UNBOUND GRAVEL predictions

Racing
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As simple question. But always interesting what people will think how the top 3 will look like.

My predictions:
1- Laurens ten Dam. He’s a diesel. So the longer a race is, the better he will get. Or maybe he’s just slower at getting fatigued. And he can manage the heat well.
2- Ivar Slik. Dutch and European beach race champion.
3- Thomas Dekker. Although he’s been retired for quite some years now. He’s still very, very talented. He had some decent training. And check his Wikipedia about what he’s won. ( Fair or not fair is for you to decide)
Dark horse- Quinn Simmons. Because he impressed us with his spring classics campaign

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Colin Strickland

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Men’s: Peter Stetina
Women’s: Alison Tetrick
XL Men’s: Ben Doom
XL Women’s: Lael Wilcox

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I’m expecting to see a LTD/Decker breakaway at some point. Had LTD picked to win but that was before I saw Simmons was racing. So I’d probably put my money on him.

  1. Simmons
  2. LTD
  3. Strickland
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If Strickland wins again, It won’t play out like it did last time, that’s for sure. No one is gonna let him go at the half way point.

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For sure, that’s a good point. I merely mentioned him because he’s a stud and wasn’t even include in the top 3 by the OP. I think the same could be said for just about any of these top tier competitors. They are all marking one another, it’s just a matter of who do you follow if one goes? I think Stetina has a good chance as does LTD, but obviously, he’ll be marked from his win at Gravel Locos.

It’s kind of a toss-up when the field is that deep. I love that people are talking this much about an unsanctioned gravel race.

I would say Stetina is the favorite and my darkhorse pick is Matteo Jorgenson.

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I mean anything is possible, it’s not like Strickland was some kind of an ‘unknown’ when he broke away in 2019. LOL.

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https://images.app.goo.gl/5d46frjqsHaVD9aY8

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Sure hope this douchebag doesn’t win.

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+1 (or +2) for Stetina and Tetrick.

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LtD after getting into a breakaway with Dekkar.

Amity Rockwell for the women just because I’d like to see her do the double.

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Strickland and Simmons breaking away would be awesome too.

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I’m going to go with LtD after watching the DJ recap of Gravel Locos:

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Seems like the incentives are in place for the top people to use PED’s. No regulation, no testing, commercial upside, relax environment.

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Well, several of the pre-race favorites spent years racing in the European pro peloton and it’s been shown that many of the gains from past doping are retained even when the doping stops…so there’s that.

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I don’t think Peter can win, he’s too light and the others have more power.

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No votes for Dr Polarized yet?

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Like him or not, Quinn Simmons entry makes this pretty interesting. He had a bunch of flats in 2019 in Leadville and still came back to catch Stetina and Morton before the line and take 2nd. Could see him wanting to make a splash at Unbound.

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Curious to see how Cory Lockwood does on gravel.

Who is going in as a team vs solo’ing it?

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My money is on LTD for the win and Stetina to have a mechanical somewhere within the last third of the race. Ted King is a non factor this year and Colin Strickland is gonna find out what it’s really like hittin it hard with some big Diesel engines.