‘Not looking at what the finish line can bring me’ – Lachlan Morton embraces the journey, not the race, as he brings a new perspective to Unbound Gravel in 2025

Lachlan Morton’s journey to Unbound Gravel 2025 has been a long one, right from the car trip halfway across the country from California to Kansas, to the evolution that both he and the race have undergone since he first lined up in 2019.

Back then, he was a WorldTour rider discovering gravel racing as part of the team’s Alt calendar, though that fourth-place finish was just the beginning. Now the WorldTour is a distant memory, but the calendar is fuller than ever, and the EF Education-Easypost rider is returning to the familiar territory in the Flint Hills as the 2024 Unbound 200 victor. Still, just like in 2019, this year a new adventure and a new experience await as he takes on the Unbound XL.

There will, of course, be no flying under the radar for Morton as he steps into the 350-mile (563km) event. However, it’s the Unbound 200 where the attention, competition and intensive media focus are at their height, building even more every year as the discipline and its centrepiece event flourish. The Australian, who is now based in California, was up until this year right in the middle of that storm, given he was a rider with a record and winning ambitions.

“I guess, the increasing importance of this race amongst the elite category, sort of all over the world, definitely increases the stress around it. For a lot of the elite riders it can be a make-or-break kind of weekend,” said Morton.

“I think for everyone, it’s different. A lot of people thrive in that sort of environment – for me, I find that challenging, in a way, and it’s a tough one because the thing I do love about these events is the engagement we have with people. And then it definitely feels like, for me sometimes coming to this race I’m sort of trying to hide out, do my own thing.”

Doing his own thing this year, however, has meant eschewing the opportunity to step up as defending champion in the closely-watched 200, which this year will also have a livestream, and instead set off on Friday at 3pm and spend around 20 hours riding the XL.

“Approaching it this time around with a fresh challenge, something that you know, I don’t have the experience in, it’s nice. I do like that feeling of the unknown … it’s exciting,” Morton told Cyclingnews via a call, stopping roadside to fit in an interview. 

“Just being out on the bike today all day, riding here, and sort of simplifying it all back to what it is – just a pretty cool off-road race around Flint Hills on a beautiful course. For me, once you are here and you remember what it is that’s special about the race – drown out the hype and get off the social media and all the hoopla around it – it is still just a beautiful very special event, which is what made it so popular to begin with.”

Morton, who has seen so many gravel events around the world, has come from The Traka in Spain, which didn’t run to plan thanks to a busted wheel, and also a speedy dash along the 300-kilometre Bergslagsleden mountain bike route in Sweden. That means there wasn’t a lot of time for Unbound preparation.

“There was definitely a shorter runway, more or less 10 days at home to prepare, and there was a lot going into it – a new bike, a different setup and also with the longer distance, the preparation is a little different along with the equipment. There was lots to cram into a short period of time … and I also had two acres of whipper snipping to do,” laughed Morton as he recounted his efforts to tackle the long grass when he finally managed to get back to his Californian base.

“It made for a big week, but in the end the nice thing about the long distances is that the way in which you prepare is the sort of riding I really like to do. It’s not a chore. I’m happy if I can just switch off and ride my bike for eight hours.”

Particularly, at a stage when there isn’t much time for switching off, as while 2024 may have delivered an endurance effort that would seemingly make all that followed a piece of cake – a 14,200km, 30 day, 9 hours and 59 minute dash around Australia – Morton has found the packed calendar which is seeing him leaping from continent to continent is another kind of endurance effort, one that takes a mental toll given the constant shifts in focus.

Never say never

In this year of trying plenty of new things, it is also perhaps fitting that Morton is adding a different twist to his Unbound experience, although it may have been a different scenario if he hadn’t already tamed the 200 in 2024.

“If I’m in the right mindset, I definitely still thrive in that,” said Morton of the pressure cooker of the main event. “It was just knowing that I’ve had that experience I’d chased here last year and to come back here, replicating that was the maximum I could do.”

The opportunity to come and still enjoy the event but do something different had far more appeal.

“But I wouldn’t say I would never do the 200 again but its just where I’m at now,” said Morton. “Physically I feel like I’m in basically the same spot I was in last year but just the motivation wasn’t right to chase it.”

Given his record, even though it is a debut at the event for Morton, he will still be entering the XL with a favourite tag. However when asked what he wanted to walk away from Kansas with this year, it wasn’t the end of the race he was focused on, but the journey along the way.

“I want to come out of the race with a new experience and one where I’m just enjoying what it is to be here,” said Morton. “You know, not looking at what the finish line can bring me and really try and just soak it all in and not be caught up in this hype bubble, but just appreciate the reality of it

“It’s very cool when you zoom out and you realise, ‘wow’, this is, I guess the biggest gravel race in the world taking place in Emporia, people coming all over the world to be here. It’s special.”

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