Andreas Tonelli, extreme biker and influencer, lost his life yesterday in an accident in the Dolomites: the tragedy occurred in the Vallelunga area following a fall. The cyclist was tackling a very challenging section alone when he plummeted about 200 meters. A great enthusiast of bicycle trips, photography, and splitboarding, Tonelli also had a large social media following, with over 120,000 followers.

Tonelli had gone out for a bike ride and had captured his last stage in an Instagram story, at the end of an ascent to 2,905 meters on Piz Duleda. A friend who had already started searching called for help. The Alpine Rescue and Aiut Alpin helicopter searched the area until late at night, when around one o'clock, the lifeless body of the man was spotted in a gully, in an area difficult to reach by rescuers at night. The search was complicated by weather conditions, with heavy rain and cold temperatures.

In an autobiography written for Norrona Adventure, the 48-year-old biker recalled, among the most important moments of his life, when he "left his boring office job to become a full-time cycling guide and organizer of sports trips around the world". Among his most memorable adventures were climbing Ojos de Salado (6,893 meters) in Chile, the world's highest active volcano, and his first time on the Hokusai Wave, one of the longest ice climbing routes in the Dolomites.

photo from Andreas Tonelli's Instagram profile