Announcing the 2020 EuroVelo Summer Photo Contest Winners

The concept for our annual Summer Photo Contest was a bit different this year: we wanted to ensure that EuroVelo enthusiasts could safely go out to explore and capture the best photo of their summer. As such, we chose to focus submissions on two of our most developed and easily rideable routes: EuroVelo 15 and EuroVelo 19.

The contest ran on Instagram from July to August and more than two dozen entries were submitted from many identifiable locations along the routes. From romantic bike-cations to funny little incidents along the rivers, there was a mix of everything we love to see in these photos!

We would like to thank everyone for rallying under #RestartCycleTourism and participating in the contest under these special circumstances. Get to know the winners below.

EuroVelo 15 – Rhine Cycle Route

Winner: Elisabetta (@edathebike)

Prize: €1,000 cycle tourist package along a section of EuroVelo 19 (proposed by www.dutch-biketours.com)

Tell us a bit about yourself? Hi, I’m Elisabetta, I’m 32 and I live in Turin, Italy. I have been working as an environmental consultant for more than 8 years and a concern for the environment has always been part of me. Riding a bicycle in my daily life is for me the easiest way to feel connected with the Planet. I started travelling by bike 3 years ago. My first trip took place in southern Italy and the second was along the Danube cycle path. Travelling solo, with just my bike “Eda” and my tent, I became really aware of what the word “freedom” means to me.

Where/how was the winning photo taken? Is there any interesting story linked to it? This EuroVelo 15 trip was the first long travel experience I had with my boyfriend, Fabio. We started from the source of the Rhine in Andermatt, Switzerland, and cycled 900 km to Mainz. We approached the Rhine Waterfall on our fifth day cycling, having travelled about 300 km. It was a very hot day, and we were pretty hungry, but we continued cycling along the still peaceful Rhine. We were so excited about what was about to happen! When we finally saw the waterfall, we felt so greatly relieved and we also enjoyed a romantic atmosphere! We spent most of our afternoon there, resting and watching the mighty waterfalls. And then... back on the road!

What do you think about the EuroVelo initiative? I am really happy with this EuroVelo initiative that aims to restart cycle tourism in Europe and I’m sure we will have another great adventure on EuroVelo 19.

EuroVelo 19 - Meuse Cycle Route

Winner: Edgar and Kasimir (@edgar_und_kasimir_auf_reisen)

Prize: €1,000 cycle tourist package along a section of EuroVelo 15 (proposed by www.bike-touring.de)

Tell us a bit about yourself? We're Edgar and Kasimir, an elephant and a fox that travel on our bicycles around the world. Well, actually we just accompany two 18 year old girls from Dresden, Germany, that went on their third big cycling tour this year. Everything started two years ago on the way along the river Elbe. This year we wanted to cycle through some other countries besides Germany and decided to do the tour along the Maas.

Where/how was the winning photo taken? Is there any interesting story linked to it? We took the picture in Montcy-Notre-Dame, in France, only one day before we went to Belgium. This was the first day on which we cycled along the Maas the whole day, the days before the way was more away from the river. We were really amazed by the landscapes and were enjoying our trip when we realised that we had managed somehow to cycle 17 km past our lodging of the night! Of course we had to cycle those 17 km again, so this way it became a long day even though it was planned to be only a short relaxing day.

What do you think about the EuroVelo initiative? We're huge fans of the EuroVelo initiative! We discovered it last year after our tour and we became really excited when we saw all the ways and started talking about all the routes that we could try. It was only because of this initiative that we found the tour along the Maas and it seemed perfect to us: it connected many countries and beautiful cities in each of it. Going by bike is an amazing way to travel, everyone who ever tried it should know this and we're really thankful that EuroVelo offers so many possibilities to explore Europe by bike.

All photos submitted for the contest can be viewed on our Instagram account. We thank everyone for participating and we hope to see you in our future contests!

Author(s): Omer Malak, with contributions from the both contest winners