2021 Red Bull Romaniacs Hard Enduro Results

Cycle News Staff | August 2, 2021

Red Bull KTM’s Manuel Lettenbichler of Germany secured his third-straight Red Bull Romaniacs Hard Enduro Rallye win after a solid five days of ultra-technical riding in the Carpathians Mountains that surround the city of Sibiu, Romania, which included a time trial qualification (Tuesday), followed by four straight days of competition that concluded on Saturday. Each day produced a winner, but it was the cumulative time that everyone was focusing on that would decide the overall victor.

Photos Courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool

The race included a couple of AMA extreme off-road stars, Canadian Trystan Hart and American Cody Webb. Hart, on the FMF KTM, finished out the race seventh overall and Webb, on the FactoryONE Sherco, ended up 12th after bouncing back from a difficult day one.It was both Webb’s and Hart’s first attempts in the Rallye.

Sherco’s Wade Young of South Africa topped Tuesday’s timed qualifying, but Lettenbichler and Great Britain’s Graham Jarvis set the pace on day one, Wednesday. The two battled for the day’s win and overall lead, but it was the veteran, Jarvis, on the Rockstar Husqvarna, who prevailed by a few minutes over the German. However, both riders pulled well clear of the rest of the pack that was headed by Young, Beta rider Jonny Walker and Sherco’s Mario Roman. Both Jarvis and Lettenbichler had built up an approximately 20-minute cushion over third-place Young, and then everyone else.

Day two started much the same way as day one, with Jarvis and Lettenbichler setting the pace up front, but Jarvis would later in the day retire from after dabbing his leg at high speed in a rut and injuring his knee.

Suddenly, Lettenbichler found himself all alone and out in front with a large time gap over the rest of the field. From there, Lettenbichler would manage his time advantage wisely and take the overall victory—winning day two, taking fifth on day three, and finishing off the race with another win on the fourth and final day. After four days of racing, he held a comfortable 20-plus-minute lead over runner-up Young.

**Mario Roman made it a Sherco 2-3 with a solid performance.**

“I am absolutely stoked with the win!” said Lettenbichler. “And to get three in a row at Red Bull Romaniacs is like a dream come true. It’s been a tough five days here this year, but the pace has been insane. I have to give credit to Graham [Jarvis] for pushing me so hard early on—I think if he’d stayed in, it would have been a lot closer at the top.”

The battle for the remaining two podium positions was intense and involved many star extreme racers. Roman put on a charge on the final day, finishing second to Lettenbichler and just a little over a minute ahead of Billy Bolt (Rockstar Husqvarna) and another couple of minutes ahead of Young, but it wasn’t enough to catch Young in the overall standings.

Young held on for second overall, finishing four-plus minutes ahead of his Sherco teammate, Roman.

**Canada’s Trystan Hart was the top Romaniacs rookie with seventh place.**

Bolt ended up fourth overall after struggling on day one. He rode well afterward but couldn’t make up the deficit he accrued after the first day.

Walker rounded out the top five overall another 11 minutes back.

**Cody Webb endured “issue after issue” in his Romaniacs debut. He ended up 12th overall.**

Hart was the top-placing rookie in seventh overall. “What a wild week of so much crazy happening in such a short time,” he said. “It was a very good learning experience and will no doubt help me for next year… Congrats to [Lettenbichler] on this third-straight [win], bloody impressive.”

The Romaniacs win puts Lettenbichler at the top of the Hard Enduro World Championship leaderboard with 37 points. He is closely followed by Bolt with 33 points, Young with 25, and Roman and Walker who are tied for fourth with 24 points.

**Former EnduroCross Champion Taddy Blazusiak was sixth overall after a couple of unplanned off-course excursions.**

The FIM Hard Enduro World Championship continues with round five at the Red Bull Tennessee Knockout, August 13-15.CN