Manuel Lettenbichler defends his title winning his sixth Red Bull Romaniacs

Edition 23 July 28 - August 1, 2026

Sibiu, Romania Saturday 26 July - The Red Bull Romaniacs Game Changer, Edition 22 was another victory for Manuel Lettenbichler (DEU, KTM), his sixth win in total and he was also awarded the Extreme Enduro Rallye World Champion title. Lettenbichler dominated the day, widened the gap between his fellow competitors and is now one win closer to the reigning King of Hard Enduro, Graham Jarvis (GBR).

Billy Bolt (GBR, Husqvarna) gave it his all and came in behind Lettenbichler in second place followed by Mario Roman (ESP, Sherco) who fought hard and scored third position. Lettenbichler's hard enduro skills and precision were too much to be matched allowing him to defend his title once again.

2025 Gold Podium

The Silver Class was a nail bitter. The top four competitors were so close throughout the four Offroad Days and it could have been anyone's win today. In the end it was Eddie Karlsson (SWE, STARK VARG) on his eMoto who took the top spot on the podium, coming back from the fourth fastest time yesterday. With anywhere between four and eight battery changes per day, Karlsson was able to prove that his Stark Varg was fair game up against the regular fuel enduro motorcycles and the technology is ready to take on some of the toughest enduro terrain out there. Justin Elizondo (CRI) was back and forthing for the top spot all week and came in just 50 seconds behind Karlsson.

The Adventure Ultimate Class had a tense day too. All eyes were on Jonny Walker (GBR, Triumph Tiger 900) and Pol Tarres (AND, Ténéré 700) . The caliber of these two and how close they were has been unbelievable. Despite Walker finishing the day first, he wasn’t able to close the overall gap on Tarres who took the win by 3m 48s.

Offroad Day 4 in summary:

Billy Bolt (GBR, Husqvarna) set out first, ahead Lettenbichler (DEU, KTM). After having a fast day yesterday Bolt had closed the gap and was only 13 minutes behind the leader. Right out the start the “Corona Symptoms” section seemed to take a bit of a toll on Bolt who didn't appear to have the same energy as the previous days. Lettenbichler closed in on him and set off into the Sadu Mountains in the lead, racing for the win Bolt lost 11 minutes in this section pushing him further from the win.

Once ahead of Bolt, Lettenbichler, tackled the signature sections flawlessly; “The revenge”, “Momentum”, “Ass slide”, “Steroid”, “Flying Ford”, “Hug the tree”, “Wolf’s Nest” and completed the 102 km of tracks with the fastest times through almost every Check Point.

Mani Lettenbichler: “I woke up this morning and I thought ‘I’m feeling good today, I can push hard’. I know what to expect on the last day at Romaniacs. When I saw Billy at the first hillclimb I thought I can push now. Then I pulled a gap, from then on it was just go. This year the pace made it so intense, everybody was so on fire, there was no time for any kind of breaks. The weather helped, but the main thing this year was that it was so incredibly grippy and this makes the pace get higher. The hills can get easier and everyone pushes more and the pace just goes up and up. I didn't expect to do so well, I knew that everyone was hungry for the win, I'm super happy”.

Billy Bolt: “I came into the day somewhat realistic, I had a bit of belief I could do it, win, at one point but I felt it was important to hold my position in second and if Mario caught me I needed to hold my position. I'm happy with second and happy with my progress in Romaniacs at this point. Physically at the start today I didn't have a lot left in the energy tank, it was important to stay up with Mario but then after Service Point I felt good, but Mani put the hammer down early on and showed us all why he’s the best”

Mario Roman, consistently held onto his third position during the Offroad Days, right up until the end which shows how determined he was especially as he seemed to go through thick and thin during the week, with his team mate crashing in front of him and getting sick during the event. Roman arrived hungry for the podium and he still achieved that, making it his fifth podium at Red Bull Romaniacs.

Graham Jarvis also won in his own right, placing in P5 after four intense days in the mountains, showing that he still has what it takes at 50 years old. Jarvis was battling mostly with the young guns, Mitch Brightmore, Francesc Moret Clota (ESP) and Felix Baehker (DEU), undoubtedly an honour for these younger hard enduro athletes battling the “Silent Assassin”. Jarvis, the legend, seven time winner keeps on delivering.

