Is this the toughest race in the world?
More than 1000 entries. Just 15 finishers.
Read that again. Did you watch it? In our home, MotoGP was traded for Red Bull TV and the madness that is the Iron Giant.
Pics courtesy of red Bull Media, Hard Enduro World and Jezmedia
What’s the definition of fun?:
Fun means light-hearted pleasure, enjoyment, or amusement. It describes activities done for recreation rather than for a serious purpose, or a person whose company is enjoyable.
Did those chaps competing in Erzberg this year look like they were having fun?
Hell No!
Masochism is a far better description of what it’s like to ride Erzberg:
The tendency to derive satisfaction, relief, or pleasure from pain, suffering, or humiliation. That certainly sounds more apt.
When you see a man like Andreas Lettenbochler – who creamed the rest of the field by the way, having to scrum his bike through some of the sections.
Well that’s definitely not fun for the mere mortals among us.
Mani Lettenbichler has won the 2026 Red Bull Erzbergrodeo. Trystan Hart and Mario Román rounded out the top three podium in this 30th edition of the event.
Mani’s victory on the Iron Giant this year equals Taddy Blazusiak and Graham Jarvis in the exclusive five-time winners’ circle and…
Three electric bikes crossed the finish line before time was up. That’s pretty notable.
The routes this year seemed – well impossible to be quite frank. Take the steepest climbs and descents you have ever seen, Zig Zag those and include heaps of rocks, forest, roots, tree trunks. Entertaining to watch, but certainly more comfortable to witness from the couch at home.
Carls Dinner is old news. Enter The SegWAY, Wacker Neuson & Speedweek Machine, all new bits that are designed to seriously mess the riders around. There was a section called someone or other Rock Party… that was not our idea of a party…
The format remained selective. Across two days of the Iron Road Prologue, the entry list is cut to the 500 fastest riders, who line up for Sunday’s main race against a four-hour clock and a course that climbs and drops across the 1,400-metre mountain. In most years, barely a dozen of those 500 reach the finish.
41 nations qualified for the final race and 16 of them, from every continent, packed into the front row alone.
KTM Racings Lettenbichler really was a class act this year.
For 2026 there was hardly any mud and water at the start which allowed him to avoid getting snarled up in the masses. He commented that the start was more like an MX race than an enduro… He, Mitch Brightmore and Trystan Hart made a break with Lettenbichler and Brightmore swapping the lead in the early stages of the race.
Hart and Walker tried to stay with the front group until Double Fault at around the 17 kay mark when Sherco star Teodor Kabakchiev joined the fun..
Manny was having none of it and he opened up the gap. A gap of around 5 minutes at the halfway point of the kilometre 23 checkpoint race. 5 minutes is a long time in these insane conditions.
“Five wins at Erzberg, I have no words,” Lettenbichler said. “It’s been an unbelievable race and I couldn’t be happier. I had an alright start, but quickly got in the mix with Mitch and Trystan and they were really pushing me hard. After that I felt so good on the bike and just enjoyed every section so much. It feels incredible to make it five in a row and equal the record. I am speechless.”
Hart held on to second, Walker suffered a stick through his triumphs radiator that put him out of contention – complete with a broken tooth and Mario Román started sneaking up the order until he caught up with Hart.
Mani simply did what a front runner with that gap would do. Stayed calm and gave everyone a lesson in how to ride the impossible. He kept his head and increased his lead all the way to the end.
He rode a masterclass to finish in 3:05:39.953.
Speaking to the media at the finish, he made it clear that he already has his sights set on the next target: To become the rider with the most Erzberg wins.
The main ding dong for the podium was between Trystan Hart and Mario Román. The Canadian eventually came out on top in that battle to finish in second, eight and a bit minutes behind Lettenbichler, with the Spaniard securing third place on his MR74 machine, five minutes later.
Fourth place went to Bulgarian sensation, Sherco’s Teodor Kabakchiev. The Bulgarian finished ahead of Mitch Brightmore..
It was a great day for South Africa’s James Moore. The talented Junior Hard Enduro world champion finished sixth at his first Erzberg outing.
Michael Walkner followed in seventh for GASGAS and Austria, with young Ashton Brightmore eighth and half an hour behind Mani.
The 2026 Erzbergrodeo proved to be a good place for electric bikes with Eddie Karlsson bringing his Stark Varg home in ninth place. The GOAT, Graham Jarvis, on his Jarv-E joined the electric party by rounding out the top 10.
Five more riders managed to beat the four hour timeslot,
Italy’s Lorenzo Gandola on Sherco and the UK’s Toby Martyn on another Stark Varg finished 11th and 12th.
American Yamaha rider Cody Webb finished Erzbergrodeo in 13th place, with another Austrian rider, Dieter Rudolf taking 14th. Husqvarna’s American competitor, Ryder Leblond was the last rider to take the chequered flag before the horns sounded…
That’s it and that’s all. These are some of the greatest Hard Enduro riders that the world has ever seen. Simply amazing athletes.
Behind these fearless few, there were bodies and motorcycles strewn across the routes, many still stuck on climbs that had simply become too rutted and torn up to get any kind of forward momentum.
In the Adventure class, Tarres set a new record by getting his Tenere further than ever before. This guy displayed his skills by getting the bike to checkpoint 19. Very few plastics actually made it to where he reached…
KTM’s ace Rally racer Daniel Sanders starred in the high-speed Iron Road Prologue, finishing second behind Andrea Verona, but did not contest Sunday’s main Red Bull Erzbergrodeo Hare Scramble.
We watched the field climbing in and helping each other – outside help is not permitted, but it was all futile. The 30th edition was a seriously hard mistress.
We saw riders sprawled out on the slopes after the horns sounded. Was that relief on their faces that it was over?
We saw agony in the few that had come so close to beating the clock, but they just didn’t have enough in the tank to make it. All in, it was an epic affair. We’d never call it fun…
Are they masochistic enough to make the Erzberg pilgrimage next year?
We’re pretty sure that most will be at the start line…
Karl Katoch the man behind this insane Hard Enduro said that the 30th edition drew nearly 57,000 visitors across the four days, with the event again effectively building a temporary town at the foot of the mountain for thousands of participants, crew and fans.
