A Course Record and Prototypes

The UNBOUND XL is 359 miles of Kansas gravel. Rob Britton took the victory ahead of Lachlan Morton in a battle for the ages, and in the process claimed the course record averaging a ridiculous 32.4km/h in a time of 17:49:51 - taking a massive 2:15:45 off the previous record set in 2024 by Seb Breuer. It was a battle for the ages, with Lachlan leading for much of the night, Rob found himself chasing alone for 200km across the Flint Hills through the darkness, a distant red dot of light dimly flashing in and out of sight ahead of him.

“An entire bike race within a bike race…” is how Rob described the chase. Racing the OSTRO Gravel with AB03 extensions Rob was set up for going far, and fast, check out the set-up here.

The OSTRO Gravel was also Lauren De Crescenzo’s chosen tool for her attempt at repeating her UNBOUND 200 victory from 2021. As with all distances of the event, the women’s elite field was stacked with sensational athletes from around the world. Factor Racing’s LDC grabbed herself a spot on the podium with a 6th place having been the main engine of the first chasing group.

She succeeded in finishing so high thanks to the fact she suffered no mechanicals on the course, even though her ride was not totally incident-free:

“I actually went down twice. At the beginning I got caught behind another crash, and later, I don’t even know what happened. I was just riding along and then I was on the ground and then I was just chasing.”

Rob Gitelis and David Millar Tackle the 200

In 2024 it was the Migration Race for Rob and David, an adventure like no other. It inspired them to set a challenge together for 2025. UNBOUND seemed an obvious choice, it’s the most famous gravel race in the world; if you’re into gravel it’s no doubt on your bucket list. There are multiple distances to choose from, 50/100/200/XL, the 200 has become the blue ribbon event. Rob and David weren’t just there to tick a box though, it served as an opportunity to test our latest prototype gravel bikes. At Factor, we have seen the rapid evolution of gravel, the distance, speed, and terrain have become ever more varied and categorised, and the riders' needs have become more specific in line with this.

With the OSTRO Gravel, we created the fastest gravel bike in the world. This is always a focus at Factor, yet we’ve seen that absolute speed isn’t required everywhere, nor for everyone. Our research and development has led us to creating two more gravel bikes, an ultra ready machine, engineered to cope with the most extreme demands. The other is a race-ready, agile all-rounder, a bike that takes the Factor performance philosophy and tweaks it to be a joy to ride at any speed, no matter the ride.

David Millar talks through both prototypes with Ben Delaney at 12:40 in this video.

As for Rob and David’s UNBOUND experience? Rob was taken out by a crash in front of him after 60km, the bike was fine, Rob not so much having suffered a fractured rib. He made it to the first feedzone at 120km and decided discretion was the better part of valour. David made the “brave” decision to start with the elites, he hung on for 50km then spent the next 270km remembering he was no longer elite. The bikes passed the test with top marks, taking everything in their stride and validating their capabilities on the hallowed gravel ground of Kansas.

Emporia: Temple of Speed

First in Kyoto, then Shanghai, Emporia saw the third installation of the Factor Temple of Speed exhibition. We took over a former flower shop on Commercial Street, only metres from the finish line, it became the talk of the town - an explosion of colour, a Factor experience like no other where we invited everyone to come and get to know us.

Don’t worry if you weren’t in Emporia or didn’t have a chance to visit the Temple of Speed. We have several more in the works, including a special Temple of Speed in Paris during the Tour de France. Book your flights now!

OSTRO Gravel

The OSTRO Gravel takes all the lightweight, superior handling and performance that we love about the OSTRO VAM and combines that with a 45 mm wide tyre capability and stable geometry, which results in a gravel bike that’s equally fast across all types of terrains.

Learn more about OSTRO Gravel.

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