American trees and autumn leaves signal the end of the road racing season. Beulah Hansgrohe's Belgian teammates, Jordi Meeus and Sian Wittdebroeks, traveled to Arkansas, "the remote and rugged highlands of the Ozark Mountains," as the team described it, to compete in the second round of the Big Sugar Gravel on Saturday .

Witdebrooks said the event came at the end of a long trip to the U.S., where he and his teammates were conducting wind tunnel testing.

"I am very excited to be riding off-road this weekend," the Belgian winner of the Tour de Lavenir said in a video.

"It's the first time me and Jordi have done a gravel race, so it won't be easy, but I'm really excited and I really want to take on the challenge from the beginning. I don't know the other competitors, so I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like. I'm very motivated. Fingers crossed for tomorrow."

They are not the only World Tour pros with gravel bugs and a sense of adventure. Quick Step Alpha Vinyl will be joined in Arkansas by Tour of Flanders winner Caspar Asgreen, Mattia Cattaneo, and team leader Ilan van Wilder, who finished 13th at Il Lombardia. Remi Cavagna was also scheduled to travel, but will not be on the starting line Saturday. [Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl and Bora-Hansgrohe are supported by Specialized, and they unveiled their new gravel bike, the Diverge STR, this week. Quicktrip will make a pit stop in Arkansas before heading to Specialized's wind tunnel testing in Morgan Hills, California.

"They came to the U.S. to enjoy this event," said Bryan. It's a big race, and it fits right into their end-of-season schedule." No, he confirmed that the trio of riders are not looking to add gravel to their 2023 racing schedule.

Other notable riders from the road starting Big Sugar include the EF Education-Easy Post duo of Lachlan Morton and Alex Howes. Morton is seventh overall in the men's standings, 28 points behind series leader Keegan Swenson. His best result was fifth in the Leadville 100 MTB, which Swenson won. Howes is 11th in the series, just 10 points behind his teammate.

Michael Garrison (Hagens Berman Axiom), Lance Heide (L39ION of Los Angeles), Eddie Anderson (Alpecin Deceuninck), Griffin Easter, and John Keller (Team Illuminate) also on Saturday. They will switch from slick to knobby tires, and women's professional peloton member Emily Newsom (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) will also switch from slick to knobby tires.

Other former World Tour pros, including Peter Stetina, Lawrence ten Dam, Kiel Leinen, Amber Neben, and Ruth Winder, will compete in the final round of the series in Arkansas.

Cycling News will provide complete coverage of the Big Sugar Gravel.