The Roof Of Africa 2025 Hard Enduro race Lesotho Southern Africa

Moore Takes the Roof Title, Lettenbichler Secures the World Hard Enduro Championship.

The ‘25 edition of this famous race lived up to all expectations. Throughout the weekend, we saw happy, smiling faces all over the place. The weather played along with mostly sunny skies, some blistering heat and the odd spot of rain.

Pics by: Black Rock Moto, Foley Foto, Action In Motion. Hard Enduro World. The Bike Show thanks guys.

The vibe at the Avani Lesotho, the Roof Of Africa admin centre was cool as riders and teams arrived to get checked in and sorted. Old friends reconnected, loads of bench racing and a general air of anticipation was the order of the day. The music was booming, great trade took place with lizzard Gear, Supermoist, Plews tyres and NPL nutrition getting all of the last minute.com peeps sorted with stuff.

Cold Maluti’s were on hand to keep the spectators hydrated as the athletes sorted their final tweaks for the big days ahead.

We did miss the Round The Houses race. That was replaced with a parade, led by Lesotho’s big Boss man himself, Mr Sam Matakane and SA race Legend Alfie Cox through the streets of Maseru on the day of check-in and registration. Very festive for sure!

It was epic to see so many global hard enduro superstars who were taking part in the FIM World Hard Enduro Championship – and it was also brilliant to see how they make time for all of the fans. To rub shoulders and share a laugh with Manny, Billy, Mitch, Mario and all the others was seriously cool! For us, it was sad that Roof Superstar Wade Young was not there this year. He came second in a firefight and needs some time to recover.

We saw young fans grabbing autographs and seasoned veterans stopping in at the pits just to gawp and have a chinwag. The vibe was real!

That evening, everyone arrived for the rider briefing, it was packed as the route directors gave the guys an idea of what to expect.

Early on Thursday morning, Iron, Bronze and silver riders made their way to the start of the time trial section, converging on a field in the middle of nowhere for the first race to the weekends race village at Music Box.

That was the actual start of the ‘25 Roof of Africa. We watched young – and some not so young riders set out for a ride of note. For the first time, The Roof had a Triumph, an electric Stark Varg and KTM’s new 390R Enduro on the startline.

Seriously cool stuff this.

Another footnote – among the many nationalities, we had two riders from China in the mix for the very first time.

We met 14 year old Ryan Gulliver and 15 year old lady rider Skyla Viljoen out to take on the challenge in Bronze. Epic stuff! By the way, they finished… no mean feat, the future of Enduro in SA is looking great!

We saw so many Lesotho riders on the start lines and up in the mountains, and man, these guys can ride. We suspect that we even saw a guy riding to and from the start.

We saw spectators of all shapes and sizes who have made The Roof Of Africa an annual pilgrimage on big ADV bikes, small ADV bikes and scramblers. They were roaring all over the countryside as peeps came along to watch the action.

We even encountered a 1973 odd twin shock Harley Davidson scrambler up at Music Box. How cool is that?

The Music Box village was too cool! Long time Roof Of Africa supporters, Motul were there with their bike wash, 413 Racing was ready and waiting to offer riders assistance, there was a massive stage, a shady chill zone, good food, cold beverages – and views for as far as the eye can see.

At Music Box, everyone got to watch the Iron, Bronze and Silver riders come in – and then we all got to watch the gold riders displaying some insane skills on impossible climbs on their time trial loops.

It was flippen spectacular – beautiful insanity!

And that’s how the weekend progressed. Early mornings to Music box to see the riders leave – and then a mad scramble to the best viewing points that we could find.

Those often involved long hikes up and down the mountains to catch the riders in action.

To watch the lower (Is that even a thing?) classes battling away was often even more spectacular to watch than just the big dogs. Our lot trekked into the glorious Maluti’s, perched on a rock or under a tree and shouted advice that was absolutely not needed! SA boasts some amazingly talented riders and to each and every one of you – well done! This was no picnic!

We heard about mud Monsters that swallowed bikes and riders whole when they just stepped off the race line. We saw eyes as big as saucers as riders negotiated massive descents, all the while trying not to fall over. Many did, and that’s always entertaining to watch – so thank you for that. We saw riders tackle slippery steep climbs that we battled to stagger up – on some we witnessed technical malfunctions, with riders stripping bikes right down in the middle of the race so that they could continue in pursuit of that all important finishers medal. We watched a Lesotho rider who had lost his front brakes wrestle his bike down a massive drop, just so that he could keep going.

We saw bikes tipping over in the rivers, riders doing superman impersonations over the handlebars and landing with a thud… then shaking themselves off, picking up their bike and continuing the adventure.

