Category: Explorer & Adventure Traveler
Date of birth: 21/07/1981
Nickname: Omar
Country: Italy

Ex-professional cyclist, Omar di Felice is now an ultra cycling champion. He first became passionate about cycling as a young boy, watching Marco Pantani on TV. For several years he competed in amateur races, before turning pro in 2006. After a year among the ranks of the greats, he decided leave it all behind, and live his cycling experience with a different, lighter attitude. Thanks to a cycling journey, without money, from Lourdes to Santiago de Compostela, he began to make a name for himself on social media. This marked the start of his approach to long-distance racing, where he has excelled, winning various national and international titles.

Omar has always been a travel enthusiast and a lover of adventure, and in 2018 he decided to take his cycling experience to the coldest spots on the planet, in search of a different kind of adventure  This was the start of a period of intense exploration on his bike, taking him on journeys that were made even more extreme by the wintry conditions.

A passion for the cold

In the 2000s, he fell in love with the cold while on a trip to Iceland, where he began to imagine exploring the world during the harshest of seasons: winter. He even said that if he'd been born in the mountains, then he would have spent his life climbing every winter. But living in the flatlands, he decided to combine his passion for ice and for low temperatures with his love for cycling, choosing to travel along routes through the north.

 

Highlights

2014 – First place in the Tortour Switzerland

2014 – First place at Le Raid Provence Extreme

2015 – First place in the Race Across Italy

2015 – Cycled, non-stop for 1600 km from Paris to Rome

2017 – Winter: he cycled the 1600 km from Helsinki to North Cape

2018 – Second place in the Transiberica race

2018 – Winter: he cycled from Whitehorse to Tuktoyaktuk, following the Arctic Highway for 1300 kilometres

2019 – Third place in the Trans America Bike Race

2019 – Winter: he cycled from Anchorage to Atigun Pass along the Dalton Highway