Blogging News

Austrian Rider Lars Enöckl was doing so well today and was 7th at the service point. Unfortunately his bike broke down a short while after the Service point and he couldn´t finish the rallye. This is a big disappointment for the talented young rider.

Xavi Galindo has arrived in Sibiu. After his semi-relaxed day at the lake he has made it to the finish, but lost a lot of time. He comes in 10th today but it is unclear what that means for the overall result. But undoubtedly he has the greatest story to tell of all the riders.

The Blogger Team wants to thank all the readers for following our Red Bull Romaniacs blog. We wanted to get you as close to the action as possible while it was going on and no one could watch it. We enjoyed being here and are already talking about some improvements for next year. We started out as a team of seven, six men on bikes out on the trails and one girl in blogger headquarters directly next to race control trying to keep the numbers straight, the blog updated and the boys in line. But the race took its toll on our little group, too: one of our colleagues, Jo Wolframm, had a accident on his blogger bike and broke some ribs. He is the hospital now. We want to thank him for his dedication and tell him we are useless without him since no one else can program a useful GPS track. Jo, please get well soon and ride with us again next year. 

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Almost all Pro riders who were at the Service point have now come into the finish, but where are swimmer Xavi Galindo and the young Austrian rider Lars Enöckl? He was doing great today and came in 7th at the service point, but must have ran into some trouble a short while afterwards. He has not reported to the next checkpoint (number 4), Galindo did not come it yet at Nr. 5 

German Gerhard Forster reaches the finish line in 9th place, which will put him in the top ten. He was overall 11th this morning.

Der Rumäne Emanuel Gynes erreicht als Tagesachter das Ziel, wenn meine Zählweise bis jetzt noch richtig ist.

The Romanian rider Mani did well in the Pro Class and the crowd gave him a warm and loud welcome at the finish!

Daryl Curtis, the most relaxed rider of all riders anywhere, comes inin great spirits and says Romaniacs is the best event one could wish for. "it was really difficult and hard, and on my way to the finish line  was longing for a beer" - some obliging KTM people presently pour some beer over his head, then hand him a cold one.  Cheers, Daryl!

Relaxed, in a good mood and friendly doing all the interviews at the Red Bull finish, Mr. Darryl Curtis from South Africa on his KTM.

Melchior Faja from Spain just came in in sixth place. This morning he was 6th overall, so he will probably be 5th now. Just a wild guess.

Next out of the woods is Czech rider Martin Volny who didn´t appear in the front ranks the last four days.  He had a very good ride today and was 8th at the checkpoint.

Paul Bolton crosses the finish line in 4th place today. What oes that mean for his overall placement? It depends on swimmer Xavi Galindo who was ahead of him this morning. But I think it can be assumed it will be third for Bolton. Just a guess though.

The British rider came in 4th, happy and praising his KTM! Sent while being on the road or somewhere in the dirt

A young woman came up to Chris Birch to have her picture taken with him, he stood close to her and smiled, then said: "Sorry about the smell" 

Letti has had another hard day at work. He took a bad fall and broke his GPS, then he had to follow in the tracks of a Hobby rider to find his way home. 

Paul Bolton´s wife was hoping to see him come in maybe third. Last she heard from him he was 4th at the Service point. Well, he isn´t here yet, but maybe he will be the next to come in?  

Letti finishes third today, and if nothing is wrong with his checkpoint data (as Galindo thinks), he is also third in the rallye. He showed extraordinary bravery, strength and stamina after his fall and injury on the first offroad day. He seems to have had quite a hard day judging from the consition of his bike.

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Last year´s winner Chris Birch came in second just now beaming brighty. He is "happy that I could hold second place today". Graham brought him a beer and Chris said to Graham: "See, this is why you were first and I was second"

Kiwi Chris Birch (KTM) just came in second, claiming is was a pretty hard last day at the RBR 2011. Sent while being on the road or somewhere in the dirt

Graham Jarvis is swamped by spectators and fellow riders here at the finish, and for the first time in these five days he can relax. From the start he was in front and in the evenings you could see there was a lot of pressure on him. Now he is "really happy" and smiling brightly.

So he did it again, Graham Jarvis (Flite Husaberg, GB) wins the Red Bull Romaniacs 2011! Great job!!!

