These famous names are competing in mythical gravel race Unbound: Van Avermaet, Ten Dam, and Dumoulin

Saturday it's that time again in Emporia, Kansas: Unbound Gravel. Once again in 2025, a long list of (former) pro riders will take on the challenge of the most prestigious gravel race in the United States. IDLProCycling.com lists the most notable participants in the race, which will be streamed on YouTube for the first time this year.

From a Dutch perspective, the so-called “Dutch Mafia” is back, with a “new” member: Ramon Sinkeldam. The former rider for teams like Alpecin-Deceuninck, Groupama-FDJ, and Sunweb already showed solid form last weekend by winning the highly regarded Gravellocos race in Texas.

Still, Unbound, with its 200 miles (320 kilometers), is a whole lot longer. But not long enough for Laurens ten Dam, who’s racing the XL version this year: 350 miles (563 kilometers). There, he’ll go up against names like Lachlan Morton, who won the regular Unbound last year.

In the 200-mile race, we’ll also see the other Dutch Mafia members alongside Sinkeldam: Niki Terpstra, Jasper Ockeloen, and former winner Ivar Slik, who had a nasty crash in the U.S. last year. Cyclocross rider Joris Nieuwenhuis is also on the start list. Meanwhile, Tom Dumoulin has opted for the 100-mile event. The former Giro winner had a bad crash during his course recon on Wednesday.

It's not just the Dutch turning heads, plenty of Belgians are lining up for Unbound too. Lidl-Trek’s Tim Declercq is racing, along with well-known former pros like Thomas De Gendt, Greg Van Avermaet, Lawrence Naesen, Jordy Bouts, and even former Ajax footballer Jelle Van Damme. Cyclocross rider Daan Soete is also competing.

Other former pros on the start list include Tsgabu Grmay (Ethiopia), Simon Pellaud (Switzerland), Petr Vakoc (Czech Republic), and former Alpecin-Deceuninck rider Maurice Ballerstedt (Germany). They’ll go head-to-head with top U.S. riders like Keegan Swenson, Russell Finsterwald, Ian Boswell, and Alexey Vermeulen.

Mattia de Marchi
Russel Finsterwald
Tsgabu Grmay
Lawrence Naesen
Simon Pellaud

Keegan Swenson
Alexey Vermeulen
Alex Howes
Petr Vakoc
Maurice Ballerstedt

Ian Boswell
Jordy Bouts
Nathan Brown
Thomas De Gendt
Caleb Fairly

Nathan Haas
Chad Haga
Adne Koster
Matthijs Loman
Joris Nieuwenhuis

Jasper Ockeloen
Felipe Orts
Mads Würtz Schmidt
Ramon Sinkeldam
Ivar Slik

Paul Voss
Tim Declercq
Tom Dumoulin (100 miles)
Nicolas Roche (100 miles)
Nicole Frain (women)

Geerike Scheurs (women)
Lauren Stephens (women)
Lachlan Morton (XL 350 miles)
Ted King (XL 350 miles)
Laurens ten Dam (XL 350 miles)