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EMPORIA, Kan. (VN) — Lauren Stephens always knew she would race Unbound Gravel’s 200-mile race.

She just didn’t think it would be this year.

Stephens, a two-time defending 100-mile Unbound Gravel champion and defending U.S. road champion, expected to defend her title again in 2022 in the mid-distance race. A few weeks ago, however, Stephens learned that her EF Education-TIBCO-SVB team had signed her up to compete in the 200-mile race instead.

“It’s an event I always said I would do, I expected to do after retiring from full-time road racing,” Stephens said. VeloNews. “So it’s premature for me. But that’s fine with me.”

Stephens doesn’t know how her body will react to racing 200 miles through the unforgiving flint hills of Kansas against a field full of female talent. The longest race she has ever run on a bike was at SBT GRVL, which features a 145-mile course. She has never done 200 miles straight in training.

“This will be my longest day on the bike by far,” she says, “in terms of time and distance.”

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Additionally, so far in 2022, she has trained almost exclusively for shorter pro road events. She completed a European block of races in the spring which culminated in the Ardennes Classics. Then she returned to the United States to compete in the Joe Martin Stage Race, where she finished fourth in the first stage.

During that race, Stephens said he learned of his team’s plan to run the Unbound Gravel 200 instead of the 100-mile race.

“I told them I was already entered in the 100m and they told me the team’s plan was to do the 200m,” she said.

Stephens knew she needed more miles in her legs, so she decided to cycle the race from Arkansas to Dallas. Stephens, her husband Mat and two friends took a 400 mile bike trip over three days.

Still, Stephens’ long history in professional road cycling – and her keen racing intellect – make her one of the best women to watch. His two victories in the 100-mile race were the result of smart and shrewd tactics: on both occasions, Stephens sped through the pack forward just past a sketchy section of double track where crashes often occur.

In 2021, this strategy helped her avoid a pile-up that stopped or slowed a significant percentage of runners in the 100-mile race. She was the only rider to do the splits and ended up winning the event and beating all but six men.

Stephens knows she will have to be more patient in the 200 mile race. Accelerating too soon could cook his engine before the race reaches its painful climax. But good positioning is also the key to its strategy.

“You don’t have that many matches to burn [in the 200] compared to the 100 because of the length, but there are also very significant sections of hills and double track in that first 20 miles,” she said. “Being part of a good group will save you energy and also avoid the yo-yo effect that will occur behind. There are definitely times when I’m going to have to burn games.

That mentality could give Stephens a leg up in the women’s race. Every year, Unbound Gravel sends its women’s field alongside the men, and the chaos of the opening 50 miles forces the best women to navigate groups of men. In this shakeup, women can gain the edge over each other through savvy positioning.

But the last 100 miles of the race is usually for runners who have the stamina and strength to push through the wind on their own. This is where Stephens could see himself going up against defending champion Lauren De Crescenzo, Amity Rockwell or endurance mountain biker Rose Grant.

How will it fare against more experienced gravel riders? Stephens will have to wait and see.