Lachlan Morton will attempt to break the around the world cycling record as he continues his alt-racing career away from the traditional European professional scene and the WorldTour calendar.
The current around the world record is 78 days, 14 hours and 40 minutes, set by long-distance rider Mark Beaumont. Morton had hoped to take on the record in 2023, but has delayed his plans due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“What we wanted to do was to try for the world record [in the second half of 2023], but the sticking point on that right now is Russia,” EF Education-EasyPort team manager Jonathan Vaughters told Cycling Weekly.
“We don’t think that’s going to be possible next year, so we’re trying to come up with a plan B right now. What that is, we’re not sure yet.”
When asked if Morton was eager to try and break the record, Vaughters said: “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. Very keen. It’s just that I don’t think it’s going to happen in 2023.”
Morton confirmed to Cycling Weekly that he has talked about the around the world record but insisted that there is "nothing concrete" at the moment.
The around the world record rules deem that the ride “should be continuous and in one direction (East to West or West to East), that the minimum distance ridden should be 18,000 miles (29,000 km), and that the total distance travelled should exceed an Equator's length 24,900 miles (40,100 km).”
Beaumont rode for an average of 240 miles a day during his 2017 supported attempt starting in Paris and headed east via Russia and Mongolia to Beijing, then south through Australia and New Zealand. He flew across the Pacific by plane to North America and then continued riding via a long northerly route across the continent. After a flight across the Atlantic, Beaumont powered through Portugal and Spain on the way to Paris.
Russia’s isolation and the global tensions after the invasion of Ukraine means Morton would have to trace a very different route east, making it much more complex and so likely slower, hence the idea to delay the record attempt.
Morton has mixed long-distance adventure rides with road racing, gravel and mountain biking in recent years to satisfy his desire to be more than just a WorldTour pro rider. In 2021 he completed his so-called alt-Tour, riding every stage and every transfer of the 2021 Tour de France route, covering a distance of 5,500km and climbing over 65,000 metres in just 18 days.
The 30-year-old Australia EF Education-EasyPost rider competed in just one UCI road race in 2022, the four-day Gran Camiño held in the northern Spanish region of Galicia and officially left the WorldTour team in July when the transfer window opened.
According to Vaughters, the Australian is unlikely to return to the road in 2023 and will not be part of the EF Education-EasyPost WorldTour roster.
“He won’t be doing any road races, really,” Vaughters told Cycling Weekly.
“In the early part of the year he wants to get away from doing real ultra events and kind of focus on trying to win in gravel. He has lost a lot of his explosive power from doing these massive 4,000km events. So he’s training a little bit more in an explosive manner.”
Morton took part in the inaugural Gravel World Championships in October, finishing 18th and has often teamed up with Alex Howes to target Gravel events such as Unbound Gravel and Leadville.
