EMPORIA, Kansas (MAY 30, 2026) — Robin Gemperle does not race gravel so much as absorb it. On Saturday, across 356 miles of Flint Hills limestone and storm-wrecked mud, the Swiss ultra-cyclist absorbed more than most riders ever will — and came out the other side in 21 hours and 16 minutes, nearly an hour clear of second-placed Max Agut, with a UNBOUND Gravel XL victory that will not be easily forgotten.
It was, by any measure, a brutal edition. Multiple rounds of thunderstorms rolled through the Kansas plains throughout the day and night, turning long sections of gravel into ankle-deep mud that no amount of horsepower could negotiate. Gemperle walked approximately 13 miles of it. He also fell ill at the 112-mile mark — a detail he mentioned with the matter-of-fact brevity of someone who has learned to treat suffering as background noise. “The course was everything I expected and more,” he said afterward. “The weather made it something else entirely. But I’ve been in those dark places before, and I knew if I kept moving, I could get through it.”
Moving is something Gemperle does with uncommon efficiency. Aboard a prototype SCOTT RC Gravel bike built around 32-inch wheels — a pure racing concept that SCOTT has been developing alongside Gemperle and fellow athlete Cameron Jones — he averaged 16.7 mph across terrain that was actively trying to stop him. The larger wheel platform is not a gimmick. On the chunky limestone and mud-slicked two-tracks of the Flint Hills, the rollover advantage and superior traction are measurable, and on Saturday they were decisive.
Competing in just his second Unbound XL, Gemperle brought the full complement of what defines the sport’s best: strategic intelligence, physical endurance, and the mental fortitude to keep moving through the dark places. The XL crown joins a palmares that has been accumulating at pace — the Tour Divide record and the Silk Road Mountain Race title both fell to Gemperle in 2025. Saturday’s win, crossing the finish line in downtown Emporia, adds the sport’s most coveted ultra-distance prize to that collection.
SCOTT, meanwhile, demonstrated that its investment in the 32-inch wheel platform is more than prototype theater. As gravel racing continues to evolve, the brand arrived in Emporia with a bike fast enough to win the hardest race on the calendar — and an athlete capable of proving it.
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