Omar Di Felice - Ultra cyclist
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Omar was captivated by Pantani in 1994, and from that moment his adventure with the bicycle began. After six years as a professional cyclist, he left the world of racing to devote himself to more unusual challenges, and in 2012 he moved into ultracycling.
A ride from Lourdes to Santiago de Compostela started his move into long-distance racing, where he excelled and earned both national and international recognition. Among other races, he won the TorTour Switzerland 2014 (1005 km), the Tour du Mont Blanc 2015 (330 km), the Ultracycling Dolomitica 2015-2016 (616 km) and the Italian Endurance 24 Hours Championship 2018.
A lifelong lover of travel and adventure, in 2018 he decided to take his cycling experience to the coldest places on the planet in search of a different kind of adventure. This began a period of intense explorations in the saddle, with journeys made even more extreme by winter conditions. In the 2000s, during a trip to Iceland, he fell in love with the cold and began to imagine exploring the world in its toughest season, winter. If he had been born in the mountains, he has said, he would have spent his life climbing in winter. Living in the plains, he chose to combine his passion for ice and low temperatures with his love of cycling, choosing to ride the roads of the north. In 2018 he crossed Arctic Canada, cycling around 1300 km on the Arctic Highway. He wrote "Pedalando nel silenzio di ghiaccio. Il ciclismo estremo e la felicità", published by Rizzoli, and "Zona Omar", published by Baldini+Castoldi.
In 2021 he was accredited as a UNFCCC observer for the Italian Climate Network at COP26.
He recently completed his round-the-Arctic journey: 4200 km in winter across the 3 Arctic borders, from Kamchatka (Russia) to Alaska. The crossing is part of the "Bike to 1.5°C" project, which promotes scientific awareness of climate change.
A ride from Lourdes to Santiago de Compostela started his move into long-distance racing, where he excelled and earned both national and international recognition. Among other races, he won the TorTour Switzerland 2014 (1005 km), the Tour du Mont Blanc 2015 (330 km), the Ultracycling Dolomitica 2015-2016 (616 km) and the Italian Endurance 24 Hours Championship 2018.
A lifelong lover of travel and adventure, in 2018 he decided to take his cycling experience to the coldest places on the planet in search of a different kind of adventure. This began a period of intense explorations in the saddle, with journeys made even more extreme by winter conditions. In the 2000s, during a trip to Iceland, he fell in love with the cold and began to imagine exploring the world in its toughest season, winter. If he had been born in the mountains, he has said, he would have spent his life climbing in winter. Living in the plains, he chose to combine his passion for ice and low temperatures with his love of cycling, choosing to ride the roads of the north. In 2018 he crossed Arctic Canada, cycling around 1300 km on the Arctic Highway. He wrote "Pedalando nel silenzio di ghiaccio. Il ciclismo estremo e la felicità", published by Rizzoli, and "Zona Omar", published by Baldini+Castoldi.
In 2021 he was accredited as a UNFCCC observer for the Italian Climate Network at COP26.
He recently completed his round-the-Arctic journey: 4200 km in winter across the 3 Arctic borders, from Kamchatka (Russia) to Alaska. The crossing is part of the "Bike to 1.5°C" project, which promotes scientific awareness of climate change.
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