Red Bull Romaniacs: Exclusive interview with dominator Manuel Lettenbichler

With a lead of over an hour over the five days of racing (one prologue and four off-road race days) over the runner-up, the Bulgarian Teo Kabakchiev (Sherco), the exceptional rider Manuel Lettenbichler put in a performance in Romania this year that seemed to be from another planet. On the final day in particular – by far the toughest – the gap was almost 45 minutes. SPEEDWEEK.com spoke exclusively to Lettenbichler after the Romaniacs.

Manuel Lettenbichler dominierte bei den Red Bull Romaniacs

Foto: Red Bull

Congratulations on your seventh victory at the Romaniacs. Does this win still feel special to you, despite the run of four in a row? Of course it does. Winning this race is a massive adventure. Everything simply has to come together – the bike, the team, everything. It’s always a great success for the rider, but also for the team. But the seventh win doesn’t feel quite as good as the first one.

Your performance on the final day in particular left even the experts speechless. How did you find the day, and what made the difference compared to the rest? The final day was truly a classic Red Bull Romaniacs day, especially up to the service point. The final day was definitely the toughest this time round, and the most technically demanding. And that’s why I was able to make up so much time. Normally, they like to make the first day the hardest here; this year it was the last, and I think some riders simply ran out of steam – which surprised me a bit in some cases. The other days were more on the faster side.

Which sections were decisive on the final day? Bedtime Alarm, Skydive and Pandora. Those were actually last year’s descents, which they’d turned into climbs this year and tweaked a bit. That was really tough going.

The young riders like Mitch & Ashton Brightmore – and now, increasingly, James Moore too – are really coming into their own. How do you see their progress? It’s absolutely brilliant that the youngsters are now stepping up. James Moore put in a really strong performance on the final day. And Matt Green had a brilliant day too. When things get really tough, he’s currently in great form. Third and fourth place for the pair of them. The youngsters are slowly but surely making their mark. Especially in long races like the Romaniacs, experience does play a part, as do fitness and pacing – that’s where I still have the upper hand. But otherwise: they’re coming on strong and getting better all the time!

The next race in the HEWC is the Forza Orza in Sweden. What are you expecting there? That’s right, a new race – I’m looking forward to it and I’m excited. It’s always good to have a new race ahead of you.

In the Hard Enduro World Ranking, you’ve built up a solid lead thanks to your results at the Erzberg and the Romaniacs. How do you see the rankings developing? I’m keen to see how the rankings develop. Karl Katoch and Martin Freinademetz have said they want to get the riders on board via the working group. The first meeting is due to take place at some point to discuss exactly what next year might look like. In this first year, it’s certainly a learning curve, but I can well imagine that the rankings will become really interesting in terms of viewing the sport from a more global perspective and also making the rankings themselves more global.

Hard Enduro World Ranking – Season Standings, as at 3 August 2026: