used the 18-kilometre route to reacquaint himself with the Romanian terrain and gave some indication as to the form he was in .
As day 1 of competition unfolded , it became clear that the battle would between the German and the British riders . Graham Jarvis , the Husqvarna rider took the honours . In fact , just three and a half minutes separated the two after five hours of racing .
Disaster struck on the second day , and the first of the marathon stage , when Jarvis hurt his knee forcing him from the event . This let Lettenbichler take a comfortable lead of almost 13 minutes as all riders went into the overnight camp . This moved the KTM rider to the top of the standings and put him in a comfortable position for the shorter day three where he dropped just two minutes to the day ’ s winner , Wade Young from South Africa aboard a Sherco .
Pushing right from the start on day four , Lettenbichler issued a challenge to his rivals , going fastest on four of the first five checkpoints . Easing his pace towards the end of the day to ensure no mistakes were made in the closing stages of the race , the 2019 WESS Champion
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