The 21st edition of the Erzbergrodeo has reset the difficulty standards for hard enduro competitions, even if it was already the toughest single-day race in the world. With 1,500 riders from all over the planet lining up at the start of the prolog, only 500 have gotten the chance to ride up the Iron Giant. To no avail, we must add.
Photo: Future7Media/KTM Images
It's hard to tell whether the organizers of the Erzbergrodeo are eyeing to lower the number of those who are so tough to make it through the final checkpoint. If this is the case, they are doing a great job because the 2015 Red Bull Hare Scramble only saw five motorcycles getting past the finish line.
Even more, making things truly amazing, four of those who managed to reach the final checkpoint of the 2015 edition decided to ride together and were thus declared all 1st place winners.
The boulder-laden race segment called Carl's Dinner is traditionally one of the most hardcore areas on the Iron Giant map, and the riders have to pass through it twice. However, it was another section, called Downtown, that changed everything.
While the 2014 edition saw Johhny Walker getting past the finish line in just under two hours, this year, the winning quartet needed around four hours to complete the course.
The Downtown proved impossible to climb, and the top four bikes, which rode together from Carl's Diner decided to help each other and make it a four-way win. Even so, it took Andreas Lettenbichler, Alfredo Gomez, Johhny Walker and Graham Jarvis around one hour to overcome that section.
They had to pull each bike up, and then agreed to ride together through the finish. One of the checkpoints near the end was also removed by the organizers.
Spain's Mario Roman Serrano was the fifth rider to reach the finish, taking the number of KTM's to do so at three (plus Lettenbichler and Walker), one more than the two Husqvarnas of Gomez and Jarvis.
Of course, it's already interesting to see what's in store for next year's race, but until then we're waiting for the upcoming hi-res slow-motion videos...
Even more, making things truly amazing, four of those who managed to reach the final checkpoint of the 2015 edition decided to ride together and were thus declared all 1st place winners.
Downton made the difference, and to what a degree
The boulder-laden race segment called Carl's Dinner is traditionally one of the most hardcore areas on the Iron Giant map, and the riders have to pass through it twice. However, it was another section, called Downtown, that changed everything.
While the 2014 edition saw Johhny Walker getting past the finish line in just under two hours, this year, the winning quartet needed around four hours to complete the course.
The Downtown proved impossible to climb, and the top four bikes, which rode together from Carl's Diner decided to help each other and make it a four-way win. Even so, it took Andreas Lettenbichler, Alfredo Gomez, Johhny Walker and Graham Jarvis around one hour to overcome that section.
They had to pull each bike up, and then agreed to ride together through the finish. One of the checkpoints near the end was also removed by the organizers.
Spain's Mario Roman Serrano was the fifth rider to reach the finish, taking the number of KTM's to do so at three (plus Lettenbichler and Walker), one more than the two Husqvarnas of Gomez and Jarvis.
Of course, it's already interesting to see what's in store for next year's race, but until then we're waiting for the upcoming hi-res slow-motion videos...
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