be honest, my brain wasn't even working anymore, like I was hallucinating and the only thing on my mind was just going at a really controlled pace for the finish.”
“I came here and I really wanted to win, and I was willing to risk losing to do that. Frankly, this race kind of transcends the series a bit, and obviously attacking at mile 40 and going off the front was super, super risky, but it's it was really worth it, and I'm just super happy it worked out in the end.”
Unbound 200 Women's Elite - third place Sofia Gomez Villafañe
Let's hear from third place Sofia Gomez Villafañe:
“From winning to second to I don't even know where I finished last year, to get back on the podium, managed to now be tied with Cecily on the Grand Prix points and be third place in that overall podium. It's pretty sweet.”
“On divide Road, which is after Eskeridge feed zone, it was pretty muddy, and there was just a lot of carnage that just crash after crash after crash, and that kind of made these selections. And I remember on a kicker, I was behind Melissa Rollins, and Cecily was five bike lengths ahead, and I'm like, oh, she's got this. She's gonna close it. And then next thing I know, Cecily is gone.”
[About tactics in the chase group] “It wasn't necessarily about solidifying third. I just wanted to have the legs when the selections were going to go. And this race is so long, it's 200 miles, and you'll feel great in one minute, and then you feel not good on another. So it's actually like when you're feeling good, that's kind of when you need to hide, unless you're really willing to go for those attacks.”
[About final sprint for third place] Cecile [Lejeune] who's a good friend of Tucson of mine, she had the guts to attack on the hill, and then we dropped Lauren. And then, Rosa Klöser kind of made a wrong turn, and we didn't really attack. We just kind of gave her that opportunity to come back. And Lauren De Crescenzo just kind of pinned it down. When I see a finish line, I feel like I can kind of froth for it a bit, and I got worked at Levi's Gran Fondo, but happy to win the sprint for the rest of us.
Karolina Migoń (PAS Racing) has won the elite women's race at Unbound Gravel 200, continuing a winning streak to claim the title with an emphatic solo victory on a fast and furious day of racing in Kansas.
The final stage of the Giro d'Italia 2025 starts and finishes in the Italian capital of Rome with a 143km flat stage that is largely a procession with a sprint to close.
