Who will win 2025 Unbound Gravel 200? - Examining a stacked field to uncover the favourites

The race the gravel world orbits around, Life Time Unbound Gravel 200 presented by Shimano, is nearly here once again and the top riders from around the globe and amateurs alike have gathered in Kansas, swelling the population of Emporia to nearly a bursting point.

The race, as always, is bound to be unpredictable with so many variables at play in the 202.4 mile (326km) event through the Flint Hills of Kansas – from the weather to the mechanicals, the tactics, the crashes and the vagaries of how the body will perform after such a long day in the saddle.

It is a race where so much can go wrong and so much has to go right to even be in with a chance of climbing to the top step in Emporia, though the prestige of doing just that keeps some riders coming back year after year while also drawing the strongest of newcomers, lining up to prove their mettle and chase a win that can transform a career.

Proven performers at the race like defending champion Rosa Klöser (Canyon-SRAM-MAAP) and 2024 podium-placer Tobias Kongstad (PAS Racing), who is also fresh from a win at Traka 360, will be hoping to use their experience to ward off the challengers. 

Some come with a strong record and a depth of experience from other events and disciplines, like Annika Langvad (Specialized), while others enter with a lower profile. Still both Klöser and Kongstad were Unbound newcomers last year, highlighting the potential for unexpected names to emerge from the shadows and straight into the brightest of spotlights.

There is undoubtedly a degree of unpredictability, but there are still some clear stand outs on the start list that have displayed the form and experience to hold them in good stead across this gruelling gravel test. Read on to find out more about some of these key riders to watch when the race sets off in the early morning light of Emporia on Saturday, May 31.

Men's Unbound 200

Keegan Swenson

The 2023 Unbound Gravel 200 champion has had an up-and-down season so far, one he called 'tricky'. Despite three victories - BWR Arizona, Sea Otter Classic Gravel and The Growler - he has had disappointments too - illness at Cape Epic kept him and teammate Matt Beers from factoring in the overall, only 11th at Valley of Tears Gravel, and he did not take the start at Whiskey Off-road 50.

But when the something disrupts the lion, he will roar. Swenson put in a few weeks of altitude training at Silver City, New Mexico and spent time in Tucson, Arizona to get his "body feeling good again and feel like myself," he told The Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast. "My life is a training camp."

Spanning the last few years of US gravel and endurance mountain bike races, not one single rider was better than Keegan Swenson, one of his boldest achievements to date having won Leadville Trail 100 MTB four consecutive times, including a course record in 2023 when he smashed the previous record by over 15 minutes. So it was no surprise that a year after he won his first Leadville title, he sprinted for the victory at his first Unbound Gravel race in 2022, but ended second to Ivar Slik. He rebounded to win the next time. 

Last year a crash hindered his momentum for a top 10 in Emporia. Swenson has focused solely on preparing for his return this year to fight for the highly-coveted elite men's title. And as the only men's champion of the Life Time Grand Prix so far - winning all three years - the points from a top finish at Unbound keep him at the top of the leaderboard, still. (JT)

Mattia De Marchi

Mattia De Marchi (Enough Cycling) has long been one of the riders to watch at Unbound 200 with his three Traka 360 wins in a row through to 2023 making him impossible to look past when it comes to the long-distance gravel challenges. Unbound may have proven a tough nut to crack for the rider who is at home on the rockier gravel of Italy, but he proved his ability to fight at the front of the race in Kansas when he claimed a high of fifth at Unbound 200 in 2024. 

It was a result the Italian claimed after coming into the event from the disappointment of a mechanical-hampered run at the Traka 360 last year and he is facing similar circumstances this time, with the rider operating with only one brake through for all but the first 20km of the 360km event. Nevertheless he still claimed sixth. 

He also took fifth at run-in-race, Gravel Locos, and with an increased focus on the United States for De Marchi this season – he has committed to the six-round Life Time Grand Prix series where Unbound is the second event – this year could be one of raising the bar even higher. (SG)

Petr Vakoč

Two years ago Petr Vakoč fell one-second short of earning gravel's biggest prize, the Unbound 200 win. Second place to Keegan Swenson after 200-plus muddy miles is a great accomplishment, but for the Czechia rider's mindset it was a disappointment. 

