Mario Roman just won Red Bull Romaniacs Adventure Ultimate 2026. On a production adventure bike, thirteen hours and twenty-seven minutes in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania. I’ve been watching him ride for a couple of years, and this result felt exactly right.
At a Glance
Mario Román Serrano, known as “The Magician”, is a Spanish hard enduro rider who spent roughly a decade racing for Sherco Factory before launching his own MR74 Racing Team in 2026. As CF Moto brand ambassador, he raced the Red Bull Romaniacs Adventure Ultimate class on a 450MT adventure bike and won. Total time: 13 hours 27 minutes 30 seconds. Margin of victory: 14 minutes 40 seconds. CF Moto swept all three adventure classes at the event.
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The Magician
Mario Román Serrano is Spanish, born in 1990. They call him “The Magician.” The nickname fits.
He started in trial. Not enduro, not motocross. Trial, the discipline where you ride slowly through obstacles that have no business being passable, where the whole skill is reading terrain before you commit to it, where smoothness is the goal and falling is a failure. That foundation is visible in everything he does on a bike. Most hard enduro riders attack terrain. Roman reads it first, then moves through it.
From trial he progressed to classic enduro, then to extreme and hard enduro. He rode for Sherco Factory Racing for roughly a decade, which is one of the sport’s most serious factory programs. In 2022 he finished second in the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship, behind Manuel Lettenbichler, by seven points. Seven. He’s won Hell’s Gate, XL Lagares in Portugal, El Inka Hard Enduro in Peru, Red Bull Los Andreas. He’s been at Romaniacs many times, with five podiums in the Gold class and no class win until this year.
At the end of 2025 he left Sherco and built something of his own. MR74 Racing Team, his own Husqvarna TE300 program for the FIM World Championship. MR74 Academy for coaching. The Sorry Bro Team as a junior program for younger riders coming through. He didn’t step back when he left the factory. He went wider.
CF Moto, January 2026
The CF Moto brand ambassador role was announced January 20, 2026. Five days later he raced Ballbreaker Extreme in the UK on the 450MT and won it. Then Wild Willy’s Extreme, same result.
In February he went to Bassella Race 1 in Catalonia, his first trail category event on the CF Moto, and finished third behind Gerard Farrés and Kirian Mirabet. There’s a full POV of that race on his YouTube channel. Fast laps, the kind of terrain I used to race on a mountain bike and still enjoy on a dirt bike. He was on a podium in his trail debut on the bike.
He runs both programs at the same time. CF Moto for ADV events. Husqvarna TE300 for the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship rounds. That’s not a typical arrangement for a professional rider at his level.
The physics difference is worth stating clearly. The CF Moto 450MT weighs 175 kilograms dry. A purpose-built hard enduro machine, like the Husqvarna he races in the World Championship, weighs around 100 kilograms. The CF Moto has ABS, traction control, a full instrument panel, road-legal lighting, and a 17.5-liter tank. It’s designed to be ridden everywhere, including to work. Taking that bike into five-day mountain enduro competition, against serious riders, and winning stages on it. That’s a different problem to solve than anything the race bike presents.
Red Bull Romaniacs Adventure Ultimate 2026
Red Bull Romaniacs is 23 years old. Five days in Romania, a prologue through the streets of Sibiu and four off-road stages in the Southern Carpathians. It’s a FIM Hard Enduro World Championship round for the Gold class. The Adventure Ultimate is a separate class, 20 riders in 2026, all on production adventure bikes, racing the same terrain on the same days as the hard enduro professionals.
That parallel matters. The abandoned mine sections at Romaniacs, the Petrila Mine and the Lupeni Mine, run through tight indoor spaces, crumbling hallways, narrow passages. Race reports specifically noted that those sections were harder on the bigger, heavier adventure bikes than on the purpose-built hard enduro machines competing in Gold. A 175-kilogram bike through a mine corridor is a different physical proposition from a 100-kilogram one.
Roman won the Prologue. He won Day 1. He won Day 2. On Day 3, Pol Tarrés on a Yamaha beat him by four seconds. Four seconds across a full mountain stage in the Carpathians. Roman won Day 4 and won the overall. His total time was 13 hours, 27 minutes, and 30 seconds. He finished 14 minutes and 40 seconds ahead of Tarrés (Red Bull Romaniacs official results, 2026).
CF Moto also won Adventure Core and Adventure Lite. In the Lite class, CF Moto took all three podium positions. If you’re into the technical side of it, Roman has a full video on his YouTube channel walking through what he changed on the bike, the entire front end is enduro spec, new forks, triple clamps, Brembo brake, full controls. Öhlins rear shock with an external reservoir and more travel. Enduro wheels with mousse.
He posted on Instagram that Day 3 was fast. I recommend you get a beverage of your choice, sit down, and watch. This is the type of terrain I enjoy the most and I especially enjoy watching him mob here.
Watching Someone Move
Wherever I go, whatever sport is happening around me, skateboarding, mountain bike, basketball, doesn’t matter, I find myself watching how people move. Not the score, just the movement. And after a while you start to recognize when someone moves right. You feel it before you can explain it.
Mario Roman moves right on a dirt bike. It just feels right watching him. That’s what I’m here for.
The terrain in the Romaniacs footage is the kind I connect with personally. Fast, technical, cross-country in character. The kind that reminds me of the cross country mountain bike race I’ll never forget. He’s racing it. I’d just be glad to crusie there.
I’ve been watching his POVs for some time now. This win at Romaniacs, on an adventure bike, in a class most people following the sport hadn’t paid much attention to before, it felt like the right result for a rider who moves the way he does.
Frequently Asked Questions About Mario Roman Red Bull Romaniacs
Who is Mario Roman?
Mario Román Serrano is a Spanish hard enduro rider born in 1990, known as “The Magician.” He started in trial, spent roughly a decade racing for Sherco Factory Racing, and launched his own MR74 Racing Team in 2026. He finished second in the 2022 FIM Hard Enduro World Championship. In 2026, as CF Moto brand ambassador, he won the Red Bull Romaniacs Adventure Ultimate class on a CF Moto 450MT production adventure bike.
What is Red Bull Romaniacs Adventure Ultimate?
The Adventure Ultimate is a class at Red Bull Romaniacs where riders compete on production adventure bikes, street-legal, road-compliant motorcycles rather than purpose-built hard enduro machines. In 2026, 20 riders raced the class over five days in the Southern Carpathian Mountains of Romania, on the same terrain and the same days as the Gold class hard enduro race. The class debuted at Romaniacs in 2025.
The Right Result
He won three of the four off-road days. On the only day he didn’t, he lost by four seconds. He finished with 14 minutes and 40 seconds over second place.
That story deserved to be written. That’s what AFIELD is for. I think about it even when I’m just going for a walk every day. The scale is different. The commitment isn’t.
Filip Petreski is the founder of AFIELD and a multi-sport outdoor athlete. A two-time national cross-country MTB champion, snowboard instructor, and former dirt bike rider, he writes about the people, gear, and culture worth paying attention to in the outdoor world.