Graham Jarvis just crossed the finish line. If nothing unforseen happens with his GPS data, he is the clear winner of these 5 days of extreme offroad racing. Once again he has shown that it´s almost impossible to beat him this year.

People in the market square in Sibiu are waiting for the first Pro to arrive. The winner will most probably be Graham Jarvis it is safe to speculate...he is the overall leader and he is ahead again today. We don´t have a GPS reading on Birch and are not sure exactly how far behind he is. Letti is about 20 mins behind Jarvis.  

The first 3 Hobby teams over the finish line are: Romanian TIPTIL team Otil Dani and Kristian Nagy, then TM Racing Spain Pau Soler and Xavier Subirana, then Estonian Team RM Estonian Extreme Riho Kollist and Mart Meeru. Closely followed by favourites Endurofüchse Birnbaum Norbert Lichtenberg and Oliver Libuda. What this means for overall score is beyond my humble means and has to be established by race control 

The first HS are in! And sure enough it´s the guys who have been consistently in font: Swiss Ernst Hostettler and Greek Andreas Paragios and German Alexander Wiedel. It´s for the race control now to check GPS and see who is the overall winner. It´s very clos. 

The next group of riders just came in. On the photo: german Hobby Single Wiedel, Spanish Hobby Team Subirana and Soler 

Xavi waited by the lakeside for the boat to bring his bike back, then he climbed on and raced off. He doesn´t just want to get home, he wants to finish third. How is that possible? He thinks that Letti, who is ahead of him, made a mistake at some checkpoint and that he can beat him.

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The crowd applauded when this nice man pushed his bike up the stairs. Sent while being on the road or somewhere in the dirt

Pro riders arrived at the service point in the following order: Jarvis 9.41 Letti 9.42 Birch 9.48 Bolton and Faja 10.09, Daryl Curtis 10.13, Lars Enöckl 10.16, then Volny, Galindo in his underwear, Forster, Gyenes and Clarke 

In Sibiu is getting ready to see the first riders coming in soon. Sent while being on the road or somewhere in the dirt

The story is becoming clearer now: Xavi Galindo did slide down the embankment because he had no GPS coverage and lost his way. He could´t get back up and left his bike there at the lakeside, took off his riding gear and jumped into the water in his undies. He swam across the lake which he says "is very cold in the middle" and walked to the Servicepoint. Now his crew found a Rumanian with a boat and they are going over to where the bike is stranded to recover it. Xavi wants to ride on!

Spectacular finish for Xavi Galindo: he went along the bank by the reservoir and started slipping down, there was no way to keep him and his ride from dropping right into he water and no way to get the bike back out. it´s still in there. Meanwhile Xavi had to swim to the bank and came walking into the service point in just one layer of clothing. The race is over for him. 

Ismael Ozguel from Turkey at the last stop before he reaches the end of this journey - or: should reach. His bike is not in good condition anymore. But the hobby single rider says he'll try to do everything to finish his first "Romaniacs".

Jarvis, Letti, Birch were the first three Pros at the service point this morning. Jarvis is going strong with no problems so far. Letti is in great shape and very fast. He went right past Birch. Birch gave his mechanics something to do again and brought his bike in a little scratched. Nothing major, he says, just "a brush with a tree"

The Hobby Single riders are very fast today. They could reach the finish line well before noon. Some riders have shown consistent strength over the last 5 days and are always among the top five. But still it´s as close as it can be with the first ten all within one hour. Greek Andreas Paragios is the leader of the pack, followed just 4 Minutes later by Swiss rider Erst Hostettler. German Alexander Wiedel is 8 Minutes behind, another 8 minutes later we have Czech Vlastimil Stupka and in fifth place Austrian Martin Lindtner six minutes after Stupka. 

Yesterday´s Pro track was quite tough enough for about 90% of riders...some of them worked themselves stupid in the woods until late in the day. One guy we spoke to said: "this morning´s sections were the most difficult I have ever done". Another looked completely spent when he fell off his bike at the finish almost 12 hours after the start. He pledged to come back next time, but enter as a Hobby rider.