"I definitely want to win Unbound. I was close, and then I was unlucky last year. I hope it will be a good here for me," Vakoč told Cyclingnews during his US block of racing that finished at the BWR California, where he was fifth.

A ripped tyre last year left him as part of the long list of riders where the flint rocks ended any chances of a high finish, and intensified his later-season racing where he finished seventh or better in eight of 11 races, including a win at La Monsterrato.

This year the Canyon rider may be on even better form than 2024, having 12 gravel race days and finishing seventh or better each time, including second overall at Santa Vall and Sahara Gravel stage races and adding a win at The Grallach two weeks ago. Plus, he's out to grab a wildcard selection in the Life Time Grand Prix, and headed into Unbound leads the standings. (JT)

Tobias Kongstad

Any rider that can hit the podium on his debut at this event is one that has clearly earned his spot on the favourites list, let alone one that has also just won Traka 360. When Tobias Kongstad lined up in 2024 he wasn’t a complete unknown – not after two top 5 results at The Traka – but the PAS Racing rider was flying under the radar enough to be allowed to slip away in the early break. 

This time he’ll be a marked man, but while the attention may have stepped up a notch, so has he. Kongstad has had more training time after swapping his full-time job for work with the PAS Racing team that factors in some leeway to get in more hours on the bike. If his impressive solo win at The Traka 360, after around five hours out front alone, is anything to go by he has reaped the rewards in form. Add to that the experience from already have taken on the race and that nothing to lose confidence that comes from already having notched up a big win this season and the  rider from Denmark seems to entering the race this year with all the key ingredients for a top performance lined up – now to see what happens when they are put in the pressure cooker that is race day. (SG)

Matthew Beers

Three-time Cape Epic winner Matthew Beers may not have had the ideal early season when his planned title defence with Keegan Swenson as his partner ending with a 12th overall. Still he quickly put that behind him as he got stuck into the gravel season. 

Beers has been on an impressive run, taking second at LIfe Time Sea Otter Classic in April, defending his title at Belgian Waffle Ride California later that month and then in May taking second in his first time racing The Traka 200. The Specialized Off-Road racer also threw Levi's Gran Fondo into the mix, coming fourth even on the road and with plenty of climbing along the way. 

All in all it looks like the South African is carrying a strong run of form as he heads into his third Unbound. Beers hasn't yet managed to find his way into the top ten in Emporia, finishing 13th in 2024 and coming 11th in the mudfest that was Unbound 2023, but in this unpredictable event he has the know how and form to make the best of any opportunity that may come his way in 2025. (SG)

Other riders to watch

Besides Keegan Swenson, the most consistent US riders on off-road endurance events have been Peter Stetina (Canyon), Alexey Vermeulen (ENVE Composites), Brennan Wertz (Scott Sports), Dylan Johnson (Felt Un1td), Payson McElveen (Allied Cycle Works-Red Bull) and Russell Finsterwald (Trek-driftless). However, that list for Unbound was drastically depleted when both McElveen and Johnson recently withdrew because of injuries. 

At 37 years of age, Stetina remains at the top of the contenders list as he refuses to slow down in the big events, this year second at BWR California and seventh at The Traka 360, the race he won in 2024. Until last year, Unbound has been friendly to the former WorldTour race, but an early puncture kept him in chase mode all day and he is still to capture the elusive title.

As a two-time runner-up to Swenson in the Life Time Grand Prix, Alexey Vermeulen is on the hunt to improve from fifth place at Unbound from 2022. So far this year he's been on the podium at a trio of off-road events - Sea Otter Classic Gravel, BWR California and Rule of Three. 

The Gravel Locos contest is always a barometer for the European challengers who make their way overseas for Unbound. This year's winner is gravel newcomer Ramon Sinkeldam, who comes off a 12-year WorldTour career. Runner-up Alexander MIller of Bermuda is a true wildcard, having started the year with fourth at Santa Vall, then going 12th at The Traka 200. 

