Rob Britton pulled ahead of pre-race favorite Lachlan Morton to win the 2025 edition of Unbound Gravel’s XL race, setting the fastest-ever time of 17:49:51 hours. The Canadian finished more than five minutes ahead of Morton on the 350-mile course.
Britton rode a bright orange Factor Ostro gravel bike with a 40mm Fox 32 Taper-Cast suspension fork, while Morton rode a Cannondale Topstone and opted for a rigid fork.
Britton told BikeRadar after the finish that the Fox 32 TC was a critical component during his race-winning Unbound XL ride.
"It just takes the edge off,” Britton said. “And like, over 17 and a half hours, taking the edge off makes a huge difference. My shoulders aren't sore. My wrists are fine. But if I'd had a rigid fork, I think it'd be a different story.”
Britton’s orange bike is inspired by graffiti and has wolves on it.
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“I love graffiti,” he said. “There's some wolves on there that you can't see us under mud, but yeah, I’ve got kind of an affection for wolves so I wanted one of those in there. The main director of design for Factor just did an incredible job last year. I think this is the best, the nicest bike I’ve ever owned.”
Despite much pre-race hype about the chances for sticky, thick peanut butter mud, Britton said it didn’t play much of a factor in the racing.
“For all the crazy rain and what it could have been, it was totally fine,” he said. “That sun yesterday and the wind, it just evaporated everything. It's incredibly fast.”
Britton did lube his chain several times over the course of the ultra-distance race, and said his gearing and tyre choices were perfect.
“There was one section where I feel like, if we got there an hour earlier, we would have been in big trouble, but it was just fine,” second-place Morton added.
In contrast to Britton, Morton used a rigid fork on his Cannondale, which he said is “just simple, you know".
Morton estimated that he spent about 50 per cent of the time on his aero extension, compared to the hoods or drops, while Britton said he spent around 40 per cent of his ride in the extensions, versus out of them.