The Pros are going to church today. Their track takes them right through the churchyard on a beautiful section. The priest says it´s ok that about 20 dirty men race right by the church. There is only one problem: they must all be through by ten o´clock because there is some ceremony at this hour and the priest will need the yard for his usual quiet clientele in nicer clothing.

After the prolog and three exhausting offroad days, everybody knows where he or she stands. Today is about beating the guy right in front of you or to bring a good result home all the way. At the top of the lieneup, Graham Jarvis will be hard to beat. He is 37 minutes ahead of his next contestant Chris Birch. Also close are number three and four, Letti is 15 Minutes ahead of Xavi Galindo. Further back there will be a close race for the 8th place between Kovacs, Clarke and young Austrian Lars Enöckl who are only a few minutes apart. 

That poor guy hurt his knee right before the start while going over a logg. Waiting for help, ambulance just arrived. Sent while being on the road or somewhere in the dirt

Aftern an intense day and very hot weather rider are chilling at the pool at the Arsenal Park. Sent while being on the road or somewhere in the dirt

Jarvis, Birch, Galindo, Letti...and an hour passed. At 14.26 Faja came in, at 14.44 Daryl Curtis and just now at 15.45 Austrian Lars Enöckl

If Letti and Galindo came in the same minute but Galindo started later, what does that mean? Little Bloggerbrain couldn´t figure it out. So here is the real score: Jarvis, Birch, Galindo, Letti. Thank you.

Letti is also going to the bike wash...or maybe he finds it more comfortable to ride than to walk and is riding into the shower.

Graham was out playing in the woods and he got his bike dirty! where did that happen?

1. Jarvis, 2. Birch, have no info on time yet

First to cross the line is Andreas Paragios, behind him Ernst Hostettler, then Vlastimil Stupko. None of this is official.

The Experts Singles have arrived at the Orastie overnight camp. First to come in by our estimate:  Ioan Tara and Guy Chandler, then Shane Moss, then Paul Christian Harpa and Gavin Johnston, then Jacob Abeleven

The Hobby team race is over...with following teams in first (nothing official) teams Pau Soler/Xavier Subirana TM Racing Spain, Norbert Lichtenberger/Oliver Libuda Endurofüchse Birnbaum, Stefan Heinze/ Knut Rauch Endurotem Gotha 

The Pro field is spread out along the course. Some seem not to have gotten much further than the start, others have lost the way and are riding on the Hobby track, and only eight have reached the service point so far. They are Jarvis followed 11 mins later by Birch, then Letti 13 mins later, Galindo soon after, Bolton 12 mins behind and Faja 10 mins later. 40 mins pass before Cortis and Forster arrive.

The first Hobby riders made great progress today and have already reached the finish line. First to cross the line was Andreas Paragios who took second place yesterday. Definitely one of the stongest riders in this category.

Darryl Curtis: "The beginning was a bit rough, but yesterday I decided to use different tires and used different settings for the ignition. I didn't push too hard and I knew some of the others would get tired. So my race is tactical and I'm happy so far." Sent while being on the road or somewhere in the dirt

Graham Jarvis does not have too much time for a comment, because he must be on his way to the finish line. We understand! But he says it´s going quite well for him, navigation is much easier today and the track is well marked. Go Graham!

Chris Birch tells us how it happened: He was going down a very steep part called "El Gringo", he had to get off because it was so steep, most riders go zigzagging down leading their bikes by the reins, but he went for the direct line and lost control of the pony. it went a-tumbeling dow. now that it´s fixed Chris is very focused and wants to make up some time. 

Chris Birch came in and needed some parts quickly...Austrian Lars Enöckl´s crew Niki Stelzmüller and Erich Brandauer helped put some new handlebars in and Brandauer donated his own bike´s rear fender...not really "original KTM" but Husaberg...let´s see if that improves the bike a bit now! but KTM crew are taking over now, back from the woods.

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Jarvis, Birch, Letti and Galindo have reached the service point, when Galindo came in, Jarvis had already left again. Riders stay for 20 mins to fix bikes, take some food and a drink and stretch their legs.

