Red Bull Romaniacs 2025 is less than one month away and the four-day rallye hard enduro this year will see Jonny Walker and Sam Sunderland riding Triumph Adventure bikes in a new big bike categories, plus Eddie Karlsson on the Stark Varg in Silver class.

It’s not like Romaniacs didn’t have enough to grab your attention already. From the spectacular prologue course on the streets in Sibiu to the epic off-road days, the annual event in Romania continues to develop as it enters its 22nd edition this July 22-26.

Adding to the spice mix this year will be the new classes for both Adventure bike and electric motorcycles, alongside the Pro riders in Gold class, Silver, Bronze Iron and Atom, with two new recruits in the Adv category, former Romaniacs winner Jonny Walker and Dakar champion Sam Sunderland.

It’s a downshift for two-times former winner Walker but he says he is already building towards EnduroCross and SuperEnduro seasons and explained switching up his training completely for Romaniacs Gold class would affect his indoor season too much.

“I’ve raced Romaniacs plenty of times,” says JW22, “so it’s cool to be going back in a completely different way racing the Tiger 900 which I’m really excited about. I’m pretty confident, I think it will be fun and of course the main goal is to win the Adventure Ultimate class. It’s going to be totally different to anything I’ve done before, and probably a bit more enjoyable on the big bike!”

Sam the sandbagger (our words, no offence Sammy!) has opted for the Adventure Lite category, despite being more than capable of the more difficult terrain. “It’s super exciting to be taking on such an iconic hard enduro race.” Says Sam. “I can’t wait to get out to Romania to get stuck in.”

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New electric bike categories feature this year in Romania also but the headliner in the ebikes will be Stark Future Racing and Eddie Karlsson who will contest the Silver class (which, if you didn’t know, is bad but not quite as baddass as the Gold category). The idea is Eddie paves the way for electric bikes in the main categories plus treats it as a development ride/race for the Varg EX enduro model.

Game Changer Prolog

The Game Changer Romaniacs Prolog will once again kick things off in the heart of Sibiu city centre. Prolog Director, Andy Fazekas will again build an intersecting track which has competitors criss-crossing one another and, though not as spectacular as some Romaniacs prologues of the past, helped ramp up the racing action for spectators watching live.

A less technical variation will be added for the Adventure Rallye categories this year also with the usual format of all competitors given the chance to set a time for start order purposes followed by Gold, Silver and electric bike categories going through to finals on the “Bulevardul Coposu” in Sibiu’s medieval city centre.

Massive global enduro community

Red Bull Romaniacs will welcome 64 nations at the start line which is the largest number of nations to compete in any sporting event in Romania and the largest global representation in the extreme enduro community.

Among the competitors the top Gold athletes include Graham Jarvis (GBR), Manuel Lettenbichler (DEU), Billy Bolt (GBR), Teodor Kabakchiev (BGR), Mario Roman (ESP), Alfredo Gomez (ESP), Matthew Green (ZAF), Wade Young (ZAF),  and Mitch Brightmore (GBR).

Unique entries are two-time Romaniacs winner, Jonny Walker who is switching modes and will compete in the Adventure Rallye Ultimate Class alongside Triumph teammate, two-time Dakar Rally Champion, Sam Sunderland (competing in the Adventure Lite) and SuperEnduro rider, Eddie Karlsson (SWE) who will be competing in Silver Class on his Stark Varg.

Pol Tarres (ESP) faces Karlsson in the Silver Class again making this class a collection of all three bike types. Kevin Gallas (DEU) will also be hoping to retain his title from 2024 in the Bronze Class on his Ténéré 700.

Live coverage of the off-road days will ramp up further for the 2025 edition with live broadcasting from the start, the Live Leatt section for Gold class competitors – completed three times on each of the off-road days – and at the finish where you can hear rider reactions and analysis.

Enduro21 will be all over Romaniacs, as always, and you will be able to watch the Leatt Live broadcast each day on the site, plus get the results and insight from as the race unfolds.

Photo Credit: Triumph Motorcycles + Future7Media