{"id":1969154,"date":"2026-06-02T07:51:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T04:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1969154"},"modified":"2026-06-02T07:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T04:51:11","slug":"unbound-gravel-power-analysis-wurtz-schmidt-is-a-mud-busting-metronome-of-mega-watts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1969154","title":{"rendered":"Unbound Gravel Power Analysis: W\u00fcrtz Schmidt Is a Mud-Busting Metronome of Mega Watts"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Mads-Wurtz-Schmidt-2026-Unbound-Winner.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Zach Nehr<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated June 2, 2026 01:58AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Fifteen miles into Unbound Gravel, almost the entire peloton came to a standstill in peanut butter mud. The leaders hopped off their bikes and grabbed paint sticks to clear the mud as quickly as they could.<\/p>\n

Some riders spent a minute cleaning their bikes, others lost even more time. A few riders watched their bikes fall apart in front of their eyes, while professionals like Mads W\u00fcrtz Schmidt wasted hardly any time in the mud.<\/p>\n

The European gravel champion was one of, if not the, first riders to escape the first muddy section of the race, but it wouldn\u2019t be the last time he faced major adversity en route to the finish line.<\/p>\n

Matt Beers, W\u00fcrtz Schmidt\u2019s teammate on Specialized Off-Road, was another one of the strongest riders of the day, posting the single most impressive power file that I\u2019ve ever seen. The South African averaged 338w for more than nine hours. Yes, his Danish teammate finished more than five minutes ahead of him.<\/p>\n

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This is the story of \u201cMudbound\u201d 2026, and the absolute domination of Specialized Off-Road in both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s elite 200 races.<\/p>\n

When the skies opened at 3AM the morning of Unbound, everyone knew there would be mud. What they didn\u2019t know was exactly where the mud would be, and the impact these sectors would leave on the race. Rumours were circling that there would be mud at mile 12, the first minimum maintenance road (MMR) on the 207-mile Unbound course. But when the peloton reached mile 12, the mud was packed and fast.<\/p>\n

Many breathed a sigh of relief, but that feeling was short-lived as the route turned south onto an uphill MMR. Within seconds, the peloton was scattered across the road, reaching down to clean out their bikes.<\/p>\n

Drivetrains were stuck, chains were thrown off, tires and forks were clogged\u2026this was a disaster. Those who managed the mud best were quickest to escape, and a lead group formed at the front of the elite men\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

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W\u00fcrtz Schmidt \u2013 Mud Sector Splits the Race<\/h3>\n

Time:<\/strong> 17:07
Average Power:<\/strong> 336w (4.8w\/kg)
Normalized Power:<\/strong> 369w (5.3w\/kg)<\/p>\n

W\u00fcrtz Schmidt was in the front group, alongside Beers, 2025 Unbound winner Cameron Jones, Romain Bardet, and about 15 others.<\/p>\n

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For the next 35 miles, the front group seemed to work together as the chasers behind scrambled to close the gap. Countless favorites had been left behind in the mud \u2013 some struggled to remount their chains, others had shifting problems, and many pulled out of the race before they truly got going.<\/p>\n

The longest climb of the race was next: Texaco Hill. It\u2019s only a few miles long, but the steady uphill gradients mark the toughest uphill portion of the 207-mile route. If there was anything for the climbers at Unbound, it was this climb with 145 miles to go.<\/p>\n

If you thought Tadej Poga\u010dar was crazy for attacking with 100km to go, imagine if he attacked with 238km to go. That is what Specialized Off-Road did on Texaco Hill.<\/p>\n

W\u00fcrtz Schmidt, Beers, and Keegan Swenson \u2013 who had battled back from an earlier mechanical \u2013 went clear on Texaco Hill, but that wasn\u2019t the trio that crested the climb.<\/p>\n

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Cobe Freeburn came across to join them, while Beers dropped his chain and went back to the chase group. Freeburn hung on for as long as he could, but he too succumbed to the pace of W\u00fcrtz Schmidt. The European gravel champion even had Swenson on the ropes.<\/p>\n

The duo were teammates, communicating and trading pulls, but Swenson was suffering. W\u00fcrtz Schmidt pulled the majority of the time, opening up a massive gap to the chasers.<\/p>\n

It was reminiscent of Unbound 2025 where a two-rider breakaway dominated the race. In that instance, it was Cam Jones who came away with the win, but the Kiwi was now more than nine minutes behind as Specialized Off-Road powered away.<\/p>\n

This middle section of the race was one of the toughest in terms of weather and mud.<\/p>\n

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Heavy thunderstorms destroyed the smooth gravel roads, and most riders had to remove their sunglasses that were caked in mud. There were hundreds of riders with bloodshot eyes at the finish, having ridden hours in the mud and gravel without eye protection. There was no other choice, yet, W\u00fcrtz Schmidt and Swenson built an insurmountable lead before the final aid station. But then, disaster struck.<\/p>\n

On a typical stretch of Kansan gravel road, W\u00fcrtz Schmidt hit a rock that sliced the side of his tire open. Swenson stopped immediately, and the duo worked together to fix the flat. Eight plugs didn\u2019t work, so Swenson gave up his wheel so that W\u00fcrtz Schmidt could ride away.<\/p>\n

The American spent more than 15 minutes on the side of the road fixing the flat, but he would still go on to finish 5th at the end of the day. A few miles up the road, W\u00fcrtz Schmidt kept chugging away.<\/p>\n

The Dane rode the last three hours alone, having already done the majority of the work after Texaco Hill. In other words, Mads W\u00fcrtz Schmidt rode the final 148 miles of Unbound mostly by himself.<\/p>\n

