Red Bull Erzbergrodeo 2025: Manuel Lettenbichler is crowned Extreme Enduro World Champion!
Red Bull Erzbergrodeo 2025: Manuel Lettenbichler is crowned Extreme Enduro World Champion!
Billy Bolt (UK, Husqvarna) finishes second, followed by Teodor Kabakchiev (BG, Sherco). Fourteen riders from eight countries out of a total of 500 starters reach the finish line after four hours of extreme challenges.
With initially perfect weather conditions and an extremely selective race track, the “Iron Mountain” today put up a fierce fight against the 500 starters who entered into battle with the Erzberg at 1:00 p.m. sharp. The world's toughest extreme enduro race provided a spectacular backdrop for the tens of thousands of visitors who created a breathtaking atmosphere in the visitor zones along the 35-kilometer race track.
Right after the start, British Husqvarna Factory Racing rider Billy Bolt took the lead, closely followed by Teo Kabakchiev, Mani Lettenbichler, and Jonny Walker, who was the only rider in the leading group to compete on a four-stroke motorcycle. Close behind was extreme enduro youngster Mitch Brightmore (UK, GASGAS), a two-time Red Bull Erzbergrodeo finisher.
Bolt started the race at an incredibly fast pace and led the field through the first checkpoints in record time. At checkpoint 10, the first section of the legendary Carl's Dinner section, a small mistake by the Brit allowed Mani Lettenbichler to take the lead. From that moment on, the 27-year-old Red Bull KTM Factory Racing factory rider unleashed his enormous talent and put on a real show of strength on the Iron Mountain. “Letti” steadily extended his lead in the following sections of the course and mastered the ultra-tough sections with absolutely no mistakes. Especially in the last and toughest sections, Carl's Dinner, Motorex Highway, Siberia Dynamit, and the new Lazy Noon, the German showed his impressive riding technique and was able to further extend his lead over his pursuers. Finally, Mani Lettenbichler crossed the finish line in the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo Arena with a time of 2:49:17.58, where he was frenetically celebrated by thousands of fans. Another highlight for the sport's most successful athlete was the awarding of the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo Extreme Enduro World Champion title by Heinz Kinigadner and Karl Katoch.
Although Billy Bolt is unable to match Lettenbichler's pace today, he still puts in a more than impressive performance. The 27-year-old Briton secures second place on the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo podium with a comfortable 12-minute lead. The battle for the last podium spot between Trystan Hart (CAN, KTM), Jonny Walker (UK, Triumph), Mitch Brightmore (UK GASGAS), and Teodor Kabakchiev (BG, Sherco) is extremely exciting. Canadian KTM factory rider Hart seems to be on course for the podium for a long time, until a minor technical defect shortly before the end of the race changes everything. While Hart has to repair his KTM, Brightmore, Walker, and Kabakchiev pass him. In the final meters before the finish line, a sensational battle for the podium unfolds between Mitch Brightmore and Teo Kabakchiev, which the 27-year-old Bulgarian ultimately wins. After his first finish in 2023, third place at the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo 2025 represents a career highlight for the likeable Sherco factory rider.
Behind the podium finishers, the world's elite extreme enduro riders battle their way through the challenging course, which is made even more difficult by a brief cloudburst in the middle of the race. In the end, 14 of the 500 participants who started made it to the finish arena, including 50-year-old Briton Graham Jarvis (UK, KTM), who, as a five-time Red Bull Erzbergrodeo winner, once again lived up to his nickname “The GOAT” (Greatest of All Time). At the end of the four-hour race, the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo finish arena erupts once again. Austria's Dieter Rudolf, riding his X-Grip Racing Team GASGAS, gives it his all and crosses the Red Bull finish line just two minutes before the end of the race – and is celebrated by the fans in the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo Arena with at least as much enthusiasm as the winner.
New route provides breathtaking drama
The Red Bull Erzbergrodeo is considered the toughest challenge in the extreme enduro scene, and the 35-kilometer race track did not disappoint in 2025. In particular, the division of the legendary “Carl's Dinner” section into two separate sections (checkpoints 10 and 22 of 27) significantly increased the level of difficulty for the 500 starters. The extremely selective terrain at the checkpoints “Blakläder Zentrum am Berg,” “Wacker Neuson,” “Motorex Highway,” and “Siberia Dynamite” demanded all the participants' reserves in the final kilometers and ensured high tension until the very end.
Final results RED BULL ERZBERGRODEO 2025:
1. Manuel Lettenbichler (DE, KTM) 2:49:17.58 hours
2. Billy Bolt (UK, Husqvarna) 3:01:57.565
3. Teodor Kabakchiev (BG, Sherco) 3:13:44.942
4. Mitch Brightmore (UK, GASGAS) 3:13:46.895
5. Trystan Hart (CAN, KTM) 3:18:32.642
6. Jonny Walker (UK, Triumph) 3:26:53.833
7. Mario Roman (ESP, Sherco) 3:29:17.323
8. Graham Jarvis (UK, KTM) 3:39:39.218
9. Will Riordan (AUS, Sherco) 3:42:03.376
10. Alfredo Gomez (ESP, Beta) 3:44:55.805
11. Wade Young (RSA, GASGAS) 3:46:05.313
12. Matthew Green (RSA, KTM) 3:48:14.153
13. Francesc Moret (ESP, KTM) 3:51:53.701
14. Dieter Rudolf (AUT, GASGAS) 3:58:01.037
Red Bull Erzbergrodeo Extreme Enduro World Champion 2025
Manuel Lettenbichler (DE, KTM)
Detailed Red Bull Erzbergrodeo results at https://www.redbullerzbergrodeo.com
With enormous effort, the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo was once again broadcast around the world in 2025. With a total of 25 live camera positions, 8 additional mobile cameras, 2 live camera drones, and helicopter footage, impressive images of the world's toughest extreme enduro race were brought to the screens. For those who were unable to watch the exciting live broadcast, the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo 2025 is available to watch at www.redbullcontentpool.com/erzbergrodeo.
TransFER Erzberg: powerful on the mountain, comfortable on the rails
Following its successful premiere last year, the ÖBB Rail Cargo Group's TransFER Erzberg was once again the transport of choice for around 90 international participants from England, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. The 350-meter-long special transport with ten flat cars and three couchette cars took the riders and their equipment – from cars with motorcycle trailers to minibuses with complete setups – from Düsseldorf to the “Iron Mountain” and back again in comfort. For the first time, both the outward and return journeys on Sunday were fully booked – and for good reason: after the exhausting race days, the journey in the couchette car not only offered well-deserved rest, but also a relaxed, safe, and congestion-free ride. TransFER Erzberg thus once again confirmed its reputation as a well-thought-out logistics solution for people and machines.
Red Bull Erzbergrodeo 2025: the World Xtreme Enduro Supreme did not disappoint!
The Red Bull Erzbergrodeo 2025 offered non-stop action, entertainment, and exciting motorsports on all four days of the event. The specially constructed “small town on the iron mountain” once again became the pulsating center of the international off-road scene, with participants and fans from 41 nations and all continents! "With more than 43,000 visitors over the four days, the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo was a great success. I am personally very pleased with the outstanding sporting performances of the competitors from all over the world, who treated us to an extremely exciting race. We will be evaluating the entire event in the coming days and weeks, but I am delighted with the sensational atmosphere in the visitor areas along the track and the enormously positive cooperation with our partners and sponsors, without whom the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo would not be possible," said organizer Karl Katoch, summing up his initial impressions after the race.
