words : Steph Vetterly photos : Red Bull Content Pool and Future7Media
July 27-31 , 2021
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing ’ s Manuel Lettenbichler wins three out of five days and secures the overall win at Red Bull Romanics , Round 4 of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship ( HEWC ) series . Sherco ’ s Wade Young would take second followed by Sherco teammate Mario Roman close behind to round out the podium .
The format of the event was quite simple . A short , but technically demanding , time trial qualification started the competition off on Tuesday , followed by four solid days of racing up , down , and across the beautiful Carpathian Mountains surrounding the city of Sibiu , Romania . The organizers had nicknamed the event “ Vertical Madness Reloaded ,” for the huge amount of climbing riders had to do throughout the steep , challenging terrain .
This year ’ s Romaniacs also included a Marathon stage for the first time in the event ’ s history . Following Offroad Day 2 , competitors would camp out overnight before starting out on Offroad Day 3 . No outside assistance would be allowed during that time , so competitors had to