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Any other rider would have exploded in the headwind that plagued the final 50 miles. But W\u00fcrtz Schmidt solidified his lead. The only rider who could come close to catching him was Matt Beers, who still finished more than five minutes behind.<\/p>\n

When you look at power files like these, you wonder how it is possible.<\/p>\n

Is the Specialized Off-Road team that much stronger than everyone else, or is it their equipment, position, or setup that separates them from the rest? Specialized has a wind tunnel, and I would bet that their top gravel riders spent a few hours in there for aero testing. W\u00fcrtz Schmidt won the U23 UCI world championships time trial in 2015, plus The Traka 360 and Santa Vall earlier this year. There is no doubt that the Dane is slippery, but the secret to winning Unbound is the ability to maintain power for more than 200 miles.<\/p>\n

Schmidt metronomic in plowing through mud<\/h2>\n
\"Mads
Wurtz Schmidt delivered a pacing masterclass to win Unbound Gravel 2026.<\/span> (Photo: Logan Jones-Wilkins\/Velo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here is how W\u00fcrtz Schmidt did it.<\/p>\n

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You can see exactly where the Dane broke away from the field \u2013 hour 4 after Texaco Hill \u2013 because his average power increases while the Normalized Power decreases. This is because he was now taking longer and steadier pulls in the breakaway.<\/p>\n

Hour-by-hour breakdown of Mads W\u00fcrtz Schmidt\u2019s win at Unbound Gravel.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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  • Hour 1: Average Power: 238w (3.4w\/kg) Normalized Power: 308w<\/li>\n
  • Hour 2: Average Power: 260w (3.7w\/kg) Normalized Power: 293w<\/li>\n
  • Hour 3: Average Power: 284w (4.1w\/kg) Normalized Power: 333w<\/li>\n
  • Hour 4: Average Power: 298w (4.3w\/kg) Normalized Power: 320w<\/li>\n
  • Hour 5: Average Power: 300w (4.3w\/kg) Normalized Power: 313w<\/li>\n
  • Hour 6: Average Power: 300w (4.3w\/kg) Normalized Power: 311w<\/li>\n
  • Hour 7: Average Power: 311w (4.4w\/kg) Normalized Power: 318w<\/li>\n
  • Hour 8: Average Power: 294w (4.2w\/kg) Normalized Power: 306w<\/li>\n
  • Hour 9: Average Power: 295w (4.2w\/kg) Normalized Power: 300w<\/li>\n
  • Final 14 Minutes: Average Power: 272w (3.9w\/kg) Normalized Power: 283w<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Official Finish Time:<\/strong> 9 hours 14 minutes and 51 seconds
    Average Power:<\/strong> 285w (4.1w\/kg)
    Normalized Power:<\/strong> 311w<\/p>\n

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    Based on historical data, we\u2019re guessing that W\u00fcrtz Schmidt weighs around 70kg. His teammate, Matt Beers, weighs about 82 kg, a much heavier weight that translates to more raw power.<\/p>\n

    The South African was the second-strongest rider on the day, finishing just a few minutes behind W\u00fcrtz Schmidt and more than 21 minutes ahead of 4th place. If you finished just inside the top-20 at Unbound, you would have been more than 42 minutes behind Mads W\u00fcrtz Schmidt.<\/p>\n

    This is how Beers completed the 1-2 for the Specialized Off-Road Team.<\/p>\n

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    Beers \u2013 2nd at Unbound Gravel<\/h3>\n

    Official Finish Time:<\/strong> 9 hours 19 minutes and 54 seconds
    Average Power:<\/strong> 338w (4.1w\/kg)
    Normalized Power:<\/strong> 368w<\/p>\n

    Villafa\u00f1e teaches rivals never to take her to a sprint<\/h2>\n
    \"Sofia
    G\u00f3mez Villafa\u00f1e schooled her rivals with a huge sprint into Emporia. (Photo: Logan Jones-Wilkins\/Velo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    In the women\u2019s elite race, a group of four riders went clear between the first MMR and Texaco Hill. Specialized Off-Road put two riders in the lead group \u2013 Sofia G\u00f3mez Villafa\u00f1e and Geerike Schreurs \u2013 but that lead group became five when Paige Onweller bridged back from no woman\u2019s land. The leaders traded attacks in the finale, but no one could gain a decisive gap on the return to Emporia.<\/p>\n

    After 207 miles and more than ten and a half hours in the saddle, Unbound Gravel was going to be decided by a sprint.<\/p>\n

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    G\u00f3mez Villafa\u00f1e was the first to blink, launching a monster sprint from a few hundred meters out and winning Unbound with authority. Her teammate Schreurs finished second, while Cecily Decker completed the podium.<\/p>\n

    With an unbelievable amount of fatigue in the legs, G\u00f3mez Villafa\u00f1e hit a 5-second peak power of 905w (16w\/kg) in her final sprint. Now we can understand why no one was able to come around her before the finish, no one was even close.<\/p>\n

    G\u00f3mez Villafa\u00f1e \u2013 Sprint to Win Unbound Gravel<\/h3>\n

    Peak 5-second Power:<\/strong> 905w (16w\/kg)<\/p>\n

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    Power Analysis data courtesy of Strava: Strava sauce extension<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    \n
    Zach Nehr<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
    Updated June 2, 2026 01:58AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-racing\/unbound-gravel-power-analysis\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Mads-Wurtz-Schmidt-2026-Unbound-Winner.jpg”] Zach Nehr Updated June 2, 2026 01:58AM Fifteen miles into Unbound Gravel, almost the entire peloton came to a standstill in peanut butter mud. The leaders hopped off their bikes and grabbed paint sticks to clear the mud as quickly as they could. Some riders spent a minute cleaning their bikes, others […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1969154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1969154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1969154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1969154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1969154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}