This article was produced in collaboration with Discover by Bike and the Julian Alps Association
Somewhere in Slovenia, a ghost of red paint still marks the tarmac where a teenager once sprayed a text to welcome home a friend who had just won the junior World Championships.
That friendship — between Mohorič and the people who have known him and supported him, from the same valley, the same school, the same mountains — is the quiet heart of something that will happen this October in Slovenia. A week-long cycling tour through the Julian Alps of Slovenia. Eight riders. Mohorič himself, on the road with the group for two of those days, cooking dinner on a third.
Masterclass with Matej. There is nowhere else you can do this. That is not a marketing language. It is simply true.
Matej’s home village (Image credit: Jakob Remar)
Ride with Matej Mohorič for a good cause
The endless traffic-free roads of Slovenia (Image credit: Jakob Remar)
Mohorič, who has won Milan-Sanremo, three stages of the Tour de France, the Tour de Pologne overall and the UCI Gravel World Championships, will lead the group for two days on the road.
"I've raced all over the world, but showing people my homeland is something completely different," he says. "We have put together the very best Slovenia has to offer, and I can't wait to experience it together with the group, at their own pace and rhythm. For me, this is something rare. We want to create an exceptional and authentic week — to introduce them to Slovenia, its culture, and to do something with a charity in mind."
To understand what this trip is, it helps to understand what Mohorič is. He is not merely a Slovenian cyclist who has done well abroad. He is, in the fullest sense, a product of a particular place — the valleys and forests and climbs of the Julian Alps region — and he has spent a career at the very highest level of the sport without losing the connection to it.
He grew up on a farm near Kranj, helped with the milking, drove tractors, discovered cycling through a local club at 12. He graduated high school as Slovenia's top student. He won the junior worlds, then won the under-23 worlds the following year — the first rider ever to take both titles back-to-back — and then he kept winning, for more than a decade, at every level of the sport.
When Mohorič rides through this landscape in October, he will not be performing a role. He will be home.
The proceeds will go entirely to the Matej Mohorič Foundation, which supports young cyclists, children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, and children with special needs.
Mohorič will take you on his local roads (Image credit: Jakob Remar)
Slovenia, off the usual road
Slovenia is a small country with a disproportionate hold on professional cycling. Pogačar, Roglič, Mohorič — a nation of two million has somehow placed riders at the very summit of the sport. But what this country looks like from the road, and what it offers to a cyclist willing to go slowly enough to look at it, is a separate question entirely.
Guide Blaž Kunej is not a racer, but he knows the area with the intimacy that only comes from growing up in it, from choosing it day after day. "We have everything," he says. "Vineyards, forest roads, mountains, seaside. And you are riding among a lot of small countryside villages, where you quickly run into local people who are ready to share how they live their everyday lives. You connect much more with the area than maybe in the more crowded places."
A helicopter transfer is included (Image credit: Jakob Remar)
A helicopter transfer takes the group over the Julian Alps mid-week — a view, from directly above, of the roads they have ridden and the landscape that shaped the rider alongside them.
Eight places available
This is not a tour that accommodates crowds. Only eight riders is the ceiling — around 500 kilometres and 8,000 metres of elevation gain across seven days with a charity purpose.
“To do something with a purpose, to raise some money to help young riders and people in need. The tour needs to stay personal, not too many people. It needs to be direct, so you can still talk with each person, and have the chance to know them.” said Matej.
Experience riding with a pro with a charity purpose (Image credit: Jakob Remar)
This is where the trip separates itself from every other experience built around a professional cyclist's name. There is no meet-and-greet scheduled between other people's commitments. There is no group of 40.
Six nights of top-level accommodation, a dedicated support van, post-ride massages, a laundry service, a bike wash, a professional photographer riding alongside throughout and all the best experiences of Slovenia.
"We designed this tour around one simple idea," says Blaž Kunej, founder of Discover By Bike. "The best cycling week of a person's life should mean more than just cycling. These roads, these landscapes, access to one of the world's top cyclists — and, ultimately, funds that go directly to young riders, people with special needs, and children who might otherwise never have access to this sport. I cannot imagine a more meaningful week."
The bikes themselves are Bianchi Oltre RC – the same model raced by Bahrain Victorious, Mohorič's team – built around a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset, Vision Metron 60 SL wheels, and Continental GP5000 tubeless tyres. Eight people will ride these machines for a week through one of Europe's most extraordinary landscapes, beside the rider for whom the identical frame was built.
A professional photographer and videographer riding alongside the group — including during the days with Mohorič. A custom Discover By Bike x Gobik kit for every rider. Full board: breakfasts, coffee stops, light lunches, and premium restaurant dinners. Arrival and departure transfers from Ljubljana Airport. All profits to the Matej Mohorič Foundation.
Stay and ride near glacial Bohinj Lake (Image credit: Jakob Remar)
The Route around the Julian Alps: Riding through a Living Alpine Landscape
The tour begins in well-known Bled, one of Slovenia's most recognisable alpine destinations, and then moves through three distinct landscapes: the Julian Alps, the Soča Valley and the wine hills of Goriška Brda. The Julian Alps, in Slovenia's northwest, are home to Triglav National Park and the Julian Alps UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. They offer limestone peaks, glacial lakes, and valley roads that define riding by contrast and connection rather than distance or gradient alone. From Bled, the route continues toward Bohinj, where the calm of the glacial lake gives way to the wilder rhythm of the Soča Valley. Further west, the landscape changes again: the Karst plateau opens toward Goriška Brda, the rolling wine hills on Slovenia's western border, known for Rebula and their close connection with the Italian Collio.
