Red Bull Romaniacs 2017 Results – Report – Images – Video
Graham Jarvis wins his sixth Red Bull Romaniacs
The 2017 Red Bull Romaniacs ended with some of the Bronze class riders arriving first at the traditional hillclimb just outside Sibiu – with thousands of fans watching.
The first Gold class rider to arrive was “Mini Letti” Manuel Lettenbichler, who nailed the infamous uphill on the first attempt. Mini Letti might not be called “Mini” for much longer. In a career lifting move, Mini Letti continued his performance from yesterday, unleashing mayhem and left many of the established top-guns eating his dust. Coached by his father (Andreas Lettenbichler), and teaming up with Paul Bolton in some of the sections, Mini Letti won the day and secured himself an overall 4th place in the race. After two unsuccessful attempts at the rally, this was his first finish – with an absolutely breathtaking result!
His riding buddy for the last two days, Paul Bolton, seemed to be as excited about Letti`s performance as he was about his own. Like Mini Letti, Bolton delivered one of the best performances of his life. He rode best-times from day one, scored a second place today and landed himself in third place on the Red Bull Romaniacs podium for the first time in ten years.
The highlight of this year`s Red Bull Romaniacs was Graham Jarvis. Riding in a league of his own, winning the first three and hardest days of the race, Jarvis played it safe on Offroad Day four. Knowing that he had almost half an hour leeway to secure his overall win, he left the open tracks and the spotlight to the “young wild ones”. During the four days, Graham Jarvis was seen using every spare minute to either rest or focus on preparing the next day. And winning his race, which he did… by a long shot. It was the sixth time that Graham Jarvis did it – he is now officially a legend.
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Video
Graham Jarvis
“It’s an incredible feeling to win Romaniacs for the sixth time. When I started racing the event almost ten years ago I couldn’t even dream of winning it six times. It’s a fantastic race that has been growing and growing over the last few years. This time it’s been a battle of survival and I was really happy to get to the finish. Day one was pretty tough and it seemed to go on forever. It was difficult to navigate as well. Day two was a bit of an easier one and not so technical. Jonny Walker caught me but after the service point I managed to pull a gap. Overall, it was a good day for me. We knew day three was going to be tough. There was a lot of pushing before the service point and that was the hardest bit. It was a very long day and the tiredness kept building. On the last day I did my best to stay focused on the track. I was tired so I decided to play it safe and ride my bike to the finish. It’s been a huge team effort to get this winning result.”
Manuel Lettenbichler
“It was a tough week, but still good, I was pretty stoked today, it was fast and you had to push from the start to the finish. I managed it! I’m so happy to finish, for sure ideally you want to podium but it’s still amazing because the last 2 years I crashed and had to quit but this year I made it through to the hill climb and Andy`s surprise and it’s a really amazing feeling.”
Paul Bolton
“I’ve had an awesome week, no major hiccups or anything like that, I’ve been positive all week, just trying to ride my own race. I’m more mentally and physically prepared than ever before and it has really paid off. It’s my tenth year, so it was all or nothing, it had to happen this year! I rode well from the beginning and consistency was key. My bike and kit have all been amazing. It`s all down to having a lot of awesome people around me, Patch and everyone in the pits and I’d like to dedicate it to everybody who helped me out and so that’s it..third place Red Bull Romaniacs 2017!”
Mario Roman
“I’m feeling so good right now, I’ve been working so hard the last couple of years, I’ve had good results but this is pretty much the best for me, I can’t complain, I’m really happy with Sherco and my team. Today was a perfect day, I didn’t take any risks and I didn’t think about any of the other riders, I had a good gap and just did my best. I feel at home in the finish with the hillclimb because I have lots of these at home and have ridden them all my life so I had a lot of fun in the finish. I’m young but I have a lot of experience and I know that it’s never over until you get to the end, when I got to the hillclimb I realized that I was second overall. With so many hours riding the bike and navigating the trails you have to be 100% focused and it’s not always possible to be 100% focused and that’s when we might crash which is what happened to me on Offroad Day one and I need to learn from this and will be better for next year. It is by far the toughest race, I’m really happy”
Brazilian Bruno Crivilin came into the finish first in silver class as well as in first place overall. The second and third overall finishers were Emanuel Gyenes, Romania`s favorite and Dylan Yearbury from New Zealand.
Bronze class rider Romanian Sergiu Grecu greeted the cheering crowds first in the finish of Offroad Day 4. He came in first on each of the 4 Offroad days. Second overall and second on Offroad Day 4 is Portuguese, Nuno Pereira, and third place overall is Will Westgarth (GBR).
In the Iron class, the “Fat Ladies” were able to sing all the way until the end. Big-twin travel enduro riders Gerhard Foster (Touratech BMW) and Quinn Cody (KTM Adventure 1090) managed to write history and navigate bikes twice the size of a hard enduro one through the four Red Bull Romaniacs days. Forster finished 14th and Cody 33rd.
Four out of ten women who took on this year`s Red Bull Romaniacs crossed today`s finish line. Kirsten Landman (ZAF) showed her endurance and competitive ability yet again by smokin’ the Silver class, an achievement to be proud of. Bronze class riders Emma Broadbent (AUS), Anna Larissa Redinger (AUT) and Iron class Heidi Kjogx (DNK) also rode through the Red Bull arches today.
Red Bull Romaniacs 2017 Results
- Jarvis GBR 32:33:26
- Roman ESP +00:34:44
- Bolton GBR +00:50:53
- Lettenbichler DEU +01:01:35
- Teasdale ZAF +02:05:27
- Bolt GBR +02:51:53
- Swanepoel ZAF +02:54:46
- Enöckl AUT +03:30:14
- Scholz DEU +03:53:24
- Cyprián CZE +04:20:30
- Tuinstra NLD +05:51:00
- Józsa ROU +06:08:41
- Gallas DEU +06:47:37
- Goggia ITA +06:57:05
- Kabakchiev BGR +14:22:44
Images by Red Bull & Husqvarna
