Rosa Klöser on her rise from university commutes to Unbound Gravel winner: "It's mind-blowing and honestly, a dream come true for me"

Rosa Kloser's rise in cycling has been nothing short of remarkable. The 28-year-old Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto rider etched her name into the history books last year by winning the Unbound Gravel 200, widely regarded as the biggest event in gravel racing. Her journey from commuting in Copenhagen to standing atop the podium as Unbound Queen, is a testament to her rapid ascent in the sport.

The landscape of women’s cycling has undergone a transformation in recent years. Between 2019 and 2024, the introduction of the Tour de France Femmes has made it the premier event on the calendar, professionalism has increased, salaries have drastically increased, and a new generation of riders has emerged. For Klöser, the past five years have seen her transition from a casual commuter cyclist completing her PhD to an elite gravel racer.

Many recognise Klöser for her dramatic comeback from a puncture and surprise sprint victory at Unbound Gravel. But now, as 2025 gets underway, she is trying her hand on her road bike and will be competing amongst some of the WorldTour’s best riders.

"I kind of started in the midst of the coronavirus crisis. In Copenhagen and Denmark, everyone is really sporty, so a lot of people use a bike for commuting," Klöser told Cyclingnews during her first team training camp in December. "I thought at one point, why shouldn't I do that? And then I really fell in love with cycling quickly.

"It must have been late 2020 that I was on a road bike for the first time in my life. Then at the start of 2021, I bought a nice road bike and went out on the first longer rides. But still, the first local race I've ever done on the road was in 2022."

Klöser was encouraged to pursue gravel racing by professional cyclist Piotr Havik.

"I took his advice, then fast forward to 2023 and I did my first gravel races, almost by myself, very unprofessionally, with just me and my boyfriend going to the races. But it went really, really well," said Klöser.

"I went on to score multiple podiums in the UCI Gravel Series. From there on in, my professional cycling career started, because that was the first time I got in touch with sponsors who were keen to support me in the sport."

"In 2024 I had a way more professional setup for races, but still very much focused on gravel," she recalls. "Then I managed to win arguably the biggest gravel race in the world, Unbound Gravel, as a little bit of a dark horse to some."

Her journey has been unexpected, even to herself.

"It's been huge progress and to be honest with you, I never expected it. My main focus was my PhD when I started cycling, so if you had asked me if we would be having this interview in 2022, I would for sure not have believed you.

"If you had told me that I'm sitting here today with you as a Canyon-SRAM WorldTour rider, I would not have believed you. So yeah, it's mind-blowing and honestly, a dream come true for me - but maybe a dream that I didn't even know that I had in 2022."

Just three weeks after winning Unbound Gravel, she lined up against WorldTour professionals at the German road nationals, finishing ninth.

"It's fair to say that I was definitely elevated through the victory at Unbound. Canyon as a cycling brand, they're really big in gravel and are investing heavily in it. They do already have the GRVL CLLCTV, their individual gravel squad," said Klöser.

"But with me, I was always curious from the start of my short cycling career about road racing as well, with it being much more strategic, more about teams and sometimes having goals for some riders not always to win, but to contribute.

"When I talked to Canyon about becoming part of their gravel team, at the same time, I was actually just signing up for the German road nationals, to do some road racing just out of curiosity. I went there, and it actually went really well. I was in the final selection in the race and of course, Canyon-SRAM was present because of the team's German riders.

"That was kind of my first touch point with the road racing side of the team. I think the idea emerged that actually, there are a lot of synergies that we could maybe use and that it could be a really nice, dare I say, experiment to use me in both capacities."

Now part of Canyon-SRAM Zondacrypto, Klöser is thriving alongside teammates like Zoe Bäckstedt, the 20-year-old Welsh rider who has claimed the last two junior cyclocross world titles.

"It's a team that always, from when I started racing in 2022, really stood out to me because of their very unique approach of working with cyclists," Klöser said. "They're very open-minded and they've always had new approaches like Zwift Academy to select new talent, but also with riders in the past who have combined different disciplines.

"They are giving me the opportunity to combine gravel racing with road racing and I think if we look at both disciplines, the gravel and the road, we can actually see that there's a lot of synergies and gravel is becoming way more professional."

Klöser has clear ambitions for the future.

"For me, definitely, it's not a secret that you will find me at the start line of Unbound again hoping to defend my title. The team has also been super supportive in allowing me to prepare well for that and have this goal in mind," Klöser said.

"I'm hoping long-term to do some of the more technical, gravel-style road races like Strade Bianche or Paris-Roubaix would of course be a dream to participate in.

"I think I can learn so much from the girls, from their road racing smartness. But I hope that I can bring my big gravel engine to the road races as well and support them as well as possible."