Euphoria in Emporia

Unbound Gravel. Officially, they call it the Life Time Unbound Gravel 200. Unofficially, they call it the “Super Bowl” of gravel racing, because it attracts not just the country’s best, but the planet’s.

Star athletes from various cycling disciplines and beyond – Tour de France stage winner Matej Mohorič, Paris-Roubaix champ Greg Van Avermaet, and decorated Formula 1 driver and serious cyclist Valtteri Bottas, to name only a few – line up for 100-, 200-, and 350-mile versions of the race across the dirt roads of Kansas, USA, beginning and ending in the small town of Emporia.

Press outlets, sponsors, and fans from around the world attend. A win here earns bragging rights for life. Former Cannondale riders like Kaitie Keough, Alison Tetrick, and current Cannondale rider Ted King – who’s won it twice – can attest. Now we can add Lachlan Morton to that list.

This year marked Morton’s fourth attempt to claim victory in the original and “main” event of the weekend, the 200-miler, in which he’d never finished better than third (in 2023). At 5:30AM on Saturday morning, June 1, the gun went off, and the 32-year-old set out among the favorites with a field of 1,028 riders for the double-century. The predicted wet conditions never materialized, so hot, clear, sunny skies presided over the day.

Only five miles in, Danish pro Tobias Kongstad made a move to jump off the front, joined by three others, who would mostly manage to stay there for the first 80 miles. The usual challenges led to attrition across the field as the day continued: cramping, crashes, and mechanical issues, including punctures that plagued (but didn’t eliminate) even the most elite and well-equipped riders, like last year’s runner-up, Petr Vakoc.

By the time the lead group of around 60 riders – a relatively large coalition, good for maintaining efficiency but bad for individual tactics – had reached the race’s halfway point, called Little Egypt, the overall pace was still quite strong. Morton had made an earlier attempt to reach the four leaders, but headwinds and a wrong turn would allow the bigger group to catch him again.

Those steady winds, and the gently rolling hills of Kansas, would continue after the midway checkpoint for another hour before American Chad Haga would make a move. “I knew that’s the guy I want to be with,” Morton would recount later, explaining his move to chase Haga, accompanied by Dutch pro Thijs Zonneveld.

Zonneveld would gradually fade over the coming miles, however, leaving Morton and Haga to battle it out for the top two spots. Meanwhile, the main chasing group had dwindled to around 25 riders. Another group of four launched a pursuit of Morton and Haga at the 150-mile mark, but it would make little difference.

Haga and Morton took turns pulling for the final quarter of the race. By the top of the last significant climb, their gap had shrunk to 1:55, but over the relatively flat 27 miles that remained, they would work together to extend it to 2:46.

Working together, however, meant a sprint finish was inevitable. As Haga and Morton rolled back onto Emporia’s main drag towards the finish – lined with screaming fans and clanging, sponsor-colored cowbells – the pace would crescendo into one of the most exciting conclusions the event has ever seen. Out of the saddle and digging hard, Morton edged out Haga by one second at the line, arm raised and shouting in triumph.

”I think that I was lucky because I’ve done this a couple of times now. I think I made the mistakes in the past years that helped me win today,” Morton said after the race. “To be honest, I thought a win here was kind of beyond me now. The levels continue to get higher, and I’m getting older. I’m just happy with how it went today.”

Morton would be the first of two Cannondale athletes to win that day, too. Paralympic gold medalist Meg Fischer would win the 200-mile version of the para-athlete women’s class aboard her Topstone a few hours later.