Morning sharp outside Monaco’s Ministry of State, three friends who work in the Principality, Raphaël Boissy, Harley Glegg, and Bastien Duvalet, clipped in, waved to a knot of family and colleagues, and pointed their front wheels east. Destination: Istanbul. Distance: roughly 2,900–3,000 km. Time budget: 14 days. It’s an audacious plan, Monaco to the Bosphorus in two weeks.
The plan, not the panic
Rather than overthink the entirety of Europe at once, the trio are taking it day by day, rolling Monaco’s cliffside roads to Italy, then into Slovenia and Croatia before the Balkans and the big push to the Turkish frontier. Their estimate of approximately 3,000 km in 14 stages implies average days north of 200 km or more, an endurance pace seen more often in ultra events than in casual touring. Still, the approach tracks with established long-distance corridors like EuroVelo 8 (Mediterranean Route), which threads many of the same countries along the Adriatic and into Greece/Türkiye.
How big is 35,000 m of climbing?
Their route tally includes >35,000 metres of elevation gain, about four times the height of Everest stacked end to end. The number sounds outrageous until you consider the serrated coastlines and inland ridges they’ll cross; on the Mediterranean arc, short, repeated climbs add up quickly. Even for experienced riders, that vertical over two weeks requires disciplined fuelling, conservative pacing, and bikes set up for long hours in the saddle.
A symbolic roll-out from the Rocher
Starting from the Ministry of State and looping past Place du Palais before exiting via Avenue de la Porte-Neuve gave the send-off a civic, storybook quality. For the riders, it was a nod to the city-state they call their workplace and training ground before they slipped into the everyday anonymity of the open road.
Choosing the smarter line east
If they shadow EuroVelo 8 through northern Italy and the Adriatic countries and coast, they’ll meet a mix of pristine bike paths, coastal lanes, and occasional “mind-the-traffic” links where the official route is still being pieced together. Beyond Croatia, choices multiply: hug the coast into Montenegro and Albania, cut inland toward North Macedonia and Greece, or angle through Serbia and Bulgaria before a Türkiye portion. The trio are best to not over-anticipate, rather just solve the stage in front. That would fit reality.
Why this ride resonates
There’s a reason their departure drew a crowd. Monaco’s rock to Istanbul’s minarets, is an irresistible narrative.
The first kilometres out of Larvotto were chaperoned by friends; after that, it’s just three riders, some very long days, and a line that keeps pulling east. However the details shake out, coast, inland, or a little of both, their story is already rolling, one stage at a time.
