In privateering, one big result can change a rider’s trajectory – in some cases, it can transform a pursuit into a vocation, or make the athlete reconsider exactly who they are.

For Rosa, winner of the women’s Unbound 200 this year, it has brought her own status as an athlete into clearer focus.

“I'm trying to get more confident in saying I am an athlete. I can remember in the past when a friend would say, ‘this is Rosa she's such a good racer,’ I always felt so uncomfortable with that.

“It was never that I thought I couldn’t do it. But you know, the more you race, the more it becomes your reality.”

Perhaps one reason for this reticence is Rosa’s ‘other job’. She is in the final throes of a PhD that examines greener economic models for the global shipping industry. She has devoted the last four years of her life to this work, while also training and racing.

“I’ve been very open with my sponsors that until it’s finished, my PhD is my utmost priority. However, I intend, after handing it in and successfully defending it, to fully focus on racing.”

Winning Unbound, arguably the biggest race in gravel, while also working on a philosophical doctorate is impressive. The mind boggles at what she might achieve once it’s done and dusted.

The victory itself was something new in gravel. A bunch sprint to take the win at Unbound is unprecedented. And Rosa had to overturn the odds to get there.

“I had such a roller coaster event that day. From being in the front group feeling great and then having a mechanical that forced me to drop. And in all likelihood, not having a chance at winning the race anymore.”

With no support cars and only a very few riders working with teammates, in elite gravel racing if you mechanical out of the lead group that is nearly always the end of your ambitions. Within this context, Rosa says she already felt like she’d got a victory by fighting back to the front.

“Just showing that I had the stamina and the self-belief in myself – it was already a win to make it back. I was very satisfied with myself. I didn't really stress too much at the end. And maybe that was the recipe to success somehow.”

Rosa held her nerve, waiting to open her sprint in the finale, “maybe not long enough for some people”. When she did finally punch, she was able to distance the other eight competitors, seeming to accelerate all the way to the line. She crossed with more than a bike length between her and second place.

Gravel privateering may be mostly individual when it comes to the competition itself, but Rosa believes it still takes a village to raise a race winner.

“The race, you could say it's like the smallest part. It's this last 1%, the execution of so much that went before. Having a good group of people that you can talk with and reflect with is super essential.”

For Rosa that group comprises her boyfriend, who was first to congratulate her when she crossed the line in Emporia, but also her sponsors like MAAP, Enve and Rose bikes. 

As well as her own self-image, Rosa says there’s been another noticeable difference in the way she’s perceived since the big win. She had “six or seven hundred followers” on Instagram before – she now has more than 7,000. While there are a million more important metrics to worry about in the world, Rosa says she is trying to use her newfound platform for good.

“With this new voice, or ‘presence’ I have been given, I'm actively trying to influence the sport. I have been in discussion with the UCI now for a while about the women’s race at the World Championships.”

These discussions mostly center on the integrity of the women’s race as a standalone event. 

“What they planned is to let the age group men, I think age category 55 and above, start 10 minutes behind us. They did it in Italy [2023]. And they plan to do this now in Belgium as well.”

The risk, as Rosa explains, is that a male rider could conceivably catch the front women and intentionally or unintentionally influence the outcome of the race.

“Gravel is enjoying this amazing growth right now, with more and more events having a separate start for the women’s race. To see the women’s race at the World Championships influenced by an external factor would feel like a step back.”

Rosa also emphasises the fact that a separate start will create a better spectacle all round.

“I think if it’s a pure women’s race, the race will be more strategic and the victory will be more special.”

Increased profile goes both ways. Rosa is in a position to speak out for what she believes in, but she also gets sent plenty of messages from athletes with a similar story.

“I'm not a person that would define herself by the number of Instagram followers I have, but receiving positive feedback from individuals and receiving messages of support really means a lot.

“The nicest ones are from sportspeople that also work part-time or they’re grad students. ‘Hey, I just started my masters, but I'm also doing a lot of sports, and I was so unsure and I thought I had to give up sports completely. And actually, your story inspires me and this is what I really live for.’

“Messages like these are worth more than receiving a chunk of cash from a sponsor.”

Through this lens, being an athlete can mean a lot more than being fast, or winning a specific event.

“You're not valued solely for being strong on the bike, but also you as a person. Yes, they they think it's cool that I ride fast, but they also see me in my story and this is what inspires them.”

It is one part of my PhD that I would be really sad to leave behind entirely.

Sometimes a little bit of techno too. Fred Again...

but I’ve started eating this very sticky sushi rice with a lot of cacao, like Nesquik, before races. It works!

It’s like a Belgian Côte d’Azur. I spent a lot of family time there as a kid.