The front fender and the handle bar damaged, service crew is busy repairing at the service point. Erich helps out Sent while being on the road or somewhere in the dirt

Chris Birch is trying to ride on to the service point on his scrapheap of a bike. KTM crew were going his way but obviously no need. Austrian Niki Stelzmüller offered to fix any KTM bikes that come to the service point while KTM mechanics are away. Stelzmüller ist Lars Enöckls mechanic and a distinguished rider himself who knows his stuff. 

Graham Jarvis is 22 minutes ahead of Letti. On the last 16 km alone, he gained another 5 mins on him. 

Track managers are amazed how the Top Guys are flying over their carefully selected and prepared obstacles. In Viagra Falls, Jarvis, Letti and Bolton just jumped up a steep rock that took Birch several hard tries to get up. "We need to make it harder tomorrow", they say and scratch their heads.

Chris Birch has dropped his bike down a long steep hill. He is ok, but the bike is in bad shape. Rear fender is gone, the handlebars are all bent. It´s unclear what exactly happened or if he can go on. 

Riders reach the 20 minutes break trough this small creek. To exit the have to make a last challenging step.

Hobby single rider Karl Vasek asks the bloggers to tell family and friends he's allright. And he's having fun today.

Graham Jarvis is on a mission today. At checkpoint 2 he is already 18 Minutes ahead of Chris Birch. He swept through Viagra Falls in 30 mins.

Graham Jarvis has already reached the next big thing which is called "Viagra Falls" - a long and difficult section in the woods that will take an experienced rider about 90 minutes to get through. Letti is already a good 10 Minutes behind him. The front runner, Chris Birch, mus be somewhere out there with Jarvis but we have no tracking of him. At the first checkpoint half an hour ago, Jarvis was already one minute ahead of Birch.

"Doctor Three" is the first big attraction on the Pro track. A steep hill climb up 800m, then down again. It took Martin Freinademetz 30 Minutes to get up the hill when they were marking the track for the race. Graham Jarvis did it in 7. Birch is still in the lead. Letti and Galindo, Boton and Faja close behind.

Some bikes start to develop the same temperature as their riders ... Sent while being on the road or somewhere in the dirt

Yesterday some of the riders had probems with navigation. Some of them went on shortcuts or just plain din´t find the right track. That´s why at day´s end the GPS data has to be analyzed to see who is the winner. He who crosses the finish line first (that was Jarvis) is not necessarily the winner. So Chris Birch won yesterday´s stage of the race.

The Pros have had to pick up their GPS tracks for today at the Hotel start in Sibiu and then came out to the offroad start where Chris Birch is all set to go first. After him Jarvis, Letti, Bolton, Faja, Galindo, Volny, Enoeckl, Forster, Curtis, Kovacs, Gyenes.

The third day will be the most difficult, Romaniacs mastermind Martin Freinademetz promised at last night´s Riders Meeting. Hobby riders "will need the full 10 hours" today, he thinks. That´s why they have started at 6.00. All the tracks are more difficult than yesterday`s. The Pros are in for a spicy morning with lots of river action and other nice challenges waiting for them with names like "Viagra Falls". All the tracks end up in Orastie today and there will be an overnight camp.

German expert Robert Schweiger (right, talking with Letti) crashed twice yesterday. "Really hard. Didn't think I'd make it to the finish. Today I'll try to be more on the safe side."

A very good morning to you all. Blogger teams are a little bit in disarray this morning because the race HQ is moving to Orastie, 200 km away from Sibiu. This is where riders will come in this afternoon or evening, depending how long it will take them to get here. The new Bloggers HQ is a restaurant in an interesting looking vacation camp called Arsenal Park, where there are old tanks, fighter planes, big guns and all kinds of weaponery on dislplay. Anyway now that we found a place where the internet works, we will be up and running presently.

Getting ready to start. Graham: "feeling a bit stiff." Like everyone else ... Sent while being on the road or somewhere in the dirt

Especially the riders of the hobby class are starting to learn more about their limits. So am I. ;-) Sent while being on the road or somewhere in the dirt

Some riders are still on the track, some have finished, but we don´t have detailed information than that at the moment.  GPS data of those who have arrived will be evaluated to establish a finishing order. For now the blogger team will retire to get some Pasta and a shower. You can check in the evening if anything interesting has come up, otherwise see you tomorrow at day 3 of Red Bull Romaniacs. 

