Bigger start gap for Unbound 200 pro women ‘nice but in the end the fields will be mixed’

Mass starts in gravel races can quickly mean the women pro riders become separated and scattered through a predominantly men’s field of pros and eager amateurs, with the races potentially affected or ruined by the machinations of an entirely different category. 

Last year, Unbound Gravel 200 introduced a separate start time for the elite women, but it didn’t keep the fields split for long, particularly with the bottleneck of the mud-field chaos just 11 miles in. To try and make a difference this year, the gaps have been extended between pro men and pro women, as well as pro women and the general field of the 200-mile race.