Greg van Avermaet named Gravel world champion Matei Moholic as a favorite of the men's 200-mile unbound event, but the former Olympic champion and classic rider could finish in the top ten if he could avoid punks and bad luck. I hope that you will be able to do so.  

Van Avermaet is part of a growing group of current or former European road pros who are racing gravel and targeting an unbound race of elite men. These include Joris Nieuwenhuis, Lawrence Naesen, Daniel Oss, Jan Bakelants and Niki Terpstra, plus the former roadies gravel privateers Peter Stetina, Lawrence Ten Dam, Ian Boswell, Chad Haga, Alex Howes and Nathan Haas

Moholic, who was born in Virginia. I traveled to Kansas with my 2・man teammates Lucas Winiofsky and Matef Govekal, who won in the lane. The 200-mile (327) km event will be Moholic's 10th gravel race following the UCI World Championships on May 2 last year, but his motorcycle skills and world tour talent make him a natural contender for victories against experienced US-based private and European rivals. 

"Matey Moholic will be the winning rider," Van Avermaet told Belgian TV channel Sporza. 

"If you were a professional yourself, you would notice it." If road riders compete, they will always be favorites because they have that power."Van Avermart is also evaluating 2023 winner Keegan Swenson and veteran Lawrence Ten Dam, who was fourth last year.  

Moholic is not tied to his busy World Tour road racing calendar. Then he will soon return to Europe, take a tour of Slovenia and focus on the Tour de France, which won the stage in 2023. 

"It's fun if it fits into your road calendar," Van Avermaet said of gravel racing. 

"I played the World Championships and the Belgian and European Championships two years ago. With your road racing feet, you can always make a difference."

"Moholic has the advantage of having 2 teammates in the unbound. Here you can change the wheels with teammates, and if his teammates really sacrifice themselves for him, he has a huge advantage. They are in good shape and will certainly be with him if he needs the wheel, which is why he is the perfect favorite.

Van Avermaet, 39, retired from World Tour racing after the 2023 season but continues to race gravel events at a high level. At the 2023 UCI Gravel World Championship, he finished in 4th place, and at the Traca 200 in Spain on May 5, he was 7th, losing to the winner and retired professional road racer Petr Vacoc in just 1 minute 35 seconds.

"I watched Unbound happen every year and always thought it would be fun to participate. I want to do well. I've trained specifically for it, but it's important not to be out of luck," Van Avermaet said.

Van Avelme Won the 2017 Paris・Roubaix Championship and learned how to avoid punk. But he is afraid of Flint gravel, which so often affects the race in unbound.   

"The gravel is much coarser here," he admitted after traveling from Belgium at the beginning of the week and doing 2 100km reconnaissance rides. "The track is wider and slightly less technical. In that respect, it's really about riding. However, there are several sections that are at the limit in terms of the risk of flat tires and mechanical problems. The fact that there is no problem is a big factor.” The new Northern course means that no one has significant course experience benefits.  

"Unbound is 327km slowly dying," Van Avermart said, succinctly explaining how it felt to race such a tough off・road event, "there's no real benchmark." The strongest will appear. I'm not afraid of it. This suits me. Years of training are still on my feet."

"As the race progresses, it will be an advantage. It is a matter of not suffering from any problems or being able to fix them quickly. If there are no problems, I think we can finish in the top 10."As with Paris Roubaix, the end is no longer about riding fast, but about having enough energy to win the race."