Simen Nordahl Svendsen (PAS Racing) of Norway won The Rift last year and finished on the podium at Ranxo Gravel and Big Sugar Gravel to end the year. He was sixth at Unbound 200 last year and comes in with solid form having gone third at The Traka 360.

Australia's Brendan Johnston (Giant-SRAM) returns to the US after he won Salty Lizard in Utah and went fifth at Sea Otter Classic Gravel in California. At home he has the long-range events of the Dirty Warrny and Melbourne to Warrnambool on the road on his list of wins, and just three weeks ago took victory at the Gravel World Series stop at The Devils Cardigan. He's looking to maximise his efforts on another US swing and take top points in the Life Time Grand Prix. (JT)

Unbound 200 women

 Sofia Gomez Villafañe

The unofficial 'queen' of off-road endurance racing is Sofia Gomez Villafañe, her top adversary being an occasional equipment malfunction to knock her out of contention, as was the case last year in Emporia with punctures that left the 2022 champion in 15th place. 

Villafañes resume is packed with multiple repeat titles, like Leadville 100 MTB, Cape Epic, Belgian Waffle Ride California, Belgian Waffle Ride Arizona and Trail of Tears Gravel to name a few. This year she downplayed her debut at The Traka 200 but came away with the victory 44 seconds ahead of Unbound 200 winner Rosa Klöser.

Since then she has not made headlines with lead-up races to Kansas but instead returned to her winter home in Tucson, Arizona for a two-week block of training "to prepare for the suffer fest that is next with Unbound Gravel". Across those two weeks she logged more than 46 hours with 783 miles and 44,384 feet of elevation gain, the climbing equivalent to four Unbound 200 rides. She'll be dialed in for her third podium in four years, looking for the top step again. (JT)

Rosa Klöser

Rosa Klöser may not exactly have been an unknown when she sprinted to victory at Unbound 200 in 2024 –having already stood on a considerable number of UCI Gravel World Series podiums and also having taken third at The Traka 200 – but she was untested in the packed US fields and among the Flint HIlls of Kansas. Though plenty has changed since then for the rider who was then a full-time PhD student.

The way she rode straight to the top of the class in the ultimate gravel test, even managing to fight back from a puncture, helped open up the confidence and doors for the German who only started racing in 2022. After that, and also coming ninth at the German national road championships, she opened up discussions with Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto, so she now enters her second Unbound not just as defending champion but also as a Women's WorldTour professional. She has been combining road and gravel, something the squad is well used to, given one of her teammates includes Australian gravel champion Tiffany Cromwell, flicking gears from Paris-Roubaix Femmes in April to The Traka 200, where she came second.

Klöser may now carry the disadvantage of being a watched rider but – given the know-how she is bound to have accumulated in the past year and the strength she demonstrated last year – being alert to the threat she poses may not equate to being able to do anything to counter it. (SG)

Karolina Migoń

The two-time Traka 360 champion comes into Unbound Gravel 200 on a real hot streak. First, she charged away on singletrack from Axelle Dubau-Prévot and Sarah Sturm in early May to take back-to-back 360km victories at the Spanish race. Then she scored her first US victory in dominant fashion on Saturday at Gravel Locos, where the temperatures soared above 34°C, to distance Emily Newsom and Morgan Aguirre by 14 and a half minutes.

At her debut in Unbound Gravel 200 last year, she succumbed to challenges of  two punctures and a mechanical across the middle of the route to roll across the finish on Commercial Street in Emporia in 21st place in the elite women's race. Looking back at her incredible 2024 season with PAS Racing, Migoń scored fifth place or better in 13 races, winning the overall title at the Gravel Earth Series.

