Three friends were riding their backyard trail system in Cumiana, Italy, on Sunday, January 31st, when one of them hit a tree head-first. Giuseppe Ernesto Mangone, 46, died shortly after the impact that took place on the popular Cresta trail.
According to another rider who descended a few minutes behind Magnone, the heli-ambulance was hovering above the trail roughly ten to fifteen minutes after he set off down the trail. An alpine rescue crew was also on the ground working to save him and ultimately carried his body from the forest.
It was a sorrowful Sunday for more than one person in the north-western region of Italy, as a nearby avalanche took the life of alpine skier, Maurizio Orlandin, of the same age on the same afternoon.
Ernesto Mangone was the owner of a Magnone Bike shop in the neighboring city of Rivoli, and an integral member of the local cycling community. He will surely be missed by many.
