Enduro
Reigning WESS champion Manuel Lettenbichler delivered a final-day hard enduro masterclass to win Red Bull Romaniacs for the second year in a row, beating Graham Jarvis and Alfredo Gómez to glory.
With a difficult year putting rallies on hold, Red Bull Romaniacs finally got revved-up for a late October start in Romania. Action-starved, the world's best hard enduro riders were hungry to stake their claim in what will be their only major outing for 2020. Watch the full event-recap video in the player above.
Differing from the norm of a prologue in downtown Sibiu, a forest time trial kicked-off the multi-day battle and saw 2018 winner Wade Young top the time sheets. But by the end of Offroad Day 1 it was the king of the Carpathians himself, Graham Jarvis, upfront and chasing a seventh title.
Throughout the week, positions changed rapidly, as organisers of the world's toughest hard enduro rally threw everything they could at the riders. But with seemingly nothing capable of holding them back, Jarvis, Manuel Lettenbichler and Young all battled for the win.
Entering the final day, Jarvis held the upper hand, but just 25 seconds was all that separated him from Lettenbichler in second and Lettenbichler smelt blood.
A textbook win
Hunting Jarvis down, Lettenbichler rode a textbook final day as he guided his KTM safely home.
"It was hard coming into the race to know how you would fair compared to the other guys, as there's been so little racing this year. You don't know how you are skills-wise or fitness-wise," said Lettenbichler at the finish. "Graham was at his best all week, so I'm stoked to beat a legend like that."
For Jarvis, hopes of seventh heaven didn’t happen, despite the elder statesman putting the young guns on the ropes: "I really wanted that win, but it wasn't to be. I knew with only 25 seconds lead it would be a big ask, but I still won two days this week, so it's not bad for an old guy."
Nine-second gap
While the fight for victory was tight, only nine seconds split Alfredo Gómez and Young for third after over 20 hours of action.
With a never-give-up attitude, Gomez rode his way back into contention and past Young on the final day to secure that all-important final step on the podium.
Watch the best of the action in the three-minute highlight reel below:
Red Bull Romaniacs 2020 results
- Manuel Lettenbichler (Germany) 20h 27m 11s
- Graham Jarvis (UK) +2m 26s
- Alfredo Gómez (Spain) +14m 9s
- Wade Young (South Africa) +14m 22s
- Billy Bolt (UK) +31m 18s
- Mario Román (Spain) +1h 44m 28s
- Michael Walkner (Austria) +2h 47m 50s
- Teodor Kabakchiev (Bulgaria) +4h 30m 14s
- Michele Bosi (Italy) +6h 12m
- Sonny Goggia (Italy) +6h 47m 13s