Pro rider Paulo Miranda from Portugal hurt his eye on a twig going through some bushes a short distance before service point. Pro rider Jesus Zavala from Mexico stayed with him until assistance arrived. They both reached the service point and will ride on together.

Now finally we have info directly from the finish line for you: 1.Jarvis came in at 13.12, 2.Birch at 13.20, 3.Letti at 13.33, 4. Galindo and Bolton both at 13.55, 6.Faja at 13.57  

Unfortunately I have no confirmed info from the finish line ...Bolton and Galindo seem to have arrived, also Faja. I have to judge from the GPS trackers. hope to tell you soon

Letti and his injured leg have crossed the finish line in third place. Behind him Bolton is coming up, we don´t have a tracking on Galindo whose tracking device has not been sending a signal for quite some time. He could also be close to the finish.

To  nobody´s surprise Graham Jarvis is the first to cross the finish line, that is not an official score of course. Everybody´s GPS data has to be evaluated. Behind him Chris Birch comes in second, while Letti is still out somewhere on the track.

Birch and Letti are no longer a team it seems...Birch is now a clear second judging from GPS positions, Letti has fallen behind. 

Graham Jarvis is probably already envisioning a good hot shower as he is ploughing on towards the finish line. The only thing that can stop him from winning is a mistake or fall, so he is going a bit more slowly than before with Birch and Letti about 10 Minutes behind him.

Please excuse our eyesight, we gave you a wrong no 4 at checkpoint 5: it wasn´t Kovasc coming through but Galindo, unchanged from earlier. Behind him 10 mins later Bolton and Faja. Kovacs has only come through a few minutes ago. So its Jarvis, Birch and Letti, Galindo, Bolton, Faja, Kovacs if we are not mistaken again. Sorry guys

When Austrian Hobby Rider Peter Nesuta arrived at the Service Point he told the crew a rider may need help not far away up in the forrest. Immediately a group of guides and a medic went off to help the rider. Peter Nesuta himself loves today's stage. "It's pure enduro riding" says the man who participated in every single "Red Bull Romaniacs" so far.

Birch and Letti have arrived at checkpoint 5 about 13 minutes after Jarvis. They are still traveling together to make navigation a bit easier. let´s see though if this strategy isn´t abandoned once the finish line approaches.

Graham Jarvis clears one checkpoint after the other in a seemingly effortless run. He comes up to CP5 through the high grass, drinks some water and is ready to go on.

Paul Bolton has made a friend...it makes sense to bond with the locals when you´re out in the woods of Romania.

Some pilots bring pretty bruced and battered bikes into the service point. It appears that they seem to have opened the stage at a to high pace. Many obsacles, hidden in the high grass, have been felt rather than being seen right in advance.

"The injured leg hurts. But it's ok. I can ride." The german Husqvarna rider speaks of very bumpy tracks and many rolling stones. "I have to ride very carefully to control the front wheel." A little mistake could easily lead to a seroius wipe out of the front wheel. Mechanics have been working on Lettis clutch. Seems like he's got a set of new disks. Meanwhile Paul Bolton arrived at the service point - 38 minutes past leading Grimbo.

Still riding together Chris Birch and Andreas Lettenbichler arrive at the service point 17 minutes behind Graham Jarvis. Three minutes later Jarvis starts into the second part of todays race. Just a minute later Xavi Galindo reaches the service point. He's still riding alone.

Graham Jarvis has had few problems so far, he tells us at the service point. But he find it difficult to find the track sometimes and has lost the way once or twice. That´s why he had to go slower than he would have liked. He thinks it´s been a pretty long morning up until this point and would like the PM to be a bit shorter. He has had some minor falls, "stupid mistakes", and his crew will fix some things on his bike for him. Now we´ll let him drink some water.

Graham Jarvis is the first Pro rider at the service point, where riders have 20 minutes to fix their bikes, stretch their legs and get some food and drink. A good number of Hobby riders are here already as they have a shorter track.

Hobby team rider Georg Laimer and Günther Nierlich are facing a mechanical problem. Nierlich's cooler is broken. They need to fix it somehow to make it to the service point.

At Checkpoint 3, Letti and Birch come through 18 minutes behind Jarvis, followed by Galindo.

