The Red Bull Romaniacs Hard Enduro Rallye is an annual race held in Sibiu, Romania. Founded in 2004, the event attracts competitors from all over the world each year. The race spans five days, with the first day featuring an in-city man made Prologue, followed by four days of enduro in the mountains surrounding Sibiu and the Southern Carpathian Mountains.
Some highlights:
This year saw 3 different brands on the gold podium:
KTM’s Manuel Lettenbichler made it six in a row, with Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Billy Bolt runner-up. Sherco’s legend, Mario Roman completed the podium on the third step.
Pics courtesy of Red Bull Media and Hard Enduro World.
Billy Bolt wins the Prologue:
Bolt demonstrated why he is a five-time FIM SuperEnduro World Champion. We hope you watched him breezing through that insane course.He won the evening’s race by 25 seconds, in a promising start.
Day 1: The longest and probably most punishing stage, saw Letti take the win by an impressive seven minutes.
Day 2 saw Mani take off up front of the first half of the marathon stage no outside assistance is allowed. The riders took on seriously steep climbs, insanely slippery forest descents, and flat-out open section. He extended his overall lead with a second consecutive day win.
Bolt takes Friday:
On Friday there was a proper ding-dong up front between Lettenbichler and Bolt. Bolt eventually took the lead and finished three minutes up front.
Lettenbichler clinches the deal:
Saturday was 102 kilometres of classic Romaniacs terrain that included that legendary final hillclimb. Lettenbichler was a class act as he cleared the yumps and bumps and man-made obstacles with much finesse. He took his third stage win of the week and his sixth consecutive Romaniacs title.
“Six in a row! Unreal, simply unreal. Look at the crew—they deserve this victory as much as I do,” Mani said at the finish line. “The pressure was off the chart; the pace was brutal for everyone. This sport has evolved so much—everyone was on fire… so I’m extremely happy.”
Billy Bolt finished second for the day, finishing second overall, after a recovery from early challenges. When you consider that Bolt has been out for quite a few races because of injuries, this result is seriously impressive.
“I had some trouble this morning, but I managed to claw back some time this afternoon,” “I’m really happy, honestly. Proud of how I rode this week. The result is what it is—not the position I normally aim for, but it’s a significant step forward for me in this race. Step by step, we’re getting there.”
3rd placed Mario Roman battled with some health issues during the first two days of racing, but as he got better, he got faster, securing the third step for Sherco. “I rode quite well all day, considering the circumstances. But in ‘Wolf’s Nest’ I chose a poor line through the rocks and Billy passed me. I got stuck there for about seven minutes,”
Sherco had bad luck when Teodor Kiabachev crashed and had to withdraw due to an injured wrist.
Michael Walkner rode hard to finish Red Bull Romaniacs 2025 in fourth place.
The stuff that Legend is made of: Enduro legend Graham Jarvis rounded out the top 5 gold result. If you consider that he’s 50… well, we’ll just leave that there.
It took another five hours to round off the top 10 for gold – testament to just how fast the top riders actually are. The UK’s Mitch Brightmore, Spain’s Francesc Moret, Germany’s Felix Bähker, Italy’s Sonny Goggia, and our own South African star Matthew Green completed the top 10.
Stark Varg takes Silver: Eddie Karlsson delivered quite a ride on the final stage to hand Stark Future’s electric motorcycle its first victory at Romaniacs. He finished ahead of Hungary’s Kornel Ott came in second with American rider Tobin Miller taking the third step. Interesting to watch how electric bikes are progressing.
Lady rider Sandra Gómez gets a nod. She finished silver in a very respectable 13th place overall. That lady is tough!
Our own Kirsten Landman lucked out, breaking her arm on the last day.
In Bronze: Guatemala’s Diego Chang took the win, in spite of the fact that China’s Xing Yang posted the fastest time on the last day.German Eddie Findling from Germany took the third step.
Iron saw Fabio Carvalho win the title but Alexander Petroiu won on the last day. Romanias Ovidiu Tronaru completed the podium..
In the Atom class: Dmitriy Reznitskiy from Kazakhstan secured another victory by quite a margin to clinch the title. Mexico’s Carlos Gracida and the USA’s Justin Short filled the podium.
In the new Adventure Ultimate class, 38 riders lined up. Yamaha’s Pol Tarres took the top step, despite Triumph Racings Jonny Walker posting the fastest time of the day and a previous stage win. Polish rider Dawid Szszotka took the third step.
“I think it’s perfect for Adventure bikes: super fun, with fast sections and also technical areas. It has everything,” “A mid-level rider will enjoy it a lot. If I speak as an Adventure rider, I’d give it 10/10—but if I speak as Pol Tarrés, we need more… something more difficult.” Said Tarres.
If you havent seen that man in action, you need to look him up.
The 28 strong Adventure Lite Class was taken by Dakar star Sam Sunderland on a Triumph. Joop Nissink from Holland and Colombian Daniel Hernández completed the podium.
In eMoto (Yup! Electric is a thing…): Romanian Sebastian Dudas took expert with German Martin Dosch winning the hobby class.
