The door had been opened to the possibility of a rule change for Unbound Gravel in 2024 to cut out drafting between riders from differing categories – an issue often of particular relevance to the pro women's race. However, concerns over enforcement appear to have prevented the move, a decision lamented by dominant gravel rider Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized).
"I truly believed Life Time Grand Prix/ Unbound Gravel were going to figure out a way to give the elite women a race that would be protected from start to finish and not allow any men to affect the race dynamics or outcome," said the 2022 winner and 2023 runner-up in an Instagram post.
"So much progress has been done over the past two years and I am thankful for the separate start that was implemented in 2023 and the added time buffer that will go into effect in 2024 but we still have a long way to go."
Drafting between categories is something that can take place throughout the field – with rule ten clearly stating that "drafting on another event participant is allowed". It occurs across a vast array of races as, while staggered starts are becoming more common, distinct stand alone races for women or professionals are still a rarity in gravel. The pro-women are often scattered among a much larger field of both professional and amatuer men's categories therefore the interaction between categories can have a substantial impact on the dynamic between the top riders in the race.
At last year's Unbound winner Carolin Schiff made her winning move with 60 miles to go from a small pack of leading pro women, initially following an acceleration of Ivar Slik from the pro men's field. Of course many of the women chasing also rode to the finish among groups of men.
In 2023, a year where Villafañe came second at Unbound, organisers had tried to mitigate the impact to the women's race of the intermingling of categories by carving out a start time for the elite women that was two minutes behind the elite men and eight minutes ahead of the amateurs. Still it didn't take long for the categories to mix, particularly in the tough muddy conditions of last year's event.
The gaps have been extended In 2024. The elite women will start five minutes after the elite men while the rest of the 200-mile field leaves 25 minutes later. Organisers said the decision to stretch out the start times was made as a result of lessons learned last year and due to feedback from the elite women.
Feedback had also been sought on the potential for the implementation of a no-drafting rule. Though an email from Unbound on Friday, shared on Instagram by Villafañe, pointed to concerns over effective enforcement as the key impediment to change.
"Reading an email like this breaks my heart," said Villafañe. "I feel like at the end of the day it’s just a logistical inconvenience to give the women the race we deserve."
In response to Villafañe's comment, a spokesperson from Life Time shared the following statement with Cyclingnews. "After extensive groundwork and consultation with female athletes competing in the Life Time Grand Prix, we ultimately felt we could not implement a set of drafting rules that were possible to fully enforce over the courses of our events."
The statement continued, "We remain dedicated to advancing women's racing by implementing separate starts for the women's pro-elite field at all Life Time Grand Prix events, and introducing wider time gaps between pro-elite women and the amateur field."
