Rob Britton (Factor Bikes) pounded his way across 359 miles in Kansas to set a new course record and won the men's title in the 2025 Unbound Gravel XL on Saturday morning in Emporia. In the women's division, Heather Jackson (Herbalife-Canyon) took the solo victory and also recorded the fastest time for any woman.
The Canadian rider had been chasing Lachlan Morton (EF Education-EasyPost) throughout the night and finally made the catch and pass with just under 10 miles for one of the biggest victories of his career. He completed the 350-plus mile course in 17 hours, 49 minutes, 51 seconds, with Morton 5:44 behind for second place.
It was more than an hour later that Robin Gemperle stopped the clock at 19:01:01 for third place and Laurens ten Dam trailing another 16 minutes later for fourth.
"It's such a mega day. It hurts, but it's pretty special," Britton told Cyclingnews at the finish on Commercial Street in Emporia. "It's been a rough year for me. This makes makes up for it."
While the courses for the Unbound XL races vary each year since 2018 when the ultra-distance event was introduced, they mirror each other in total distance and elevation gain. The previous best time was set last year on a similar northbound route by Sebastian Breuer at 20:05:36, which knocked around 12 minutes off the previous best time from 2022.
"I was chasing him forever. He made a pretty good tactical move. We stopped at about 240k, and I chased for about 100 kilometres."
Morton, who won Unbound Gravel 200 last year, set the fierce tempo at the front of the contest from the opening miles, which began with a mass start on Friday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. local time in downtown Emporia. Britton said he thought he had made the catch of the Australia at a rest stop after the first 150 miles, but Morton carried lots of fluids and drove on.
"At about 240k. he just kept going. I chased for like 200 kilometers, and then finally caught him. I think his wheels kind of came off, and then he just wasn't there anymore, at maybe 15k," Britton said.
Britton finished 11th at The Traka 360, his best result this season going into Unbound XL. He was disappointed with 18th at Belgian Waffle Ride Arizona followed by 22nd overall at Cape Epic, where he teamed with countryman Andrew L'Esperance. Most predictions had tabbed Morton as the favourite to win the XL race.
"It was a surprise. We had a really great battle. It was sick through the night. We could see each other's lights," Morton told Cyclingnews, who said his stomach gave him issues in the final 60 kilometres. "I lost my headlight. It made the night more challenging.
"It was definitely like a really cool memory, one of the better battles I have had on the bike. It was like hold your hand in the fire and see who is the last to pull it out. You know, we raced each other at Tour of the Gila trying to win that like 10 to 15 years ago, so to now be here doing this it's really cool.
"I'm not disappointed. It was exactly what I was looking for."
After the Friday afternoon start, fields for men and women in the Unbound Gravel XL split as they rode into the night, with Lachlan Morton, Rob Britton and Laurens ten Dam having emerging as the leading contenders in the men’s race by the 100-mile mark.
After 150 miles, Morton was out front alone with Britton leading the pursuit as they both pushed on at an astounding pace. Behind the duo, Robin Gemperle was making ground on Ten Dam, and the pair appeared to join at some points but then Ten Dam shook him off.
By the time it was getting closer to 7:00 a.m. local time and 16 hours of racing, Morton had already ticked off nearly 320 miles, with Britton had plenty in his reserves as the sun cast light across the prairieland and he drove past Morton to put his name in the record books in completely obliterating the previous winning time and earn the victory.
Women
Jackson crossed the line in a time of 20:57:57, good for eighth overall among all riders in the XL distance. She rode two hours alone after the first aid station, then rode with a male rider through the night and enjoyed some company.
"It was so epic. I would say I am a TTer at heart and I set up my Canyon Grail just like my TT bike and that was awesome," she told media gathered at the finish line, including Cyclingnews.
An accomplished triathlete who has seven Ironman victories, Jackson turned her attention to gravel racing and endurance trail running three years ago. Since then she's won Belgian Waffle Ride California (2023), Stetina's Paydirt (2023, 2024) and was fifth at Unbound Gravel 200 last year.
The elite women took the course alongside the men on Friday mid-afternoon from Commercial Street. After the 150-mile mark, Jackson had long established a solid solo lead. Serena Gordon was next in the chase riding second, with 2023 winner Kristen Legan in pursuit along with 2019 and 2022 winner Lael Wilcox.
As daylight came and the Unbound 200 women set off just after 6:00 a.m. local time, Jackson was still out front by herself. When she hit around 250 miles to go, Gordon was around 12 miles back, Legan nearly 20 and Lael Wilcox around 25.
"I was pretty good for the first 12 hours. There was an hour of chaos and I never wanted sunrise more," Jackson said, explaining she crashed, couldn't get mud out off her tyres, her headlamp went out and then a male rider she was with crashed ahead of her.
The women were still on the course with approximately 40 miles to go when Britton crossed the line for the record victory. Jackson continued her strong and steady pace, going just over 2 hours and 28 minutes better than Cynthia Frazier in 2022.
The XL route followed the same counter-clockwise route as last year that headed to the north through Alma and shared part of the route as the 200-milers. Once passing through the most northerly section at Pillsbury Crossing, the route headed south and reconnected with the Unbound 200 course for about 75 miles, going through Council Grove. Just beyond that community, the XL riders had 150 miles to go using a southern loop near Texaco Hill and then rejoin all the other routes at Lake Kahola for the final 32-mile push to Emporia.
