Overview
- The 36-year-old ultra-distance cyclist was found severely injured on the Roßfeld-Panoramastraße and pronounced dead at the scene after a motorist discovered him during an evening training descent on Tuesday.
- Investigators report scene traces that point to a collision with a deer, but the animal was not found and the exact sequence of events remains unconfirmed.
- Emergency services including fire crews, an emergency physician and a rescue helicopter responded quickly but could not save Riese, and police say the impact was so forceful that his racing bike broke.
- Riese was a leading figure in ultra-cycling who recently won the Hellenic Mountain Race in May 2026 and finished second in the Silk Road Mountain Race in August 2026, and his co-founded community GravGrav has publicly mourned him.
- Police have opened a technical investigation, engaged a Sachverständiger to reconstruct the crash, and asked witnesses to contact the Berchtesgaden police hotline as authorities review safety questions about wildlife on evening descents.