Lachlan Morton wins the Unbound Gravel 2024

Lachlan Morton (EF Education-EasyPost) took the victory at the Unbound Gravel 200, probably the most important gravel race alongside the UCI World Championship. Morton won in a sprint finish with Chad Haga, his breakaway companion. Tobias Kongstad closed the podium after 327 kilometers through the Flint Hills in Kansas.

Lachlan Morton reigns again at Unbound Gravel

It is true that Morton had been one of the top favorites in previous editions, but this year the level had risen a notch and few saw him as the winner before the race. The Slovenian Matej Mohori? was the one most pointed out by the bets as the pre-race favorite, but a flat tire and subsequent wheel breakage forced him to abandon.

The Unbound Gravel 200 started with some early attacks on both the first gravel and asphalt sections. But as the kilometers passed, each rider found their place and after neutralizing an initial breakaway formed by Zavyalov, Wark, Kongstad, and Orset that managed to have a lead of up to 6 minutes, by kilometer 180 there was a group of 20 cyclists with Chad Haga leading the race. Mohoric had already suffered several punctures and before retiring, he was pedaling a distant 14 minutes behind the leaders.

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With 130 km to go, Haga, Morton, and Thijs Zonneveld broke away from the group with an attack that gave them over 2 minutes of advantage over the rest. It was with 43 kilometers to go when Haga and Morton left Zonneveld behind on the final dirt climb.

The final victory went to Lachlan Morton in a sprint finish, and after the finish line, he himself expressed surprise at the victory:

"To be honest, I thought a victory here was out of my reach at this point. The level is rising, I'm getting older, and I thought last year was my best chance to win and I didn't."