This year the Polish rider with a base in Switzerland rides on a new Rose bike, has a new coach and was allowed several months off from a full-time job to focus on cycling, which has seen her rip through her early calendar finding the podium in three out of five events and nothing out of the top 10. While she won't go unnoticed this year in the women's field, she may be the one the other riders need to fear the most now. (JT)

Paige Onwellier

The bronze medalist at the 2024 US Gravel National Championships, Paige Onweller only discovered bike riding five years ago after switching from running, and then used a mix of Zwift rides and US road competitions to transition to gravel, quickly become a contender in any event.

In 2022 she won solo at Big Sugar Gravel and was invited the next year to take part in the Life Time Grand Prix series. After going seventh overall in the series, she then vaulted to third overall using a third-place finish at Unbound Gravel 200 as her main springboard, getting top points as the first Grand Prix woman across the finish line. Last year's podium finish at Unbound was a huge turnaround from the mechanical that gave her a DNF the year before in Kansas. 

Onweller comes in with top 10s at Sea Otter Classic Gravel and the gruelling 137-mile The Growler at Levi's Gran Fondo with 14,000 feet of elevation gain, then won the timed-climbing race at Stetina's Paydirt. She passed on other events to allow her body and mind to rest and focus "more specific and intentional Unbound prep", which includes road intervals. She lives in Arkansas just a few hours away from the Unbound course, so expect the focus to pay off in a big way at her third start in Emporia. (JT)

Axelle Dubau-Prévôt

Axelle Dubau-Prévôt is another one of those riders who may not have found their right fit in other disciplines but seem ideally suited to the growing realm of gravel. Having once raced on the road professionally as well as dabbling in mountain bike and cyclocross, last year the French rider began to truly immerse herself in gravel and it wasn't long before the podiums started flowing. She dipped her toe in the water at Unbound last year, coming 39th but it seems like this year the rider who comes from a cycling family – yes she is related to Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt – has risen to a new level. 

Dubau-Prévôt has put together the Numero 31 par Cafe du Cycliste cycling team with Hugo Drechou, secured a spot in the Life Time Grand Prix Series for 2025 and launched into the racing for 2025 with a win at Bescanonina Gravel in Spain. Her first US block then included a fourth at Belgian Waffle Ride Arizona, but what is bound to have really made her rivals stand up and take notice was the second placing at The Traka 360 behind an inform Migoń. With a performance like that over a similar distance in a field with that depth of competition, Dubau-Prévôt has shown every indication that she could be a force to be reckoned with this year in Kansas. (SG)

Other riders to watch

The riders who have the potential to make a mark in the women's race at this unpredictable event certainly aren't limited to the five mentioned above, with a number of other proven and potential performers leaping out from the start list. 

The 2023 winner Carolin Schiff (Canyon CLLCTV) will be on the start line, and while she has been racing with a broken rib, that is not enough of a reason to write her off. For a start she already raced to sixth at The Traka 200 through it and she's had even more time to heal and train since then. Another proven performer who has had to grapple with injury is Geerike Schreurs (SD Worx-Protime). She crashed during The Traka 360 and fractured her elbow so it has been touch and go whether the Dutch cyclist will line up at the event, although she was still on the start list released over the weekend. If it weren't for that crash and injury, she would have been right near the top of the favourites list.

Sarah Sturm (Specialized) has finished in the top seven of Unbound 200 the last three years, reaching the podium in 2023. After coming third at The Traka 360 on the lead into this year, it looks like the Colorado rider has the form as well as the experience. Then there is also 2021 Unbound 200 winner Lauren De Crescenzo (Factor-The Feed), who sat out the USA Pro Road Championships to focus on preparation for her return for a sixth ride in Emporia. 

The start lists also revealed another wild card, with Annika Langvad (Specialized-Off road) going to Emporia. There should be no doubting her ability to straight away make her mark, not given the power of the six-time mountain bike world champion's return. She has already scooped up the win at Santa Vall before heading to Cape Epic to clinch a sixth title, riding alongside Villafañe. Then she went on to take the third step of the podium at The Traka 200, so there should be no underestimating her at Unbound, especially if the weather delivers tricky terrain and gives an extra advantage to those with the mountain bike skills. (SG)