"There are guys like Matej Mohoric competing, who is obviously a lot better. If I do the same as him, I'll never beat him" - Thijs Zonneveld ready to experiment at Unbound Gravel

Unbound Gravel 200 is to challenge more than just riders' legs this weekend. The well-known US gravel race is popular among Dutch riders, Thijs Zonneveld included. The Dutch journalist/cyclist extensively previewed the 320-kilometer race in his podcast In het Wiel.

Zonneveld is at the start of Unbound for the second consecutive year, so he already has some idea of what to expect. "This year we are heading north, last year it was south. It's really in the middle of nowhere, you ride for hours through a landscape without any villages or supermarkets. There's just nothing there," explains the columnist.

Choosing the right equipment is crucial. "I want to take a risk. There are guys like Matej Mohoric competing, who is obviously a lot better. Stronger, more skillful, faster. If I do the same as him, I'll never beat him. But this is Unbound and it's such a crazy race, so you start thinking about ways it could work," says Zonneveld, who is considering swapping tires between certain sections. "The risk you take with that is that it costs more time and effort."

"Everything has to be perfect at Unbound," Zonneveld continues. "I notice that I approach it differently than last year when I was also very concerned about not having bad luck. It's so long and race situations can constantly change. Laurens ten Dam, for example, is very good at this. He's the only one who has been in all the finals. That's very impressive, especially considering the luck factor. How you handle it is very important."