Transcontinental Race (London - Istanbul) - #TCRNo4

Why isn't he taking the D100 just parallel south of the O3?

Because he's read the race manual?

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Road Warnings

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2: E80 Towards Istanbul. From the Bulgarian border cycling is tolerated on this highway by
the authorities. Being wide and quiet with a good shoulder, it is actually a preferred alternative by many riders to the narrow D100. However as it approaches Istanbul it becomes a different story and the city traffic fills all lanes and attempts to overtake on the shoulder. In the city the road is also definitely a motorway with large concrete retaining walls, no shoulders and long fast slip-lanes and merging lanes and definitely illegal to ride on. Please do not ride any closer to Istanbul on this road than Lake Buyukcekmece. After this point, please see below.

3: D100 in Turkey especially in the area of Silivri. Narrow and busy with large trucks that wish to avoid the highway tolls. Poor edges to road and high passing speeds. If you are routing into Istanbul from Greece in the west then make sure to leave this road and head North earlier rather than later.

Prohibited Roads

The Transcontinental uses only routes where cycling is legal. However on certain routes cycling is tolerated on some roads in some areas and not on roads in other areas, sometimes the same road, rather than being legal or illegal as such. The E80 from the Turkish / Bulgarian border into Istanbul is one such road and at the North West end near the border right up until one approaches the metropolitan area surrounding Istanbul cycling is tolerated. In fact for some the E80 is preferable to other roads for cycling on with its wide shoulder and relatively quiet traffic. In contrast however, by the time this road reaches the Bosphorus it is busy, fast and dangerous with high concrete wall sides and multiple lane traffic merging at high speeds. Here it is very dangerous to ride and most definitely illegal and not tolerated by local Police. The transition of where this road becomes too much to ride on is somewhat ambiguous so we are defining a point of tolerance after which it is prohibited in the race.

Riders must leave the E80 before or at the Mahmutbey Gişeleri toll plaza. Pedestrian exit routes are available here and it is an obvious landmark. This is a very strictly defined rule and any ride riding past this point will be disqualified without question.
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