The hardest gravel race in the world? Follow Matej Mohorič as the gravel world champion takes on Unbound gravel!

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[Music] at the end of May Bahrain Victoria sent a team including the Milano Sano winner and reigning gravel world champion mate mic to take on the legendary Unbound gravel race in Kansas USA it’s a fully new experience for us but we’re quite excited I think we are uh to to see a part of the parkour we’re going to see the final 52 miles I believe and then maybe the start bit as well motivated and ready I think Mato still needs to teach me how to use the toess plugs if we get a puncture but for the rest I think we’re pretty much ready to go it’s about 325 km just under 4,000 M of climbing which is not a lot in that uh distance but uh energy consumption wise it’s almost double the size of one day Classics if the conditions are uh not crazy with M it should be about uh 9 and 1 half to 10 hours probably so yeah it’s quite long it’s such a long ride my longest side so far was just over half the size so will be interesting you right on yeah we do the 100 B on need the final the first time they said uh we can’t do this SP in the race huh two days before the when they attack I attack with them and he okay everything it’s uh not at all what I expected to be honest the gravel is super loose and super hard to Ride Slow also so it takes a lot of energy to just move the bike forward go go go keep going all the way everything I think we’re going to go inside okay that’s good there are also some nesty parts with uh big stones and rocks that are pretty sharp so we had a couple of punctures today we also suffer the puncture with the car so uh it will be a very hard place the end is it’s super nice here it’s going to be a very special experience that I’m going to remember for the rest of my life for sure so um we’re going to have some nice memories from [Music] this welcome to my nice Mr Piggy room it was a very nice home for this two or three night I slept very well actually we didn’t uh try to absorb the jet leg because it’s 3:00 a.m. here but it’s 9:00 a.m. in what is it 10:00 a.m. in Europe so it’s that’s all it’s open PR day I’m my washing off to detect myself from the fear of all the gravel muddy sectors all right everyone it’s dark and early here in Emporia but the is buzzing with energy because today is the day the start to the 2024 lifetime Unbound gravel is rapidly approaching let’s go and our final caller is the rating UCI gravel world champion join me in welcoming Mr B my hor [Applause] 3 2 [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] 1 with mate Vash fovi and Matos Gava out on course the rest of the team prepare for the first pit stop it will get quite hot in the next few hours so better be ready now we’ve hit the North End of This East car Reserve road we’ve been talking about how chunky and Technical it’s going to start to get up here and you can see they started to string it out I will take food Autos hydration pack maybe wipe the chain with a weight clth and put your H and I’m good to go okay so he will stop okay got it sitting on second wheel riding a smart race far rain Victorious is mate mahor our current gravel world champion just try to survive the first part come to checkpoints try to fix the punctures and then if we are there in the select the group in the final then we can start racing the punishing gravel roads of Kansas soon demonstrated what makes this race so Infamous and tough I can say this was uh quite an experience is uh much much much different than the gravel race I did in Europe I think we all tried to do our best mate Lucas and me it came out that we all had quite a bit of bad luck and Mechanicals M Mor just lost one teammate in his b to help him play up gravel the problem is that when you get a punch mechanical issue we have no car no mechanic with you so it’s really hard to to get back to the group we’ve lost our gravel world champion but we’ve got a really heavy hitting group in the front when LCA punct the second time and that was the race if it was not fighting for the win I prefer not to do that I’m still professional and paid to win bike races mate moric flatted in the really tough Creek Crossing of little Egypt you did not Crest the hill with that leag group I think I would have been able to race all the way to the Finish had I not punctured and stay with the group but you never know you know maybe I would have also bonked after eight or nine hours looks like L’s going to break away from him he’s going to get the win it is LIN your 2024 lifetime Unbound gravel [Applause] Champion we really enjoyed the the adventure and the spirit of it new challenges ahead now uh with tour of Slovenia shortly and then the tour the F big goal of the year

20 Comments

  1. Gravel can be a lot of different experiences. This version is more on mtb side, so it's really tough, it's easier to be grounded by mechanical problems. It takes preparation, respect and some luck too.

  2. When you know you have the engine to dominate the race but “I’m here to weed out all the non hackers that don’t pack the gear to serve in our Beloved Corp.” – Gunny Hartman. Full metal jacket

  3. You should have included the part where Mahoric was standing on the side of the course, after his final flat tire, and says, "We're going to stick with road racing".

  4. Not a BHV fan, but i freaking adore Matej. Good for him to go out of his comfort zone, and show the jersey. He’s normally super prepared. I hope he works on it, and tries again next year.

  5. So for such a long race that has only one or two check points and that a puncture can determine the outcome how come a system like Tannus Armour isn't used by most riders? Sure there's a minor weight penalty but eliminating punctures seems to be the best measure of ensuring a podium spot

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