Michael Walkner (DEU) had a super day today, making the fastest times on a couple of Check Points and placing P4 overall. Mitch Brightmore (GBR) placed P6 in only his second Romaniacs ever.

The grand finale at the Gusterita Hillclimb finish, had a lot of new surprises, this year there were multiple hillclimbs, of which the Gold Class had to complete three times. Prolog Director, Andy Fazekas, shaped and manicured a whole new arena covering the entire Gusterita hillside with not only the traditional hillclimb but gap jumps, a wall ride and jump over the top of the tracks, short shoot ups, logs, it was a real showcase to bring an end to this epic 5 day event.

Andy Fazekas “Red Bull Romaniacs continues to inspire me all the time. I always try to increase the show and up the level in both the Prolog and the finish, while also staying in the safety zone. A bigger spectacle is better and the Gold Class will also ride in front of the spectators more which is what they want. I look forward to seeing all the competitors on the obstacles”

Final hillclimbs arena

Results of all classes:

In Silver Class the Romanian competitor, Emanuel Gyenes who has completed all twenty two editions of the Red Bull Romaniacs came in P14, just behind Sandra Gomez (ESP) in P13.

Silver Class:

P1. Justin Elizondo (CRI)
P2. Tobin Miller (USA)
P3. Kornel Ott (HUN)

Bronze Class faced a much more technical day today after some flowy tracks yesterday. Xing Yang (CHN) was the first competitor to arrive at the Hillclimbs today and the first to successfully make the hillclimb in one shot. Slovenia’s female rider, Tjaša Fifer had a race of all races, finishing in P6. Teo Kabakchiev’s younger brother, Alexander Kabakchiev (BGR) finished the race with a remarkable P15.

Bronze Class:

P1. Diego Chang (GTM)
P2. Xing Yang (CHN)
P3. Eddie Findling (DEU)

Adventure Ultimate:

P1. Pol Tarres (AND)
P2. Jonny Walker (GBR)
P3. Dawid Szczotka (POL)

Adventure Lite Class: Sam Sunderland’s debut attempt at Red Bull Romaniacs and return to racing was rewarded with a dominant win on his Triumph Tiger 900.

P1. Sam Sunderland (GBR)
P2. Joop Nissink (NDL)
P3. Daniel Fernandez (COL)

Iron Class:

P1. Fabio Carvalho (PRT)
P2. Alexander Petroiu (CAN)
P3. Ovidiu Tronaru (ROU)

Atom Class:

P1. Dmitriy Reznitskiy (KAZ)
P2. Carlos Gracida (MEX)
P3. Justin Short (GBR)

The top three competitors in the eMoto Expert had a week of strong competition, finishing with very tight times. Sebastian Dudaș (ROU) won by just 1m 1s ahead of David Freidinger (AUT) in second position and 1m 42s ahead of Thomas Warmuth (AUT) in third.

eMoto Expert Class:

P1. Sebastian Dudas (Rou)
P2. David Freidinger (AUT)
P3. Thomas Warmuth (AUT)

eMoto Hobby:

P1. Martin Dosch (DEU)
P2. Bogdan Cimpu (ROU)
P3. Ionut Tocitu (ROU)

Martin Freinademetz: “I would like to say a big thank you to all of the team who have worked so hard to make this event a success. I am proud that we had 63 nations attending Red Bull Romaniacs this year and grateful for all the competitors who travel so far to be at our event and for those who return every year. This year was a big Game Changer for us and something I have wanted to do for a while. The timing was right to introduce the new adventure bike classes and we expected around thirty participants and ended up with over double that. The demand is there to ride adventure bikes in more difficult terrain, there's a lot of extraordinary riders on big bikes and riding very fast so it was a very good success. I would like to thank those big names who have won titles in other rallies for coming along and racing our tracks such as Johnny Aubert and Sam Sunderland. We are happy to have awarded Mani Lettenbichler with the Extreme Enduro World Champion title, he deserves it. We will continue to develop the sport in a creative way and a way that will bring new riders on board who want to race in these events”.

LINKS:

LEATT LIVEmaniacs REPLAYS
2025 RESULTS
LIVE NEWS - Live videos and photos taken during the 2025 Prolog and all four Offroad Days
VIDEOS - 2025 and previous years.

Adventure Ultimate competitors