A Frenchman who cycled 2,500 kilometres from his home-town in the French Alps in order to join the Sochi Games as a volunteer, said on Friday (February 7) he wanted to combine his two passions - cycling and ski jumping.

Sixty-seven-year-old Jacky Delaup, a keen cyclist and a former ski jumping coach, took a little under a month to cross Europe unaided on his bicycle.

"I have lived for forty years in Courchevel and ski jumping is my passion and so is cycling. I'm president of a sports club and cycling club and I decided to ride from one Olympic resort to another, but instead of doing it simply by plane I did it cycling," he said.

After leaving the Alps, Delaup cycled down Italy to Bari. He reached Albania by ferry, crossed Greece and Turkey, before riding up the Black Sea coast and arrived in Sochi last week.

Delaup cycled 2,500 kilometres out of the 3,400 which separate Courchevel - which hosted the Winter Games in 1992 - from Sochi.

He was hired by the Sochi 2014 organisers as a volunteer to help out on the ski jump venue.

"I wanted to combine my two passions by linking two Olympic towns, and it's true that we have a lot of Russians in Courchevel so it attracted a bit of attention, I've been interviewed on radio and television, it is a bit of a buzz. I hadn't expected that. But let me add that I feel very privileged, the organisation were very nice to me, it was easy to get accredited, they've made things easy for me, it's great. Really, I think these Games will be beautiful," he said.

In four year's time, the Winter Games will take place in South Korea, maybe another challenge for Delaup.