Unbound says riders who bend or cut their race number plate for this year’s event ‘risk disqualification’

In a video posted to the official Unbound Gravel Instagram feed, the organisers of the biggest gravel race of the year urge participants to keep their race number plates flat and clearly visible on the front of their bikes, stating that “If you wrap your plate, the timing chips on the back cannot be read by our timing mats and could result in disqualification.”

Though the wording of the post is relatively vague, it appears that the threat of disqualification isn’t because of any rules being broken, but more due to the fact that Unbound claims that modifying the number plate could result in damage to the timing chip on the back, or perhaps not allow it to be read properly by the timing mats, and resulting in no time being read, rather than a disqualification for a breach of rules.