‘Lost for words’: Australian Lachlan Morton wins Unbound Gravel in record time

Australia’s Lachlan Morton has entered the gravel history books winning one of the world’s toughest races - Unbound Gravel 200 - in the fastest ever finishing time.

After 321km of racing through the Flint Hill of Kansas, USA, Morton (EF Education-EasyPost) outsprinted American Chad Haga to win the 200-mile Unbound Gravel race in a time of 9:11:47 hours.

It was a long time coming for Morton, who last year finished third and in 2019 finished fourth.

“Man, what a day. Pretty lost for words. I thought a win here was beyond me at this point,” he wrote on his Instagram account.

“My hope was that regardless of the result I could be content knowing I’d done it the way I wanted without compromising my simple enjoyment of heading out on the bike for a different mission every day. I assumed that approach would impede, in some way, my ability to compete at the high level required. It’s so validating to know that wasn’t true.”

Rolling out from Emporia the race started fast. Morton attacked his group with 120 miles to go, riding solo to try to bridge to a small group of riders up the road but a wrong turn saw him lose his lead and have to chase back.

“I took it as a sign that I was supposed to go back to the bunch,” Morton said. “And to be honest, I don't know what I was doing trying to go solo so far to go. In some ways the way it turned out, I'm actually stoked that I went the wrong way there.”

Then, with a hundred miles to go, Morton attacked again and was followed by two other riders.

The trio soon became a duo with Morton and Haga working well on the front together. The duo extended their gap to over two minutes and the gap stayed there for the final few hours that the two spent together.

As the pair reached the outskirts of Emporia again, Haga dropped back and attacked, but Morton was able to close the gap.

“He did the first attack and I was actually happy about that because he knew then he had to stay on the front, he didn't try and bring me through. He knew he'd broken that pact and he was going to be stuck there. It was like a road finish. A lot of the big races I've won have been in these small groups after a hard day, a long day off the front or something like that. So I feel pretty comfortable in those finishes.”

On the final hill, the two of them rode together. It would come down to the sprint. With a couple hundred metres to go, Morton opened up a small gap on Haga to clinch the elusive victory.

Morton was one of a dozen Aussies who raced in this year’s event, including 2023 AusCycling Gravel National Champions Connor Sens and Justine Barrow.

Where the Elite Aussies finished at Unbound

Elite men:

Lachlan Morton – 1st

Brendan Johnston – 15th

Declan Irvine – 24th

Freddy Ovett – 32nd

Connor Sens – 46th

Nathan Haas – 81st

Matthew Bird - DNF

Elite women:

Tiffany Cromwell – 12th

Matilda Raynolds – 23rd

Justine Barrow – 26th

Ella Bloor – 28th

Peta Mullens - DNF

Main photo: Unbound Gravel