Lettis performance is amazing, considering that he can barely walk. He hurt a ligament in his ankle, a toe and his left knee yesterday. Hr should be in the Special Romaniacs.

Graham Jarvis has arrived at checkoint 3 way ahead of the other Pros. Last we checked Letti was 15 Minutes behind, now we´re waiting to see if he will be the next to appear and when.

Looks like Graham is in a good shape and pretty clean at CP3. Service Point comes next. Sent while being on the road or somewhere in the dirt

Daryl Curtis is always in good spirits. He is sliding down the Rolli Bolli with a big smile on his face. Doing fine today despite having had to change some parts on his front brake at TP1.

Next to arrive are the German Forster and the young Austrian Lars Enöckl. Forster tries to go along the old line and gets hung up in a bad spot. He has difficulty to turn onto the right track, but finally descends. Enöckl followed Forster into the wrong line but also manages to get down and go on. 

Next on Rolli Bolli are Faja and Kovacs. Kovacs gets off and lets his bike pull him down the last few meters. He is nicely decorated with some greenery on his helmet. But no problems and they leave.

Paul Bolton came through Rolli Bolli some minutes ago and was refreshed by his family who had been waiting with a botte of water and a Powerbar. Bolton has some scratches on his face but is in good spirits.

The only Trial riders in the field, Germans Stefan Zwerenz and Philip Scholz, like stoney stuff like this. They have brought a group of fans along who cheer at the bottom of Rolli Bolli. Scholz says its´an exhausting and fast track today, quite a challenge on a bike without a seat. No matter what these two men will remain standing!

Next to emerge is Xavi Galindo. He finds a good line and comes down to where the spectators sit...it´s like a Bus Stop with a great view of dangerous sports. Xavi asks the spectators "where to", three of them applaud wildly, no one points him in the right direction.

About 15 minutes after Jarvis, Letti and Chris Birch get to Rolli Bolli. They select their lines carefulli and manage not to lose control on the steep and deep gravel. Both get down well and ride away 30 seconds apart.

Paul Bolton didn´t have the greatest start this morning when he woke up, he says at TP1, but he feels better now and is catching up. SAt the moment he is in a Top group with Letti, Xavi and Volny...but they all lag behind Jarvis already

Graham Jarvis is ahead again and has just gone down Rolli Bolli, a mean old pile of sliding rocks and stones in different sizes. This is only for Pros and even they have some difficulty here...it´s a steep drop first, then they have to stop cold and make a 90 degree turn onto the track across the stones. Jarvis stays on his bike and passes through just beautifully.

Graham Jarvis was the fist Pro to reach Tankpoint 1 at 7.50.  The overall leader  seemed quite relaxed.

Along the difficult Pro track, there is a Gang of Four in the lead: Jarvis, Letti, Birch and Xavi Galindo are battling it out. Right behind there is a second group with Bolton, Faja, Forster, Volny and Kovacs

Riders have been warned at last night´s riders meeting to take all the prescribed safety equipment with them, because today will not be a picknick in the park. The track will go up to an altitude of 2000m and it can be quite uncomfortable to get stranded there. Also, Romaniacs mastermind Martin Freinademetz advised them to take some money, which can "fix some of the problems you may encounter out there"

The Pros have quite a demanding track today. One of the first points of interest is "Vodka Red Bull", a newly designed steep climb that should besome a classic. The first riders have already arrived there: it´s Jarvis, Galindo and Letti again.

...says German Stefan Heinze reaching todays first tank stop: "Perfect conditions so far, the ground a bit wet and sometimes slippery. And a perfect area for enduro riding!" He leaves smiling.

The first Hobby Team just broke out of the woods to reach Tankpoint one, it´s the Spanish Team with Xavier Subirana and Paul Soler. The Hobby Team has a different track than the Pros.

This morning the start ist 41 km away from Sibiu...the lucky ones went out in their service cars, the others went on their bikes. The Hobby Team has a different Starting point today than the other classes, a bit further down the road.

Good Morning on Day two of the Red Bull Romaniacs. The bloggers have left the building...to bring you the best of today´s action right from the track. A team of seven bloggers will be with you from start to finish. Enjoy.

