Lachlan Morton will attempt to break the round-the-world cycling record while continuing his career as an alt-racer away from the traditional European pro scene and world tour calendar.

The current round-the-world record is 78 days, 14 hours and 40 minutes, set by long-distance rider Mark Beaumont. Morton had hoped to attempt this record in 2023, but has postponed his plans due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"What we wanted to do was to try for the world record [in late 2023], but Russia is the bottleneck at the moment," Jonathan Vaughters, team manager for EF Education Easyport, told Cycling Weekly.

"I don't think we can make it next year, so we're working on a plan B right now. What that is, I don't know yet."

Asked if Morton is eager to break the record, Vaughters replied: "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. He's very enthusiastic. I just don't think it's going to happen in 2023."

Morton admitted to Cycling Weekly that he had spoken about a round-the-world record, but insisted that he had "nothing concrete" at this point.

The rules for a round-the-world record are that it "must be a continuous ride in one direction (east to west or west to east), the minimum distance must be 18,000 miles (29,000 km), and the total distance traveled must exceed 24,900 miles (40,100 km) of the equator."

During the 2017 supported challenge, Beaumont left Paris and traveled east to Beijing via Russia and Mongolia, then south through Australia and New Zealand, averaging 240 miles per day. He flew by plane across the Pacific to North America and continued his run on a long route northward across the North American continent. After crossing the Atlantic, Beaumont traveled to Paris via Portugal and Spain.

The isolation of Russia and global tensions following the invasion of Ukraine meant that Morton would have to take a completely different route east, more complicated and likely to take longer.

Morton has been mixing long-distance adventure riding with road racing, gravel, and mountain biking in recent years to satisfy his desire to be more than just a World Tour pro rider In 2021, he will ride every stage and every leg of the Tour de France, and he will be the first rider in the world to ride the Tour of France, 5,500 km and more than 65,000 m of climbing in just 18 days, completing the so-called Tour de l'Alt.

The 30-year-old Australian EF Education-Easy Post rider competed in only one UCI road race in 2022, the four-day Gran Camino in Galicia, northern Spain, and officially left the WorldTour team in July when the transfer market opened.

According to Vaughters, the Australian is unlikely to return to the road in 2023 and will not be included on the EF Education - Easy Post World Tour roster.

"He won't be participating in the road race," Vaughters said.

"He wants to stay away from serious ultra events early this year and focus on winning in gravel. He has lost his explosiveness in the big 4,000 km events. So he's training to be a little more explosive."

Morton participated in the Gravel World Championships in October, finishing 18th. He has teamed up with Alex Howes to compete in gravel events such as Unbound Gravel and Leadville.