Main mountain race results from 2025 Sea to Sky, Hard Enduro World Championship round, where Manuel Lettenbichler was at his imperious best for Red Bull KTM in four-hour gruelling race to the top of the Mount Olympos in Kemer with Mario Roman and Mitch Brightmore joining him on the podium. 

Hard Enduro doesn’t get much more gruelling than the Sea to Sky main race. Four hours of racing from the sea to the top of the Olympos mountain, over 2 kilometres in the clouds (you see where they get the name for this race from yet?) throws pretty much everything at the riders with check points listed like threats: Alcatraz, Mini Erzberg and Sorry Bro...

Relentless Lettenbichler

Mani Lettenbichler was at his absolute best mastering the main race and these CPs on day three in Turkey. Setting a relentless pace from a holeshot, the Red Bull KTM rider established a cushion early which he never relinquished.

A late push from his nearest challenger, Mario Roman in the final climbs to the mountain top, was too late and the German takes his third win of the season. With two rounds remaining (Getzen Rodeo and The Roof of Africa), Letti scored 41 points here while nearest title rival Billy Bolt scored just 15 and Letti has an eye on the HEWC trophy:“I felt pretty good this weekend having struggled a little bit in the last two races.” Mani explained at the finish. 

“I got a good start this morning with a good results from yesterday and that was important. I pulled a gap from the beginning and I wasn’t even pushing too much, I was trying to just flow and save the tyre as much as possible and it worked out really good.

“At the first tank point I think I was already over two minutes clear and I tried to keep calm and again save the tyre which I think was one of the key points about today and in this race, we know from previous years how it fucks the tyre. I managed to pull amore of a gap to tank point two.

“After that there as a new section Alcatraz, where there was no line at all, they just put some tape and left it like, you go up here. So that was really tricky to be first and find the right line. I was pretty tired at that point but I knew it was not so far after that and only Sorry Bro to go and I was stoked to see the finish flag first.”

Another S2S podium for Roman

Holding some of his energy back during the “sprint” Forest race yesterday (it was still an hour and half-plus of racing mind you), Mario Roman was as comfortable as Lettenbichler ticking off the check points and challenges, despite gradually losing time and admitting he could have pushed harder.

Getting stronger as the race reached the final difficult climb up to the gondola, the Sheco Factory Racing rider finished just under six minutes behind for yet another podium at Sea to Sky: “Another year on the Sea to Sky podium, and very satisfied.” Says the Sherco rider. “Overall, the race went well, though I’m left with a bit of a “what if.” I could’ve pushed a little more. I think I relaxed a bit from the middle of the race to the end, and that made the difference.

“Today was the tough day — the one I like the most: you start on the beach and finish up in the mountains. I took it easy on the beach because, honestly, the pace is crazy. I don’t really understand how some guys go so fast with all that dust and risk — full gas in fourth or fifth gear. I tried to go as fast as I could without taking too many risks, and little by little, I started to feel better and find my rhythm.

“After the Wood Canyon, I began catching up with top riders like Billy, Wade, Brightmore, and so on. From there, I settled into second place, trying to stay close to Manuel, who was flying. The gap was slowly increasing but never by much so I’m really happy with that.

“The bike worked perfectly, honestly it’s the best I’ve felt all year — engine, suspension, carburation — everything was spot on. So I just want to thank the whole team and everyone who makes this possible.”

Brightmore establishes himself as podium contender

Very much establishing himself as a regular podium contender with his third of the 2025 season, Mitch Brightmore showed the breadth of his skills in featuringon the podiums across the three days fomr polrogue ot main race. The X-Grip Racing team rider had a similar gap to Mario as the Sherco rider had to the winner, which put these three clear of the rest of the field and deserving podium finishers.

“I actually enjoyed Sea to Sky this year,” said Mitch at the finish, “I enjoyed it from the beach race to the mountain race and I think it showed in my riding. I rode probably the best I have for a long while. I felt good the whole day, enjoyed it and came home third.”

By our maths, admittedly not 100% reliable with the confusing rules in HEWC, Mitch and his run of podiums means he is just one point behind Billy Bolt in the championship (correct us if we’re wrong...):

Mani Lettenbichler: 143

Billy Bolt: 108

Mitch Brightmore: 107

Wade Young: 91

Mario Roman: 87

Alfredo Gomez: 58

Teo Kabakchiev: 48

Young and Jarvis complete top 5

The gnarly British oak tree that is Graham Jarvis broke up the South African bushmen in the middle order of the top 10 overall with another solid ride pushing Wade Young for fourth place. Young also took his best result of the season and both remained dogged in the second half of the race to complete the top five. 

Winner of the last two HEWC rounds, Billy Bolt started strongly today but having been sick this week, didn’t have the energy levels to maintain the pace and dropped down to a lowly 11th, almost one hour behind Lettenbichler. 

“I’ve been pretty sick and I’ve struggled all through the three days.” Said Billy. “I tried to hang with the guys as much as possible this morning but I was already struggling when I made quite a big navigation error and then as it got harder, I just struggled more and couldn’t keep the pace. It wasn’t my day, it wasn’t my week, what can I say. It wasn’t a good one for the championship but we’ll get fit again and aim to push Mani again at Getzen in few weeks’ time.”

Sea to Sky main race results top 100 (Gold finishers means course completed, all check points):

Photo Credit: Future7Media | Nicki Martinez