Sibiu - August 3, 2019 - For immediate release!

After 571 km spread out over four Off-road Days and a total riding time of 20 hours 39 minutes and 20 seconds the 21 year old Manuel Lettenbichler (Flatsching Fast Factory Team), from Germany, achieved his first top position on the podium ever in his young career and scored a remarkable win at the Red Bull Romaniacs "Sweet 16" Edition in Sibiu. Ten years after his father Andreas "Letti" Lettenbichler won the 6th Edition of the "World's Toughest Hard Enduro Rallye" Manuel fought an exciting battle with Alfredo Gomez (ESP, Husqvarna) who finished 2nd and Graham Jarvis (UK, Husqvarna) 3rd overall.

Due to the extreme weather conditions that had previously been forecast prior to the fourth and final Off-road Day, the organizers knew it was going to be a challenging day to manage.  "Antifreeze" was planned to be the most difficult loop in the Gold Class track today and our team had spent a lot of hours preparing the track as well as building platforms for the Live TV show. Based on the actual conditions out there and the feedback from our experienced team of Track Managers the tough decision was already made yesterday to cut this section out today. In the end it was a good decision for the race itself because the conditions turned out to be even worse than we expected. 

The Off-road start was kicked off by Manuel Lettenbichler at 07:00 AM while it was already raining. The competitors had to climb a good 10,000 metres throughout the entire day which had a total riding distance of 124 km within the vicinity of Sibiu. They faced the following signature sections: Ass Slide, Snooze, Momentum, Too Many Zicky Zacky, Extreme Miorita, Flying Ford, Hug the Tree, The Rock. It was a classic Romaniacs mix of forest and alpine riding in the deep valleys around Sibiu and Paltinis.

The Ventilator section, which had also been featured during the live transmission on Red Bull TV has to be mentioned, it’s located in the forest and the soil is getting very slippery when wet. The competitors had to do a lot of zig zag here trying to find some traction somewhere and Manuel was able to pull a good gap on Alfredo in this section.

Throughout almost the entire day it was a very close battle between Alfredo and Manuel, who switched between first and second position in the overall progress several times. Graham Jarvis was catching up in the first part of the race but had a crash after the Service Point where he lost his GPS devices. So the Silent Assassin had to rely on other competitors for the remainder of the race which prevented him from attacking Manuel and Alfredo. 

It was so close that the infamous hillclimb could have been a game changer if Manuel would have made a mistake being as he was only about 40 seconds ahead of Alfredo in the overall progress of the race at that point in time. But the young man from Bavaria, who was the youngest finisher of the Erzbergrodeo at the age of 16, did not. He mastered all of the difficult uphills including the notorious hillclimb at the finish in Gusterita without any major mistake. After the checkered flag was waived Manuel was still anxious as to when Alfredo would actually arrive and if he had eventually made it in the overall standings. 2 minutes and 42 seconds separated Manuel from Alfredo, and 12 minutes and 21 seconds from Graham Jarvis, who had won the Romaniacs 6 times before.

Anybody who was able to see the very moment when Manuel met his father Andreas in the finish area noticed that this was a very emotional moment. One of the true role models in Hard Enduro saw his son winning this very close to the heart race.

This win means Manuel is not only the event’s youngest winner ever, at 21 years three months and four days, beating the record set by Wade Young in 2018. It also marks his first win in the World Enduro Super Series (WESS), too, moving him to the top of the championship standings over Graham Jarvis and Alfredo Gomez. 

Here's a special announcement - and really big news: Anna Schmölzl from Germany WON the Iron Class of Red Bull Romaniacs "Sweet 16" Editon. This is the first time ever that a woman has won a Red Bull Romaniacs class. Big respect, she had 110 competitors to fight against in the Iron Class - very well done!

Competitors Quotes - Off-road Day 4 - Gold, Silver & Iron Class

Manuel Lettenbichler: “I’m over the moon right now, I really can’t believe it, it means everything for me to win Red Bull Romaniacs. This race is really something special and to win here feels amazing. The event is so long and so hard and anything can happen so I’m so pumped to take the win. It’s been an incredible five days and so gnarly, especially with all the rain we’ve had today and the day before. Some of the uphills that would have been tricky anyway have become near impossible today. One of the highlights has to be passing Alfredo on the final hill of Day 3, that felt great and gave me such a big confidence boost going into the final day. It’s 10 years since my dad won Romaniacs so it’s great to be able to match his achievement, it’s a family affair now. The Lettenbichlers will definitely be celebrating tonight!”

Alfredo Gomez: "Well, it's been so close between Mani and myself today, so coming in second feels a bit disappointing right now. But it’s been an amazing race and after those long days I’m happy to get on the podium. The first day wasn't the best for me but this changed on the second day: I had a better feeling on the bike and scored the win. Yesterday it also went quite well and it was great to battle out a close fight with Mani and Graham. As I said, obviously I’m disappointed not to have taken the win but it still feels great to come second overall after such a long and demanding race. A big thank you to everyone who helped me to get through the event – my team and all the fans – I promise I’ll come back even stronger next year.” 

Graham Jarvis: “Today was definitely the hardest day of all due to the heavy rain – it was so slippery on the hills after and we had to do a lot of pushing. I was good until the Service Point but then I crashed and lost my GPS and that was the end of it really. I had to rely on other people - it was a disaster to be honest. I’m happy just to get to the finish today – It was a really close battle between Alfredo and Manuel until the end - they both rode really well so I'm happy to congratulate Mani on winning. Hopefully I'll be back next year!”

Josu Artola – Silver Class Winner: “I’m so pleased to win the Silver Class. I won the first three days and it would have been great to have posted the fastest time today but I decided it would be better to take it steady to make sure I got the victory. The hills were so slippery and at Red Bull Romaniacs anything can happen so I just followed today’s winner to the finish. It feels great to win here at one of the toughest races – I’m so happy.”

Anna Schmölzl - Iron Class winner: "It was a very tough race today. I’m stoked having made it to the finish after a very hard and long day in the mountains. It all really worked out well for me - I’m just overwhelmed. I’ll have a knee surgery in three weeks which will take me out for about half a year. But if things work out well then I’ll come back next year and try the Bronze Class."

Top 10 Results - Gold Class

1. Manuel Lettenbichler (DEU, Flatschingfast Factory Team): 20 hours 39 minutes 51 seconds
2. Alfredo Gomez Cantero (ESP, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing): 20 hours 42 minutes 15 seconds (+2m 24s)
3. Graham Jarvis (GBR Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing): 20h 52m 12s (+12m 21s)
4. Taddy Blazusiak (POL, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing): 21h 25m 36s (+45m 45s)
5. Jonny Walker (GBR, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing): 21h 30m 40s (+50m 49s)
6. Billy Bolt (UK, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing): 23h 16m 34s (+2h 36m 43s)
7. Mario Roman (ESP, Sherco Factory Racing Team): 23h 36m 25s (2h 56m 34s)
8. David Cyprian (CZ, JD Gunnex KTM): 23h 42m 30s (+4h 2m 39s)
9. Pol Tarrés (ESP, TTR Officine Rigamonti Husqvarna): 25h 8m 26s (4h +28m 35s)
10. Josep Garcia Montana (ESP, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing): 25h 8m 26s (+4h 28m 35s)

Top 3 Results Silver, Bronze & Iron Class

Top 3 Results - Silver Class

1. Josu Artola (ESP): 18h 57m 20s
2. Sam Winterburn (GBR): 19h 39m 55s (+42m 35s)
3. Alberto Aramburu (ESP): 20h 18m 14s (+1h 20m 54s)

Top 3 Results - Bronze Class

1. Marcin Weglarz (POL): 17h 43m 32s
2. Eric Slominski (USA): 17h 53m 43s (+10m 11s)
3. Jean-Michel Vigand (ROU): 18h 3m 4s (+19m 32s)

Top 3 Results - Iron Class

1. Anna Schmölzl (GER) 16h 9m 43s
2. Danny Melvin (USA) 16h 31m 13s (+21m 30s)
3. Eduardo Martinez Lopez (MEX) 16h 35m 17s (+25m 34s)

About Red Bull Romaniacs
The Red Bull Romaniacs Hard Enduro Rallye was created in 2004 by founder Martin Freinademetz. Over the past years it has become the world's toughest Hard Enduro Rallye and attracts competitors from about 50 countries each and every year. 

The race is spread over five days - five days of pure hard enduro racing action: The event is kicked off with the legendary Prolog - a time trial in downtown Sibiu with thousands of enthusiastic fans and followed by four Off-road Days. The competitors are taken on some of the world's most beautiful hard enduro tracks in the region around Sibiu, in the Southern Carpathian Mountains of Romania. They'll have to master the art of navigating on visually marked tracks with GPS devices for control. The breathtaking wilderness, incredible uphill and downhill sections in a stunning landscape and the professional as well as experienced organization result in the toughest and at the same time most memorable experience for all participants.

Photographer Credits: Predrag Vuckovic