Thanks, that’s fair enough. I would have thought he would have a spot for all the climbing stages, but maybe they have enough choice of riders for that. (Tbh, the TdF is my least favourite GT, so I haven’t been paying much attention.)
Agree that he seems to just love riding. In one of the videos, he says: “my idea of a day off is a day where I can just ride my bike.” 
EF and Rapha pay for Lachy to do this kind of thing. It’s exposure for the brands and it brings in a new kind of cycling fan. He earns them way more bank doing things like this than he would riding in the tour.
This is very cool. Thanks for pointing it out OP. Looking forward to a documentary
Where’d you get the sticker?
That’s the kinda motto I need in my life!
I cant remember who, but the was some ultra cyclist going to to this very thing last year, but covid screwed it up. I need to figure out who….never know that dude may be out there too
From Etsy shop Prinvity
I did the letters in vertical text. Hot pink vinyl. So 
I don’t mean this as a criticism of him, but it’s so odd to me the way he’s become this incredibly famous world tour rider who doesn’t actually ride any of the grand tours.
EF will send Uran, Powless, et al to the tour officially. And Lachlan’s just gonna bike pack it in a bizarre stunt that will require superhuman endurance for….reasons. Sounds about right.
I did not need to hear his name upon hearing of this effort to know it was him doing it.
I’m pretty sure Lachlan is part of the brain child behind the Alt calendar. I think it was partly a way to fill in the gaps in schedules and create content for EF and Rapha. His face is plastered all over Rapha’s Boulder store, which is probably odd for him, but it’s great marketing material.
With the way social media works, they can create way more content with these type of events and get a lot more advertising reach out of it. Like outside of maybe a dozen riders at the tour, most have no idea who they are, and peloton fodder doesn’t make for cool posters at Rapha and documentaries on Youtube.
Lachlan was at the Daulphin as a domestique, so he still rides in WT’s. Not sure what else is on his race calendar.
He’s also done well in MTB type stuff. He was 3rd OA at Leadville a couple years ago.
It all works because Lachlan is like quirky cool. His older brother Gus is entertaining as well.
Looks like he got the last two days up on Strava, here is the Stage II day:
https://www.strava.com/activities/5540962938
I would have to prepare all year for that, and not go that fast, and he’s doing it while sleeping on the ground and eating beans out of a mug. 
, and that would be a one day and done effort for me.
He did ride the Giro last year as a domestique, and has ridden the Vuelta.
This year he’s ridden a few big races including the Tour of the Alps and the Dauphine (which is as big as they get outside of the GTs): Lachlan Morton
As others have pointed out, the sponsors are getting way more exposure out of this than they would if he was in the Tour as another anonymous domestique.
Too weak to race with those guys.
Or since the goal of sponsorship is to get eyes on your products having him go off and do mad Lachlan type things he’s bringing more value to the bottom line than as a faceless domestique?
Full disclosure I love his antics which bias my view but he’s gotta be good for business.
Lachlan is great for business, for both EF and Rapha. On a non-cycling forum I frequent (motorsports) his current adventure was posted before anything else TdF related in the road cycling thread.
Outside the hardcore road cycling fans, he gets a lot of views.
I think EF is doing what other teams need to do. They’re creating value and exposure for their team / sponsors. It also elevates the other,
non headline names as well. I think more people outside the road cycling frat know of Alex Howes due to being teammates / friends / partner in crime with Lachlan than being the now former US Road Champ.
It’s not the 1990s anymore and just being in the Tour isn’t enough for sponsors. It’s all about content that can be put all over Youtube, IG, Facebook (though I’m not really sure who uses it anymore), etc. and have content to post throughout the year. The algorithms also reward constant engagement / posting, so you really need to have the content available to keep your sponsors in the limelight.
Yep, my partner has minimal knowledge of characters in pro racing but she follows him on Twitter and always watches the adventures on YouTube.
Easy sponsor win with him.
Interview on CyclingTips: Interview: Lachlan Morton on the gear and motivation behind his Alt Tour - CyclingTips
In general, the TdF roads are closed about 4-8 hours out from the riders coming through for vehicles, depending on the stages. You can usually get away with riding on them till about 2-4hrs from the riders coming through. But once you hit that window it becomes a high-speed highway for teams/media/etc with permits, and that’s a boatload of cars (probably ~500+ vehicles).
It’s a little more variable in the mountains, where you can usually get away with riding/walking up within about an hour or so for the riders coming in. But frankly, it’ll depend heavily on the police officers mood that day (it’s a blend of both local officers as well as a national crew that travels with the Tour).
If he had ASO folks with him (and a vehicle), I’m sure he could probably stay on the road up till 30-40mins pre-rider, usually whenever the sweeper vehicle comes through to clear out non-race envelope vehicles (those vehicles not cleared to be within the race itself during the race. So my media vehicle permit would allow me to be outside the race envelope using the roads when closed, but thankfully, not within it anywhere near the riders. And the buffer there is roughly 30-60 mins, but I haven’t looked to see what it is this year.)
Good info, thanks.
I have to wonder if Lachlan being an EF guy with I’m presuming some media means he might get some leeway.
I think he is trying to do it relatively unsupported so I doubt he has e.g., ASO riders with him - but they do know what he’s doing so he may be allowed to pass on the course where other members of the public would not be.
If you look at the dot watching site, he isn’t that far ahead of the peloton at the moment - I was just thinking it was looking like he might get caught towards the end as the peloton should speed up towards the sprint.
Edit - he is actually stopped now so maybe he has been required to stop ahead of the caravan. The peloton is only <20km behind him.
I meant by media in terms of reaching out and working with the organizers. Basically handling the backend of things and having the clout to do so.
On most stages the Gendarmes stop anyone from riding or driving along from before the caravan passes to after the broom wagon. Sometimes afterwards too, depending on the route to/from the finish - from time to time they even get shirty with team riders with jackets on who are just trying to get down the hill back to their bus…
I don’t think some guy looking like a bicycle tramp is going to get given any leeway, even if he’s wearing team kit. Yer average Gendarme won’t have a clue who he is.
I think it depends how much backend work EF/ Rapha/Garmin is doing behind the scenes in terms of working with officials. I could be naive too… they could see it as a distraction from their event.
I’m sure if he was French, they would be a lot more lenient…