Almost official, directly from Martin Freinademetz: the first six Pros and their rinding times: 1. Graham Jarvis 4´03" 2. Andreas Lettenbichler 4´24" 3. Xavi Galindo 4´27" 4. Chris Birch 4´32 5.Melcior Faja 4´52 6.Paul Bolton 4´55  "Almost" means that there is a one hour appeal period.

While lots of men are still struggling in the woods, the female Romanian Hobby Team has arrived. Sorina Sandu and Andrea Goga take off their helmets and look...just great! quite unlike some of their male fellow riders, one might add. How do they do it? Go girls.

Chris Birch had some tough moments today, tumbling down a hill and then struggling through the river bed "with a little help from a friend". Anyway he´s fit enough to facebook...Fourth place is "not what I wanted but that´s racing", he says. In the coming days he expects that "the hardest is still to come".

We should have official results for the top riders shortly. Their GPS devices are being  checked as they come in to see if they have strayed from the straight and narrow path...make that steep and narrow 

Some already have their pasta back home in Sibiu. Others may come late. It is only 15 meters. But it takes a while.

Pro Rider Dominic Mantle will not finish today. He dropped out and is heading back to Sibiu.

All of the riders battled hard today, and as it happens in this sport there were some injuries. Brave Letti tore some ligaments in his leg, but came in second anyway (and wants to continue it goes without saying). Chris Birch had a close encounter with something or other and scratched his face. One rider from the HS class broke an arm and ended up in the hospital. Many many others look slightly more worn and torn than they did in the morning.

A look at the tail end of things today: all riders have passed through the first four checkpoints. At CP 5, only one has not arrived: Pro Rider Dominic Mantle.

Please note that all the results we blog here are unofficial...we report what we see and as info becomes available...nothing official until much later.

The first riders from the Expert Single class have finished, among them two locals. Romanian Cristea Tudor Mircea and Belgian Pascal Berlingieri arrive together, close behind comes Romanian Paul Nicolae Fratila.

German Gerhard Forster takes a tumble 10 meters before the finish line. 

Daryl Curtis is an easygoing chap. With a smile and a cheer he goes through the Red Bull arch at the finish.

Pro Rider Melcior Faja takes a fall 10 meters before the finish line...the last few meters are the hardest sometimes

The two Trial Riders, clearly a class unto themselves, left first in the morning on their light bikes and have arrived at the offroad finish.

Paul Bolton has had a consistent run today and goes up the hill and home to Sibiu for a cup of tea.

Birch came home in a roundabout way and took the chicken line

There is only one last steep hill to climb before the finish line...lots of people try to get up at once, but not everybody succeeds. A number of bikes are lying around halfway up, down at the bottom other riders are waiting their turn.

After Graham Jarvis, there was only silence for more than half an hour. Then in the last few minutes, Xavi Galindo came in, after him Andreas Lettenbichler in third place.

Graham Jarvis went up the last hill and passed the offroad finish line at 11.33. No sign yet of anyone else.

Homer´s Downhill, a very steep downhill passage in the woods, is proving to be very difficult. The only rider who stayed on his bike was Graham Jarvis. Chris Birch fell down the hill, all the others are using the oldfashioned mountaineering technique of abseiling - going down by rope.

Xavier Subirana and Pau Soler from Spain reach the CP. Still 40 kilometers to go.

Sent while being on the road or somewhere in the dirt

The Husaberg rider reaches the tank point at 10.42am. "Everything ok", he says, "No problems so far".

Chris Birch had a rather heavy crash on the nasty downhill called Homer. But he's ok and will go flat out. All of the Pro class riders said todays track is not half as easy as Martin Freinademetz had said during the rider's briefing yesterday - but this is probably still one of the reasons why they keep coming back every Yen Sent while being on the road or somewhere in the dirt

Chris Birch was in second place for the first three hours of today´s race, but he has been experiencing some problems and has fallen back now.

Jarvis is clearly ahead of everybody. After him there have been some changes since the start. Xavi Galindo and Letti are both catching up fast. Galindo started 6th and is now second, Latti made an even bigger gain, he went out in 9th place and has battled his way to 3rd, as of the Service Point.

