Ivar Slik and Sofia Gomez Villafane Are This Year's Unbound 200 Winners

It was a rainy day in Emporia, Kansas, this year as 4,000 racers took to the Garmin Unbound Gravel course, racing distances ranging from 50 to 350 miles. The 200-mile event is the best-known of the bunch, and as the second race in the Life Time Grand Prix series, the racing was predictably intense. Here are the results for 2022 edition of Unbound Gravel.

In the men’s 200 race, Dutch racer Ivar Slik took the win over Keegan Swenson and Ian Boswell in a three-man sprint. In the women’s 200 race, Sofia Gomez Villafane took the win after a long solo effort, followed by 2021 winner Lauren De Crescenzo and Emily Newsom.

The races were won in record time, despite some heavy rain, river flooding, and mud that caused certain parts of the XL and 200 courses to be re-routed, and forced riders to slog through deep mud on chunks of the course.

Sofia Gomez Villafane Solos to Win the Women’s Unbound 200

Moriah Wilson’s absence in the stacked women’s field was noticeable from the moment riders arrived in Kansas. The young cyclist was leading the Life Time Grand Prix Series after winning the Sea Otter El Fuego 80K in April, but was tragically murdered in Austin, Texas, last month while there for a race. Event organizers paid tribute to Wilson by retiring the number one plate from the series and added a memorial ride in her honor on Friday evening.

From the very beginning of the race, Gomez Villafane was off the front, followed by Heather Jackson and De Crescenzo, both solo and chasing hard. Gomez Villafane was around 10 minutes behind the men’s leaders at mile 78, with De Crescenzo four minutes behind, having passed Jackson. Sarah Max and Newsom rounded out the top five women in the race at mile 120.

Gomez Villafane continued to extend her lead over the other women, riding smoothly through the mucky, slick sections of trail as the race wound down. She finished 33rd overall, handily winning the women’s race in 10:27:41. Behind her, De Crescenzo finished just under 10 minutes down, with Newsom coming in for third in 10:49:44. Allison Whitney and Haley Smith rounded out the wide-angle podium.

Women’s Unbound 200 Top 10:

1. Sofia Gomez Villafane

2. Lauren De Crescenzo

3. Emily Newsom

4. Whitney Allison

5. Haley Smith

6. Sarah Sturm

7. Kristen Legan

8. Sarah Max

9. Hannah Shell

10. Isabel King

Ivar Slik Wins Men’s Unbound 200 in Three-Man Sprint

The rain and mud didn’t stop a large group from forming early on in the race and sticking together for the first 30 miles, though some riders tried to solo off the front, including former cyclocross and road champion Logan Owen around mile 46. He maintained his lead for a dozen miles, but Laurens Ten Dam led a chase. Ten Dam closed the gap as the riders hit the first checkpoint and became part of a 10-man pack.

Riders sped through the checkpoints on record pace. Ten Dam and Matt De Marchi attacked again, forming a small gap, and at the next checkpoint, Ten Dam had soloed off the front with the chase group a full two minutes back. A pack of 11 chased him down.

Coming into the Madison checkpoint, Peter Stetina, Alexey Vermeulen, Keegan Swenson, Ivar Slik, and last year’s winner Ian Boswell had caught and dropped Ten Dam. Ten Dam amazingly caught back on, and the group eventually shed Stetina and became a group of five as the race came down to the final miles.

The group of five came into the finish in record time despite dodging potholes, gravel, and mud heading into the center of town. The speed of Vermeulen, Slik, Boswell, Swenson, and Ten Dam slowed as they started playing cat and mouse, and finally Boswell made the move. Vermeulen was the first to lose contact with the group, and the four came into the narrow finish.

A four-man sprint began with Boswell as they swarmed around a lapped rider. Ten Dam lost contact as the other three sailed across the line in a photo finish, for the fastest finish Unbound has ever seen. Slik took the win in 9:22:04, saying that it was his big goal for the year.

“So much can happen over 200 miles, and you need a little luck, but I did everything I could do to be here in top condition… I’m happy to win this biggest gravel event in the world, so happy,” Slik told FloBike’s reporter. At the finish, Slik said he motioned skyward as he thought of Moriah Wilson.

Men’s Unbound 200 Top 10:

1. Ivar Slik

2. Keegan Swenson

3. Ian Boswell

4. Laurens Ten Dam

5. Alexey Vermeulen

6. Robert Britton

7. Russell Finsterwald

8. Peter Stetina

9. Payson McElveen

10. Adam Roberge

Life Time Grand Prix Series Standings

Unbound is the second race in the Life Time Grand Prix series, the six-race series that features 30 men and women pros fighting for the overall win. Swenson, Ten Dam, and Vermeulen are all in the series. Heading into this race, Swenson was already leading the men’s field, but Ten Dam’s strong finish should boost him considerably from his 21st place standing.

In the women’s field, Gomez Villafane was already leading the series but now extends her lead even more. (She finished second to Wilson at Sea Otter, and Wilson’s tragic death moved her into first).

Unbound XL Results

Unbound also has 100-mile and 350-mile races Saturday. In the 350-mile Unbound XL, William Harrison took the win with a time of 20:17:29. Five minutes behind Harrison was Marius Karteusch, and Ernie Lechuga finished in third. The XL women’s winner was Cynthia Frazier with a time of 22:25:18, Scotti Lechuga finished second with a time of 23:24:40, and Andrea Dvorak in third.

Unbound 100 Results

The 100-mile men’s winner was Ethan Overson with a time of 5:01:01, followed by Canyon Emmot and Ben Delaney. In the women’s 100 race, Marisa Boaz took the win in 5:23:16, followed by Marije Bemis and Jess Cerra.

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