In the ever-evolving world of professional cycling, athletes must now be more than just fast riders. They must be storytellers, personalities, and brand-builders. Few embody this modern archetype as well as Alexey Vermeulen, a Life Time Grand Prix athlete and one of the main contenders for the win at Unbound later this week. He is a world-class off-road cyclist who has seamlessly blended performance with a standout media presence. If you are into gravel racing, you have known him for a long time. If not, we are sure you have seen videos of a cyclist riding with a dog on his back, right? Well, that’s him.

Alexey’s path to gravel stardom began on the paved roads of the WorldTour scene. As a young American talent, he signed with LottoNL-Jumbo, the current Visma | Lease a Bike. During his two-year contract, he took part in several Monuments and some of the most relevant one-week stage races. But like many of today’s pro riders, Vermeulen saw opportunity beyond the European road calendar. With a bold pivot, in 2018, he transitioned into mountain biking first and then gravel, a discipline that at that time was starting to get its own space in the American racing scene.

Building a community through content

Today, Alexey is a fixture at the top of gravel podiums, with wins and top finishes in events of the Life Time Grand Prix and Belgian Waffle Ride. His athletic credentials are undisputed, but what truly sets him apart is how he extends his impact far beyond the race day. Together with his good friend Avery Stumm, who blends a background in professional photography with an ability to highlight the personalities of the people he covers, they are providing gravel fans with unique, engaging content. “At first, I only covered Alexey’s races with photos. Then we started doing videos, and it has evolved based on what we are comfortable doing. We learn something from every video we make,” mentioned Avery.

Their content focuses on the behind-the-scenes, as the race itself is usually covered by the organizers and the press. Alexey has a gift of the gab, and few riders know more about their cycling gear than he does, which makes their 15-minute-long YouTube videos very easy to digest. That is hard to get in a world where most opt for fast content to target the short attention span of their audience.

“People are trying to figure out how they can get better, but one of the big unknowns in racing is what pro athletes do in the days leading up to the race.” – Alexey Vermeulen

Boulder, Colorado, is what both of them call home, so there is a constant flow of communication to improve their content. Avery sends content ideas to Alexey, but also the other way around. Projects like From The Ground Up epitomize what they want to achieve. The series takes complete beginners and prepares them to race one of the toughest gravel events in the U.S.: the Leadville 100. Alexey isn’t just a mentor in the project—he’s a co-creator, storyteller, and advocate for accessibility in cycling. Through high-quality video episodes and training updates, From The Ground Up brings a human dimension to elite endurance sport that resonates well beyond the traditional fan base.

Then there’s The Cooldown—a recently created series of informal chats that mixes post-race analysis with the unfiltered emotions and experiences that often get lost in the scarce official recaps. It is hosted by Alexey and Keegan Swenson, who are usually at the pointy end of the race, so they have a lot to talk about. The vision of this project is that, by the time these two riders born in 1994 stop racing, the seat will be taken by the male and female winners of each race.

Busy April

In 2024, they shared 93 days on the road together, and the estimate for this year is to exceed that figure. “This April, we spent more time together than with our girlfriends,” confesses Alexey.

Last month was packed with races, and despite most of them taking place in California, they flew back and forth several times because each race required different bike setups, and his dog Willie had to be taken care of. Alexey finished 3rd at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, which this year switched from a mountain bike race to gravel. It meant he could put his ENVE MOG to the test, and the remarkable result gave him confidence to continue believing in the win at the Life Time Grand Prix.

They flew back to Denver, but not long after, he was already in Santa Rosa for Levi’s Gran Fondo. This time it was a road race, so the Melee was his weapon of choice, returning home -albeit briefly – with a 6th place in the bag. After a few days in Memphis, Tennessee, to create content for From The Ground Up, the final stop of their April tour brought them to San Diego for Belgian Waffle Ride California. This event, despite being gravel, was historically raced on road bikes. However, the course changed this year and the terrain was rougher, so Alexey decided to use the ENVE Fray, which can accommodate wider tires. After another 3rd place, he could finally enjoy some time at home to prepare his body and gear for Unbound.

“To win the Life Time Grand Prix, I have to beat Keegan at Unbound. It is not completely over after that, but that is the easiest way; to stay on top going into June and July with Leadville in mind.”

Unbound bound

The year was planned back in November, including flight and accommodation bookings, together the stories to communicate in each of their bimonthly videos. Despite populating his calendar with races in the US only, there are a lot of commitments so closely together but so far apart, which complicates the logistics of a rider who usually travels with spares of everything. For example, Alexey told us that he is bringing two full bikes, four sets of wheels, and sixteen tires to Unbound.

Regarding the content plans for Unbound, Avery answered that despite having already covered the race four times, every year there is a different story to tell. At The Traka, we saw that, similar to pro road races, there are now motorbikes inside the race carrying selected photographers so they can create the desired content, but Avery is not appealed by that. “There is only so much you can shoot during the race, so we shifted our focus,” he expressed. Avery is usually offered to join other photographers in a car that stops at specified points, but given that he is mainly covering one particular rider, there is a risk of being stuck somewhere unwanted while Alexey is having a bad day. That is why he prefers to plan his own map with the best spots to document the story he has in mind.

The pair arrived in Emporia, Kansas, on Monday, and while Alexey will spend the following days checking parts of the course, Avery will plan the best spots to shoot. On several occasions, we have seen him multitasking in “low-stress races”, handing bidons and musettes to Alexey, and at the same time creating content with multiple action cams. At Unbound, they can rely on a bigger crew, so Avery will be able to focus on documenting his attempt to win the race.

Alexey didn’t reveal any drastic change in terms of training or equipment ahead of the race. He has been working with the same coach since he was 14 years old, and is confident that the same training regime that has already delivered him a podium spot in the 200-mile gravel race may get him the desired win this time.

Back to racing in Europe?

Other American gravel riders have made several trips to Europe over the last couple of years to get a glimpse of what the racing is on the other side of the pond, but Alexey’s only gravel race in Europe is the 2023 World Championships in Italy. It feels like unfinished business after cutting his road career short, but we will not see him over here yet because his main goal for 2025 is to win the overall classification of the Life Time Grand Prix, dethroning his rival but also friend, Keegan Swenson.

“Life Time Grand Prix is not everything for me as an athlete, but it is the majority of my season.”

There is no pressure from sponsors either, as brands like ENVE, Kenda or Pearl Izumi are more than happy with what they get from Alexey’s presence in the Life Time Grand Prix. Still, if he reaches the end of the year satisfied with his performances and results, we may see him at Santa Vall and The Traka in 2026, the European races that excite him the most.

The perfect balance

In a space where race results are no longer the sole currency of success, Vermeulen proves that storytelling, access, and authenticity are powerful tools for impact. The content produced by his friend Avery about him doesn’t distract him from his performance—it enhances it, creating a platform that inspires, educates, and entertains.