Mani Lettenbichler wins the 2026 Red Bull Erzbergrodeo, claiming his fifth victory on the Iron Giant. The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider equals Taddy Blazusiak and Graham Jarvis in the exclusive five-time winners’ club, while Trystan Hart and Mario Román round out the podium in a historic 30th edition, with electric bikes making the top 10 for the first time and 15 riders reaching the finish.

Mani Lettenbichler once again proved why he is the rider to beat at Erzberg. The German started from pole position, avoided trouble with a clean getaway and built a textbook race to cross the finish line with a winning time of 3:05:39.953.

With this result, the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider joins the select group of five-time Erzbergrodeo winners, matching two hard enduro legends: Taddy Blazusiak and Graham Jarvis. Speaking at the finish, Mani also made it clear he already has his sights set on the next target: becoming the rider with the most Erzberg wins.

The race started with fewer complications than in previous years. This time there were no puddles at the start, allowing Lettenbichler to avoid any early drama. From the opening stages, he moved clear with Mitch Brightmore and Trystan Hart, with X-Grip rider Brightmore pushing hard and even swapping the lead with the KTM rider in the early part of the race.

Behind them, Hart and Jonny Walker tried to stay in touch with the front group until the riders emerged from the forest at Double Fault, around kilometre 17 and on the way to the refuelling zone. At that point, Teodor Kabakchiev also joined the fight, putting his Sherco into contention for the leading positions.

From there, Lettenbichler began to impose his pace. In a race covering 35 kilometres, with 23 checkpoints, 500 riders at the start and a strict four-hour time limit to reach the finish, the German opened a gap of around five minutes by the halfway point. Hart held second, Walker began to lose ground with problems, and Mario Román continued to climb through the order until he caught the Canadian.

With the advantage in his hands, Mani simply did what he needed to do: stay in control and avoid unnecessary risks. Even after a mid-race crash, which left him with a scraped hand, the KTM rider kept calm and increased his margin all the way to the chequered flag.

The main podium fight was between Trystan Hart and Mario Román. The Canadian eventually came out on top in that battle to finish second, 8:30.621 behind Lettenbichler, while the Spaniard secured an excellent third place on his MR74 machine, 12:30.973 down on the winner.

Fourth place went to Teodor Kabakchiev on the Sherco, just over 16 minutes behind the leader. The Bulgarian finished ahead of Mitch Brightmore, who paid the price for his early battle with Lettenbichler.

It was also a strong day for South Africa’s James Moore, the junior hard enduro world champion, who finished sixth on his Beta. Austria’s Michael Walkner followed in seventh for GASGAS, while Ashton Brightmore took eighth, just over half an hour behind the winner.

The 30th edition of the Erzbergrodeo also delivered a historic moment for electric bikes. Eddie Karlsson had to deal with brake issues and a few technical problems, but still managed to bring the Stark Varg home in ninth place in the first edition featuring electric motorcycles. Just behind him, Graham Jarvis, aged 51 and riding an electric bike developed by himself, made history once again by finishing tenth.

Italy’s Lorenzo Gandola of the Sherco team and Britain’s Toby Martyn on a Stark Future machine finished 11th and 12th. Behind them, American rider Cody Webb completed another Erzbergrodeo on his Yamaha in 13th place, followed by Austria’s Dieter Rudolf, who repeated his 14th position from last year.

Young American Ryder Leblond, riding Husqvarna, was the 15th and final rider to take the chequered flag from Karl Katoch, founder of the Erzbergrodeo, before the four-hour time limit expired in the Eisenerz quarry.

Results (finishers):