10 contenders at Unbound Gravel – Can Swenson or Schiff make it two in a row?

Top elite riders in Life Time Unbound Gravel begin their march across the Kansas prairie as the sun rises (Image credit: Life Time)

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Women 200
Men 200
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Once a year, the gravel community turns all eyes with a laser-like focus to Emporia, Kansas. Winning Unbound Gravel is a coveted prize, whether the signature 200-mile event or one of the other four distances. The race started out in 2006 with under 40 riders, all men, and now captures the imagination around the globe with some of the best men's and women's riders from across disciplines, drawn to the Flint Hills of the central US plains to capture gravel's biggest prize.

Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz Bicycles-SRAM) claimed one of the few big gravel results missing from his palmares when he won the elite men's race last year. Carolin Schiff (Canyon CLLCTV) delivered a debut performance in 2023 that shone through the mud and rain-soaked edition, leaving no doubt that she had found her cycling home when she fully committed to gravel at the start of the season.

When Carolin Schiff (Canyon CLLCTV) lined up for Unbound in 2023, she wasn’t exactly an unknown. She did get a mention in our contenders' preview after all, but the German also wasn’t exactly the first name that rolled off the tongue when talking race favourites. It was, after all, her debut at Unbound, but her impressive performances in Europe at the UCI Gravel World Series and with a Traka 200 win plus, in the US, a victory at the 2023 Gravel Locos were a warning shot to her rivals. There will, however, be no question marks over her status this year, with Schiff not only the defending champion at Unbound but also coming into the race once again with the Traka 200 win behind her.

This time Schiff has the experience and the confidence to know just what she can achieve at the race on her side, however, there are elements of her preparation that haven’t been ideal. Schiff crashed at the 3RIDES Gravel World Series race in Aachen earlier in May, and the result was, as she put it in an Instagram post, “ a big, deep and dirty cut that had to be fixed in the hospital”. Still, she was quickly back on the bike, so there is no reason to discount the rider who crossed the line first last year.

So what race hasn’t Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-road) won in the past two seasons where she was the favourite? It is a very short list, and the first one that jumps off the page is second place at Unbound 200 last year. She won three of the Life Time Grand Prix races wrapped around Unbound last year to secure the series title, plus added victories at BWR Arizona and SBT GRVL Black Course.

She started the 2024 Grand Prix by winning Sea Otter Classic Fuego XL a second time with the flat bars. The Argentine-born rider returned to Cape Epic in the spring with new partner Samara Sheppard in the team-focused stage race for a block of racing leading to Unbound 200, looking at a formula that worked well in 2022 when she won both races. After a top 3 in South Africa, Villafañe was in top form and went straight back to winning with the drop bars, as she defended her title at BWR Arizona and then won the inaugural Valley of Tears.

The one-time road racer turned soigneur, and then gravel racer has quickly made a considerable mark on the sport. Geerike Schreurs dipped the toe into the discipline last year but then launched with full force in 2024 as she signed up to represent SD Worx-Protime on the gravel. The rider, who has largely raced gravel in Europe so far, made the trip over to the US earlier this year for the Belgian Waffle Ride Arizona, coming fourth but has been working her way up the podium as the season has progressed.

In the UCI Gravel World Series Wörthersee in April, it was second, then came The Traka, when Schreurs tested out her ability to perform in a race even longer than Unbound, choosing the 360km option. That was when the Dutch rider made her claim as a contender clear, coming second behind Karolina Migon and in front of Sarah Sturm. Then, to confirm her form, she took first at The Gralloch round of the UCI Gravel World Series in mid-May.

Lauren De Crescenzo has moved into the privateer realm of off-road racing for 2024, but the lack of an organised team environment has not slowed her down in any way as a solo LDC. The 2021 Unbound Gravel 200 champion returns for another victory on the north course. She’s on form with a third consecutive victory at The Mid South in March and a win at the newly-created spring classics-style The Growler road race.

It was straight from a win in the UCI Gravel World Series at La Indomable to victory at The Traka 360 for Karolina Migon (PAS Normal), showing she's got both the gravel form and staying power over a long distance that is essential for Unbound.
It's a strong Australian contingent in the women's race this year, with Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM) swapping over from the 100, where she has a winning record and Australian champion Justine Barrow drew the attention with a win at the SEVEN UCI World Series race followed by victory at Gravel Locos, even though a challenging recovery from a shoulder injury may have left her with a less than ideal preparation. Then there is also Matilda Raynolds (Team Bridgelane), who has claimed victory at the longest gravel race in the nation the Dirty Warrny.
There are a couple of other former Unbound 200 winners on the start line as well, in 2019 victor Amity Rockwell (PAS Racing) and last year's 360 winner Kristen Legan.

The road professional hasn't been a regular on the gravel scene, but on his very first race in the discipline, he claimed the UCI World Championship, winning the 2023 race solo even after a late crash. As a result, the Slovenian will be lining up in the rainbow jersey, one that hasn't exactly been out and about in racing, given the Bahrain-Victorious rider's heavy commitments with his WorldTour team.

Still, he'll be doing just his second gravel race with two of his road teammates by his side Matevž Govekar and Lukas Wiśniowski. "It's double the distance, double the time, and double the elevation gain, so it suits riders with more endurance and stamina. I'm not sure how I will go against the others, but I will definitely do my best, and enjoy my day out in the rainbow jersey as the current World Champion," said Mohorič.

A large contingency of Dutch contenders will line up in Empoira, led by Laurens ten Dam, Jasper Ockeloen and Niki Terpstra. All three raced the 150-mile Gravel Locos in Texas and came away with top 10s, with Terpstra second overall. Ten Dam tested his ulta-endurance this spring and won the non-stop Transcordilleras gravel race across Colombia. Ockeloen has a string of top results including second overall at BWR California and The Traka 200.
Brendan Johnston is on a roll, having just won the Australian MTB Marathon nation title and victory at the SEVEN Gravel World Series race in Nannup. The results have been building in the US for the Giant Off-Road rider and he generally copes well with longer distances.
Lachlan Morton, who was an impressive third in last year’s seven-rider sprint at Unbound 200. This year he finished eighth at BWR California and competed at his third Cape Epic.
Among the long list of US contenders is gravel newcomer Chad Haga, a recent convert from the WorldTour peloton. He finished third at The Traka 360 and fourth overall at Santa Vall gravel stage race in Spain. It is his debut at Unbound Gravel 200.
Doubtful to start is 2022 Unbound 200 men’s winner Ivar Slik, the Dutch rider hospitalised last week with a severe concussion suffered on a training ride in Arkansas. Also missing from the list of contenders is USA’s Alexey Vermeulen, who was fifth in 2022, as he takes a break from racing to attend his brother’s wedding.

The six-time Unbound 200 finisher will be tough to beat on the women’s side, but Oliveira Parks could do just that. Across high-elevation gravel events, she finished on the podium at SBT GRVL twice (2021 and 2023). This season she won the 75-mile Ukiah-Mendo Gravel Epic and was third at 68-mile Highlands Gravel. Like Tetrick, she had a road career and turned to gravel four years ago. She returned to her road bike at The Growler and finished fourth on a hilly and bumpy course almost suited for a gravel bike.

Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.