Unbound Gravel 2023: Elite start lists

It’s almost here — Unbound Gravel 2023.

Bigger than ever before, the ‘Super Bowl’ of gravel will see thousands of cyclists and their support crews descend on Emporia, Kansas this weekend. While much about the event will remain the same — a bustling expo, plenty to do off the bike, and a guaranteed memorable ride — there are also some big changes this year.

Read also:

• Event preview: 2023 Unbound Gravel
• Alexey Vermeulen wants to win Unbound. One problem? So does everyone else
• Merchant Cycles opens in Emporia

Notably, event organizer Life Time will debut a separate start for elite racers in the 200 mile category. Elite men will roll out at 5:50 a.m. on Saturday, and elite women will follow two minutes later. The rest of the 200 mile racers will begin at 6:00 a.m.

140 men, 70 women, and one non-binary rider will compete in this year’s elite category. However, according to Life Time’s director of brand and content for events Michelle Duffy, qualifying for the category required more than just signing up.

Riders could self-select to be in the elite category, but Life Time vetted each applicant.

“We vetted it based on results,” Duffy said. “If we didn’t find credentials obviously, we reached out to everyone with the opportunity to submit a race resume, additional comments, or their Athlinks profile.”

Duffy said that, for the most part, riders were “overwhelmingly accurate” in their applications. Life Time only had to remove a “handful of people” from the elite category, and “we did this primarily for safety reasons,” Duffy said.

Of the elite riders, 70 — 35 men and 35 women — are part of the Life Time Grand Prix series. Unbound is the second race in the series.

Here are the elite start lists.

Unbound Gravel Elite Start Lists