First days will be at Bled Lake (Image credit: Jost Gantar)
For road cyclists, the Julian Alps offer a landscape shaped by mountain passes, river valleys, forested roads, lakeside sections and towns such as Bled, Bohinj, Radovljica and Kranjska Gora, where the rhythm of daily life is still closely connected to the mountains. Riders can take on the legendary switchbacks of the Vršič Pass, one of the highest and most iconic road passes in the Julian Alps, follow panoramic roads above the Soča Valley, explore quieter routes around Bled, Bohinj, Radovljica, and Kranjska Gora, or continue toward the rolling terrain of Brda. The riding is defined by contrast: high mountain passes, river valleys, forested lanes, lakeside roads, and villages where time seems to slow. It is a region for those who ride for challenge, but also for those who ride to connect with a place. For riders who want to explore the wider region beyond this tour, the Juliana Bike network connects selected cycling routes across the Julian Alps, linking valleys, towns and local communities in a way that encourages riders to discover the area stage by stage rather than only through single iconic climbs.
The Julian Alps are not simply a destination, but an experience shaped by movement, nature, culture, and hospitality. The region invites riders to move through it with attention: to respect local roads and communities, follow marked routes, use verified information, plan transfers thoughtfully and take time for the places they pass through. Where possible, visitors are encouraged to combine cycling and hiking with public transport, shuttle services and local mobility options that help reduce pressure on the most visited areas.
Beyond the bike, the Julian Alps offer clear rivers, mountain air, forests, hiking trails, guided mountain experiences and strong local food traditions. Culinary discoveries await at every turn, from mountain huts and family-run inns to restaurants led by acclaimed chefs such as Ana Roš, David Žefran, and Uroš Štefelin, whose cooking celebrates local ingredients and the flavours of the region. The culinary story of the Julian Alps is not shaped only by fine dining restaurants, but also by farms, beekeepers, cheesemakers, growers and family-run inns. Ingredients and dishes connected with the Julian Alps collective brand carry the taste of the region: dairy products from alpine valleys, honey, forest fruits, freshwater fish, local vegetables, traditional Gorenjska dishes and products made by people who still work closely with the land around them.
Roads in the heart of Julian Alps (Image credit: Jessica Dales)
Fine Dining
Slovenian food is built on proximity in a way that other countries can only approximate. It is, as someone who knows it well might put it, one big countryside with only one city — which means the chefs who work here are genuinely close to their ingredients. Local, in Slovenia, is not a marketing concept. It is a geographic fact.
Elevated local cuisine and authentic experiences with local beekeepers and farmers (Image credit: Jakob Remar)
The tour's dining reflects that. In Radovljica's medieval old town, dinner at Hiša Linhart means sitting down to the work of Uroš Štefelin, whose cuisine holds both a Michelin Star and a Michelin Green Star for sustainability.
Štefelin cooks only with ingredients from his kitchen garden and surrounding farms, reviving forgotten Gorenjska dishes and giving them a contemporary edge without reaching for anything exotic.
At Gourmet Vila Muhr, set on the edge of Lake Bohinj, a kitchen follows nature's rhythm rather than a fixed menu — freshwater fish from the lake, forest produce, dairy, whatever the season offers — executed with the precision of classical technique and modern restraint.
Mohorič will cook for the group on one of the evenings. Between those meals the group stops for coffee, light lunches, and local encounters like a beekeeping farm, forest and flora guided by an expert from the Slovenian Forest Institute, and a wine presentation in the hills of Goriška Brda.
The final days move into Goriška Brda itself, the rolling hills on Slovenia's western edge that share their border and their climate with the Italian Collio. The region produces some of Slovenia's finest wines — Rebula above all, the native white variety that carries centuries of tradition and a minerality drawn from the opoka soil peculiar to this corner of the country. The vineyards are terraced and hand-harvested, too steep for machines, the work done in family circles. CNN called it one of the great undiscovered wine regions of the world. The tour ends here, among the vines, with a tasting.
Goriška Brda (Image Credit: Rožle Bregar)
Dates: October 21–28, 2026
Duration: 7 days / 6 nights
Group size: 8 riders maximum
Distance: approx. 550 km / 8,000 m elevation gain
Regions: Julian Alps · Bohinj · Soča Valley · Karst · Goriška Brda
With Matej Mohorič: Two days riding, plus a private dinner
The bike: Bianchi Oltre RC — Shimano Dura-Ace Di2
Dining: Gourmet Vila Muhr (Lake Bohinj); Hiša Linhart, Radovljica (Michelin Star & Green Star); wine tasting in Goriška Brda; private dinner by Mohorič
Experiences: Beekeeping visit; Slovenian Forest Institute flora & fauna guide; Goriška Brda wine presentation
Helicopter transfer: Over the Julian Alps
Support: Dedicated van and mechanic; daily sports massage; laundry; bike wash; professional photographer and videographer
Board: Full — breakfasts, coffee stops, light lunches, premium dinners
Transfers: Ljubljana Airport included
Kit: Custom Discover By Bike x Gobik cycling kit
Charity: Profits to the Matej Mohorič Foundation
Organiser: Discover By Bike
For more details about the road cycling tours visit discoverbybike.si
For more information about the region visit www.julian-alps.com
