FIRED UP LETTENBICHLER WINS ROMANIACS DAY THREE
Andreas Lettenbichler steals the show on day three with victory at Red Bull Romaniacs…
At the start of day 3 it was obvious that the race had begun to take it’s toll on some of the riders, with quite a few not showing up to compete. Among them were Chris Birch (KTM) and Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM) who opted out of the race yesterday.
In keeping with yesterday’s finish in the water, day 3 started with a river crossing, sending the first Gold class riders out on tour at 06.30am sharp. In the Gold class, all eyes were on the leading guys – Walker and Jarvis. But things got seriously spiced up.
Jonny Walker (KTM) who, so far has won the prologue and day 2, started this morning first and as a clear favourite. Expected to be mainly challenged by Jarvis, he surprisingly ended up finishing fifth. This will make the final day very interesting, considering that Jonny is still leading the overall ranking.
“Today was a day of two halves,” told Walker. “I started off first this morning and was riding really well. I held my advantage up until the service point and was keen to step it up for the remainder of the day. But for some reason I kind of lost my groove a bit in the afternoon. I’m a little disappointed in that.”
Graham Jarvis (Husqvarna) will be hot on his heels on the final day tomorrow. Second in the overall ranking, he finished third today, delivering a top-notch performance.
The humble “King of the Carpathians” had been struggling after a crash in the morning and arrived quite exhausted in the finish, eager to find out about the results of the day…
“I am happy with third place, it means anything can happen tomorrow!”
With yesterday’s penalty for missing a Gold-loop, Andreas Lettenbichler (KTM) set off this morning in 12th place. He had no hopes for a podium in the overall ranking of the event. But instead of cruising or playing it safe, Letti went racing. The later start seemed to work in his favour.
The KTM rider just barely avoided a nasty crash shortly after the start in “The Forgotten Trail” but regrouped and managed to find his flow. He gained the critical five-minute advantage over the others in the alpine terrain before the Service Point and carried most of the lead through the rest of the day to win
“I was proper annoyed with my mistake from yesterday,” admitted Lettenbichler. “I just wanted to get out and ride hard today and that’s what I did. From the word go I was attacking everywhere. I think it’s one of the best day’s I’ve ever rode in my life – I was giving it 100 per cent everywhere, sometimes maybe more. It’s been cool to get the win, in a small way it makes up for my loss. I’ll sleep a little happier tonight.”
Alfredo Gomez (Husqvarna), who finished second, was pleased with his day and is happy to have found his Romaniacs groove again.
Tomorrow, the Gold and Bronze classes will start at 07:00 am from different locations. The final day of the 2015 Red Bull Romaniacs starts out with a 1500-meter altitude climb to the top of the high mountains – followed by some great up- and downhills before reaching the Service Point.
After that, the Silver and Gold classes are in for a good workout before joining the Iron and Bronze classes on the last part over the flatlands heading to the legendary hill climb at Gusterita just outside Sibiu.
Day three riding stats
Iron: 93km. minimum estimated riding time: 3:43
Bronze: 105km. minimum estimated riding time: 3:50
Silver: 117km. minimum estimated riding time: 5:01
Gold: 153km. minimum estimated riding time: 5:34