Unbound Gravel: 'Peanut butter mud' causes chaos, DNFs, and a huge winning margin

The Dane Mads Würtz Schmidt won Unbound Gravel on Saturday by a huge margin. The 2026 edition was marked by a combination of good bad weather, meaning the riders had to deal with so-called 'peanut butter mud'. As a result, many big names did not make it to the finish in Emporia.

Plenty of well-known names took part in the famous 200-mile (360 kilometres) gravel race this year. The Unbound start list included Taylor Phinney, Lachlan Morton, Petr Vakoč, Chad Haga, Thomas De Gendt, Romain Bardet, Lawrence Naesen, Simon Pellaud and Schmidt.

Add to that the big gravel names — such as former winner Ivar Silk, Keegan Swenson and Matt Beers — plus current pros like Daan Soete (cyclocross) and Emil Herzog (road), and you are talking about an A-class field.

In the days beforehand, there was a lot of talk about the weather conditions in Kansas, where the muddy sections were already in a sorry state. That proved to be far from unnecessary, because out on the course the riders had to deal with peanut butter mud: mud that sticks everywhere, absolutely everywhere.

Early on, a group of around 15 riders went clear, including Schmidt, Bardet, De Gendt, Soete and Ockeloen. From that group, Schmidt, Swenson and American Cobe Freeburn eventually rode away together, which proved to be the decisive move. Former winner Morton had already dropped out because of crashes, and Dekker later did the same.

After 100 kilometres it started raining again in Kansas, making the riders look more like miners. Swenson, Schmidt and Freeburn were on the right side of that split and quickly built a huge advantage, while Koster and Havik were riding in the top ten for the Netherlands.

Bardet also fought his way back into the race, but he would ultimately not finish because he could not repair a mechanical problem. The same fate befell, among others, Slik, De Gendt, Freddy Ovett and many others.

At the front, Freeburn had to let the two Specialized riders go, but they then ran into problems of their own. Swenson gave his wheel to Schmidt, who had to cover the final 110 kilometres on his own.

With just over 10 minutes in hand over a group containing Beers, Tobias Kongstad, Matthew Jones and Brendan Johnston, it looked like done and dusted for the strong Dane — although he had to deal with bad luck more than once. Just like he did at The Traka in Girona, Schmidt finished on his own well clear of the field.

Kongstad and Beers proved the strongest in the second group, while Koster and Havik defended their good positions. Soete was the best Belgian in the attritional race that Unbound 2026 turned into.