Lachlan Morton (EF Education-Nippo) is auctioning the Rapha jersey that he wore during his 'Alt Tour' on eBay. Described as 'heavily used', the EF Education-Nippo jersey was worn for the entirety of his 5,510km ride this summer, and Morton has even offered to sign it at the buyer's request.
After just one day, the auction has already received 68 bids, with a current highest bid of $2,027.00.
In July, as the Tour de France began and the peloton rolled out of Brittany, Morton set off on a ride of his own, which he dubbed the 'Alt Tour'. He would ride the entire route of the Tour de France completely unsupported, including all of the transfers between stages.
Despite being forced to swap his cycling shoes for Birkenstock sandals due to blisters, he completed it in just 18 days, beating the peloton to Paris by three days and raising £360,000 for World Bicycle Relief in the process.
"We had some times," said the Australian about the jersey in an Instagram post advertising the auction. "I thought about holding onto it but it can do more good changing hands than under my bed."
The proceeds from the auction will go to Pedaling Minds, a charity in Morton's home town of Boulder, Colorado that uses the bicycle to educate and empower young people through safety clinics, after-school programmes and private lessons.
The charity is the brainchild of former pro rider, Michael Friedman, whose career included a spell at Garmin Slipstream, the outfit that is better known today as EF Education-Nippo, for whom Morton rides.
"I started Pedaling Minds right after I retired and I started it because earlier that year, in 2014, I met this 11-year-old boy from the fifth grade who had been made fun of because he couldn't ride a bike," explained Friedman to Cyclingnews in 2018.
"I taught him in an hour and a half and the emotional change that I saw in this kid, from the point that I met him, to the point where he left was profound. To see someone's transition like that, in someone's life, and knowing that the bullying would be gone, was a huge moment."
If this weren't a high-publicity charity auction, Morton's feedback score might be cause for concern for potential bidders. Of just four responses, one was negative, with the buyer of a Specialized Zee Cage II bottle cage describing Morton as a "terrible seller" that "shouldn't be on eBay".
The jersey is the tongue-in-cheek EF Education-Nippo design that we featured in our Object of Desire series. Its entire design is based around the extensive UCI kit regulations, with measuring guidelines prominent throughout. It is a size small, and comes complete with a hole ripped into the left arm.
Interested bidders can find the auction here, which will end on Wednesday, December 15, at 12:45pm GMT.
