In 1995, Alfie Cox went to Austria and won the inaugural Erzbergrodeo. The 32-year-old had been dominating the Roof of Africa before linking up with Butch Hirsch and KTM in 1994, with whom he continued his winning streak at the event. 1995 in particular saw him win both the Roof and Erzberg, competing on a white, purple, and teal KTM 500.
A lot has certainly changed in the three decades since. Most notably, the top two finishers in this year’s edition raced the KTM 300 EXC and 300 XC, both adorned in KTM’s current color of orange with blue accents.
“Hundreds and thousands of people watched the Erzberg yesterday to see the championship-winning 300 that most people are really fond of that are out in the market at the moment,” said Cox on Monday. “With KTM, you know that there’s four different models for us. There’s no more Erzbergs or Hard Enduros left, there’s no more Six Days left, and there’s no more Factory Editions.”
Some might lament the lack of variety, but the KTM 300 is more than capable. The father of Bradley Cox now runs a KTM dealer in Durban, which recently procured a set of 300s bearing his old livery that he plans to lease out for the Roof of Africa in September.
2026 marked the 30th anniversary of the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo, albeit only the 29th edition since the 2020 and 2021 races were canceled by COVID-19. Since the enduro resumed in 2022, Manuel Lettenbichler has been the king in Austria by winning the overall every year.
That streak has now hit five in a row, tying him with Tadeusz Błażusiak and Graham Jarvis for the most by any rider. Błażusiak and Lettenbichler both earned theirs in back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back fashion, with the former winning from 2007 to 2011.
Lettenbichler got the ball rolling by finishing fourth in the Iron Road Prologue, putting him on the pole for the Hare Scramble since the top three in the Prologue wasn’t running the full weekend. After running second early on, he took the lead by Checkpoint 4 (“Blakläder Zentrum am Berg”) and started to pull away.
He comfortably beat fellow KTM rider Trystan Hart by nine minutes.
“Five wins at Erzberg, I have no words,” said Lettenbichler. “It’s been an unbelievable race and I couldn’t be happier. I had an alright start, but quickly got in the mix with Mitch (Brightmore) and Trystan and they were really pushing me hard. After that, I felt so good on the bike and just enjoyed every section so much. It feels incredible to make it five in a row and equal the record. I am speechless.”
Andrea Verona won the Prologue ahead of Daniel Sanders and Carson Brown. Sanders, the current World Rally-Raid Championship points leader in RallyGP, had signed a contract extension with KTM just days prior. His teammate Edgar Canet was eighth on the Iron Road in his maiden Erzberg action.
Being the world’s toughest hard enduro race meant a brutal day in the Styrian mountain. Three-time winner Jonny Walker was taken out by a stick that broke off a tree and punctured his radiator, forcing him out while running fourth. Franjo von Allmen, who won three alpine skiing gold medals at the Winter Olympics in February, completed ten checkpoints and reached the notorious “Carl’s Dinner Light”, where he was classified 261st.
Sanders and Canet weren’t the only rally raiders in Erzberg. Africa Eco Race champion Kevin Gallas was second on the Iron Road for twin-cylinder bikes—only behind the Aprilia RXV450 of Armin Ohrlinger—finished 466th with just one checkpoint completed, while his Yamaha Ténéré teammate Pol Tarrés made it to Chris’ Stony Party (Checkpoint 19) and finished 77th. Antanas Kanopkinas and Adomas Gančierius finished 1–2 for CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team in the Quad class, which returned after last running from 2005 to 2017. Kanopkinas and the team came to Austria immediately from Argentina once the Desafío Ruta 40 concluded.
Gančierius, who wasn’t in Argentina but finished second to Kanopkinas at the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal, was the fastest quad in the 13-kilometer Prologue. Kanopkinas struggled with a lack of steering response to a fifth before winning the next day.
“I went straight to work on the quad this morning,” said Kanopkinas on the last day. “The mechanics gave me a few suggestions on what to adjust, so we made some changes to the suspension, adjusted the tire pressure, and the whole feeling of the quad changed immediately.”
Besides quads, electric bikes enjoyed an expanded presence across all classes. 43 riders took part on such motorcycles, with Eddie Karlsson and Toby Martyn reaching the finish on Stark Vargs. Karlsson scored a ninth despite losing his rear brake at the very first turn. Jarvis—overall winner in 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019—scored a top ten on his own JARV-E bike that was purpose built for hard enduro.
Finishers
| Finish | Number | Rider | Bike | Total Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Manuel Lettenbichler | KTM 300 EXC | 3:05:39 |
| 2 | 7 | Trystan Hart | KTM 300 XC | 3:14:10 |
| 3 | 23 | Mario Román Serrano | MR74 300 | 3:18:10 |
| 4 | 5 | Teodor Kabakchiev | Sherco 300 SE | 3:22:01 |
| 5 | 12 | Mitch Brightmore | GasGas EC 300 | 3:24:56 |
| 6 | 11 | James Moore | Beta 300 RR | 3:32:34 |
| 7 | 30 | Michael Walkner | GasGas EC 300 | 3:33:52 |
| 8 | 13 | Ashton Brightmore | GasGas EC 300 | 3:36:00 |
| 9 | 15 | Eddie Karlsson | Stark Varg | 3:42:48 |
| 10 | 56 | Graham Jarvis | JARV-E | 3:45:56 |
| 11 | 49 | Lorenzo Gandola | Sherco 300 SE | 3:46:15 |
| 12 | 16 | Toby Martyn | Stark Varg | 3:47:30 |
| 13 | 27 | Cody Webb | Yamaha WR250F | 3:49:28 |
| 14 | 9 | Dieter Rudolf | GasGas EC 300 | 3:51:21 |
| 15 | 28 | Ryder LeBlond | Husqvarna TE 300 | 3:59:15 |
Featured image credit: Jörg Mitter / Red Bull Content Pool
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