After Red Bull Romaniacs “Sweet 16” Edition in 2019 – won by Manuel Lettenbichler (GER) – XVENTURE announced the date for the 17th edition: Tuesday July 21 – Saturday July 25, 2020:
The World’s Toughest Hard Enduro Rallye will once again start with the legendary inner city Prolog on July 21, 2020 followed by four Off-road days in the vicinity of Sibiu (Hermannstadt), Romania. The classes will again be split into Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron as well as, in response to high demand and to allow more competitors to have a taste of Hard Enduro, we are also scouting tracks for a fifth class which will be slightly less difficult, less technical and not as many kilometers each day as the Iron Class.
Erste Details: Red Bull Romaniacs 2020 von 21. bis 25. Juli
Heading into a new decade Red Bull Romaniacs would like to celebrate the worldwide growth in the sport of Hard Enduro and it’s recognition now in the world of motor sport racing. The 2020 Edition – officially named “Vertical Madness” – will again bring competitors from all nations and walks of life together to compete alongside top professionals while sometimes having to help & encourage each other in the most difficult, extreme and remote situations they’ve encountered on a bike.
“Vertical Madness” is motivated by the 35,000+ altitude meters that the Gold class competitors will have to climb in the 2020 Red Bull Romaniacs edition – which is about four times the height of Mount Everest and the most altitude metres in any Hard Enduro event ever.
The introduction of our new class highlights a multifaceted approach and more diversity being offered at this level of hard enduro competition, which will also be unique to Red Bull Romaniacs.
We anticipate Alfredo Gomez to come back in 2020 raring to take the win that he just missed out on in 2019 to Mani Lettenbichler in the Gusterita finish area. Alfredo will not rest until he’s made it to the top of the podium. Will he make it? Competition is fierce, Mani will most certainly go flat out again to defend his 2019 Red Bull Romaniacs title. While Graham Jarvis made his intention clear to retake his top spot on the podium in 2020 and Wade Young has some unfinished business having had to pull out due to injury in 2019 while attempting to defend his 2018 title. There is also Billy Bolt and Jonny Walker to consider who are both on their way to recovery from injuries (and surgeries).
Registration Date
The online registration will start on October 23, 2019 at 12:00 Eastern European Time. It is highly recommended to register on the same day as some classes tend to sell out immediately, especially Bronze Class.
2020 Tracks
The team of track managers and Track Director Teo Isac have already spent a lot of time scouting new tracks and we are in negotiations with the city halls, local councils, hunting associations, forest and land owners in regards to the permissions required for the hundreds of kilometers we will ride in the 2020 edition. At this point of time we will not go into the details of the 2020 tracks, but we believe that the right level of difficulty was achieved in the Sweet 16 Edition for all classes. Therefore, we are planning a similar level for the new tracks in 2020. As always the weather can make things complicated but we’ve learned our lessons from edition to edition and believe that by having the ability to react appropriately, as seen last year by successfully removing a couple of loops and sections in the Sweet 16 Edition when heavy rains became a factor, is critical.
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In 2019 we already spent some time within the Dacia area on Off-road Day 2 while riding the Decebal track. This year we will go even deeper into that region and the forest where the Dacians used to live before the Roman Empire stretched out to absorb that area as well.
New rules in 2020
We know there is always room for improvement and we are always implementing what we’ve learnt in areas where we can and should improve. Here are some of the things we will improve in the 2020 edition:
1. In the 2020 edition we will have NO HELP ZONES. We did get some feedback from competitors who felt that the race should not be decided by the size of the team a competitor brings along and the amount of help they receive on some of the technical sections. We believe this is right and will act by declaring certain sections as no help zones, making it fairer for all competitors.
2. In 2020 we will also adjust the time added based on the Prolog results so that the effect of the Prolog results will be less significant than in the past because we believe that what happens on the tracks during the Off-road days should have more value than what happens in the Prolog. For example: The 4th place will only be given 1 minute instead of 3 minutes as in the previous editions. (source: red bull romaniacs)
STORY: “Red Bull Romaniacs 2020” Registrations starts October 23rd.
STORY: Manuel Lettenbichler Rides To Victory At Red Bull Romaniacs
photos (c) Predrag Vuckovic & Mihai Stetcu/Red Bull Content Pool