Graham Jarvis has already left the Service point, Xavi Galindo and Andreas Lettenbichler have just arrived there.

Graham has a solid lead having been at the service point for the 20 minutes as per the regulations and no other Pro Class rider arrived yet. According to Graham there was one nasty downhill and lots of sections with no grip at all. Sent while being on the road or somewhere in the dirt

Graham Jarvis arrived first at the service point, where riders have to rest for 20 Minutes. He says the going is much tougher than expected. Very wet and deep, no traction at all. At one point he had to push and work for ten minutes. He is set to leave the service point shortly.

Jarvis is about 10 minutes ahead at checkpoint 2, but he also started ten minutes before, so the two are pretty close together in overall time. Galindo is third.

checkpoint two reports that the riders came in in this order: Graham Jarvis at 8.46, Chris Birch at 8.57, Stefan Zwerenz and Philip Scholz (Trial) at 9.04, Xavi Galindo at 9.05. So in the Pro class Jarvis has a good ten minute lead on Birch with Galindo about eight minutes behind.

The first 5 to pass checkpoint 1 were Trialers Zwerenz and Scholz, then Jarvis, Bolton and Galindo

The two Trial riders Stefan Zwerenz and Philip Scholz passed the first checkpoint, right after them came Graham Jarvis as the leading Pro

Graham Jarvis and the two Trial riders have reached the sled path

Graham Jarvis, Paul Bolton and Chris Birch have passed the river crossing. They started out in foggy but dry weather in Sibiu, were they loaded today´s track into their GPS devices. Most went out in good spitits though some looked a little tired.

Riders are off for their first day offroad. The two trial bikes started first, then the top men from the Pro class one by one. Jarvis went first and he stays in the lead half an hour into the race.

8 minutes behind Jarvis appears Paul Bolton. Another two minutes later comes Chris Birch.

In the Expert Team class the Italian Enrico Maria Garavelli takes first place, Gavin Johnson from Scotland wins in the Expert Singles.

Exhausted riders are cracking the champagne now. Kollist Riho from Estonia wins the Hobby Team race. Andreas Paragios from Greece wins in the Hobby Single class.

Jarvis wins, Bolton comes in second, Birch takes third in the Pro finals. Chris birch is happy that he "got through in one piece" and he seems quite ok with not going first tomorrow. Even the top riders think it´s easier to have someone break the track for you. Graham Jarvis thinks it is "a good start" for him, it´s the first time he wins the Prolog. He likes all the rain because he "prefers it when it´s more difficult."

Graham Jarvis puts himself in the lead in a short suspenseful race and wins impressingly

Pros are ready to go for the main event...the Pro Singles Final. You can see that they are important as they have some people holding umbrellas over their heads

the Pros are getting ready for their final run...people along the track have been waiting for them, a very good crowd, lots of families, still cheering for their favorites

Gavin Johnson came in first in the Expert Single finals in very wet conditions. He is happy but says it´s not necessarily an advantage to go first tomorrow since "navigation is not my strongest point"

Very difficult riding now in the last two final runs…lots of falls over slippery logs and rocks. It makes a big difference to find a good line away from all the others. Some of the most dangerous sposts have been taken out to avoid injury.

16 riders go on into the semifinals of the Pro class: Lettenbichler, Jarvis and Galindo claim the top three spots. The finals will start at 2pm Sibiu time. They will be broadcast in a livestream right here on this page.

The rider from South Africa qualified for the finals and says: 'Qualifying was fun". But now the heavens have opened Curtis expects hectic runs in the finals. Curtis barely made it into the top-16. He qualified as 15th.

Hello and welcome, the Red Bull Romaniacs 11 blogger team will be with you over the next five days to supply you with the latest about riders and results right from the tracks and from race control headuarters. At the moment the quali runs for the prolog time trial are in progress. Every rider will tackle the difficult track twice by himself, the best of two runs counts. The 16 fastest riders from each class will go into the semifinals, which start at 1400. the semifinals will be available to you on livestream for the first time this year on this website. If you arent´t able to follow the live stream for technical reasons, you can get all the action on our blog. a team of seven dedicated bloggers will keep you up to date with the freshest info as things develop. we will start our blog as the semi finals begin...hope to see you right here.