Once again the world ’ s best hard enduro riders ( and some amateurs crazy enough to take on the challenge ) headed into the Carpathian Mountains surrounding the Romanian town of Sibiu for the annual Red Bull Romaniacs .
Held over the course of five days in the Carpathian Mountains surrounding the town of Sibiu , the annual Red Bull Romaniacs Hard Enduro Rallye is truly one of the toughest events on the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship calendar . For 2021 there were a few changes to the event , with the first-ever marathon stage seeing riders pitching tents for the night , while one of the hard men of hard enduro had to retire from the event early due to injury .
FORCED RETIREMENT After hovering around the podium for the past two events , it was looking like British rider Graham Jarvis was on track for a return to the top step at the start of the second day of the multi-day Hard Enduro Rallye , which also doubled as the first part of the event ’ s first marathon stage . With riders camping overnight and unable to receive any team assistance , Day 2 was always going to be the make or break point for riders who had to balance the need to ride competitively , but also carefully as to not damage themselves or their bike . After topping the first full day of offroad competition , Jarvis looked set to battle it out for the overall win as he chased an elusive seventh Romaniacs victory . With just 40 minutes of racing to go before the finish line of the second day , and having successfully navigated through the toughest part of the course , Jarvis twisted his knee on a high-speed section , breaking the Anterior Cruciate Ligament ( ACL ) in his left leg . Jarvis was forced to retire from the event , and travelled to Madrid in Spain where he underwent an ACL reconstruction surgery . “ I guess there are always positives and negatives with injuries like this , but I ’ m doing all I can do at this time ,” Jarvis from his forced time off the bike . “ I managed to get surgery pretty quickly
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