Then it was a mad scramble back to Music Box in order to watch the riders coming in.

Of course, watching superstars like Manny Lettenbichler, Billy bolt and co was a real treat, these guys are class acts and deserve every accolade, but watching the small battles is often even more spectacular.

We’ll say this right up front: Many of our current crop of South African Hard Enduro stars are right up there, we can list them for you, most are household names by now.

It was absolute magic to see our own Junior World hard Enduro Champ James Moore take the fight to the big dogs and the win for the weekend. In spite of issues with his GPS on day three, he fought hard to hold on and claim his first HEWC and Roof Of Africa win.

His first Roof victory, but we are quietly confident that it won’t be his last.

In his words: “Watched it been done so many times and now I’ve done it myself – childhood dream! It still doesn’t feel quite real”

“Thank you everyone for the support out there, I could really feel lots of people were behind me. Special thanks to @ktmsouthafrica and my family for the opportunity and all the help”

Manuel Lettenbichler was a class act as he took a classy ride to second overall at the Roof of Africa, which was also the last round of the 2025 FIM Hard Enduro World Championship. The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider arrived in Lesotho with the pressure off but still delivered the consistency and grit that defined his season.

A legend in the sport, he successfully defended his FIM Hard Enduro crown to become a five-time world champion. It was really cool to see another Roof legend in the pits in the form of his dad Andreas. We actually wonder who got more attention. Dad or son?

He Says: “The first two days were up and down, so I knew Saturday had to count. The terrain early this morning suited me well, and I managed to pull some time back. After the first service check it got really technical and tiring, but riding the last section with the group was good fun. Finishing the season at a race like this, with the title already secured, feels pretty cool.”

Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Billy Bolt has ended the 2025 FIM Hard Enduro World Championship as vice-champion thanks to a superb third-place finish at the Roof of Africa – the seventh and final round of the season. He says: “Overall I’m pleased with how I rode and I’m really happy to have secured second in the championship. The Roof of Africa is an incredible race, too. Although I know South Africa well, I’m taken aback by how spectacular this region is. I rode here before in 2016, but I don’t quite remember it, so this race, the terrain, mountains, and everything about it is special. I knew for the final day I would have to push hard early on, so I did my best to go for it. I pushed the pace, worked my way to the front, and I put myself back into podium contention. Overall, I’m satisfied with my season and pleased to have secured second. I felt the high points showed me at my best, and I managed to bring the fight to Mani more consistently, too. Now the focus is on SuperEnduro, which begins in less than three weeks. I’m looking forward to it.”

Mario Roman took fourth place ahead of Mitch Brightmore. They both opened up on the final day to get ahead of a South African squadron.

Brightmore also secured a very respectable third place overall in the HEWC series for 2025.

Unfinished business: Sherco rider Teo Kabakchiev was also in the running strong until a crash down a slippery waterfall injured his wrist again. Take a break, regroup, we see you next year!

At every vantage point, the climbs were littered with spectators and it was cool to listen in on all the conversations.

While we were watching Cape Towns Pikkie, the last gold rider to come up the hill, we overheard a massive Basotho guy ask the question:

“Is this fun? Why would anyone want to do this?”

We heard an answer. “Because they can.”

That’s what the Roof of Africa is all about and the ‘25 edition was by all accounts, a cracker!

More soon? For sure!

We chased The Roof on some pretty cool bikes, so we’ll tell you about all that – and we still have so… many… pictures to show.

Spains Sandra Gomez Raced a Silver Roof and won the ladies HEWC Title for 2025.

Here are your champions:

Sandra Gomez is the Roof Of Africa’s top female star.

Grant Burton Durham took the Silver class win.

He was followed home by Sherco rider Branden Swanepoel and KTM mounted Matthew Burger.

Stiaan van Den Heever is victor in Bronze class. He was followed home by Geoff Patterson and then Jamie Wilson.

Gideon Malherbe took the Iron win. He was closely chased by Ian Rall on that KTM 390R. Lesotho’s Seamaus Mcarthy closed out the podium.

We have to make a fuss of the Gold riders. They are, after all, the elite and watching them was an absolute pleasure. Thank you guys! Below are all the Gold results.

1 Moore, James KTM

2 Lettenbichler, Manuel KTM

3 Bolt, Billy HQV

4 Roman, Mario SHERCO

5 Brightmore, Mitch GASGAS

6 Green, Matthew KTM

7 Gomez, Alfredo BETA

8 Stevens, Mathew KTM

9 Walker, Luke HQV

10 Slater, Will BETA

11 Scales, Thomas BETA

12 Teasdale, Travis HQV