Román wins Hixpania finale as Lettenbichler secures fifth straight world title

2026 Hard Enduro World Championship

Round Eight – Hixpania Hard Enduro

The 2026 FIM Hard Enduro World Championship concluded with a fascinating three-way contrast at Hixpania, where Manuel Lettenbichler wrapped up another world title, Billy Bolt reminded everyone of his outright speed, and Mario Román saved his best performance for the race that mattered most to the home crowd.

Lettenbichler was crowned world champion on Friday evening without scoring a single point in the opening SuperEncierro. Bolt won that contest and backed it up with another victory on Saturday, but neither would have the final word when Sunday’s gruelling Lost Road main race unfolded around Aguilar de Campoo.

That honour belonged to Román. The Spaniard had finished eighth on Friday and seventh on Saturday, hardly suggesting he would emerge as the man to beat in Sunday’s demanding two-hour contest. Yet when the championship reached its final and most difficult test, Román produced a performance that neither the newly crowned champion nor the returning Bolt could match.

Behind those headline performances, Mitch Brightmore secured the runner-up position in the championship, Teodor Kabakchiev completed the world championship podium, and the Junior title fight between James Moore and Ashton Brightmore went all the way to Sunday.

The championship picture coming into Hixpania

Lettenbichler arrived in Spain with a 32-point championship advantage over Mitch Brightmore, having won five of the preceding seven rounds and finished on the podium at every one of them.

The German’s campaign had included victories at Alestrem in France, Extreme XL Lagares in Portugal, Sweden’s inaugural Forza Orza, Abestone in Italy and Sea to Sky in Türkiye. He had also finished third at Silver Kings in America and runner-up to Kabakchiev at the Roof of Africa.

There had been moments when his rivals appeared capable of interrupting that dominance. Brightmore had taken his maiden world championship round victory at Silver Kings, while Kabakchiev’s Roof of Africa success underlined the progress being made by the chasing pack.

However, Lettenbichler’s consistency meant Hixpania presented an almost impossible mathematical task for Brightmore. With only 33 championship points available across the three days, the Briton needed a perfect weekend and required Lettenbichler to leave Spain empty-handed.

The championship had arrived at this point following a particularly eventful penultimate round at Sea to Sky. Lettenbichler overcame brake problems and a ten-minute penalty to charge from the third row of the Mountain Race grid to victory.

Kabakchiev was subsequently disqualified from second following an incident involving barbed wire and assistance from spectators, a decision the Sherco rider publicly disputed.

That controversy had consequences beyond the event itself, particularly for Kabakchiev’s championship points and his battle for third position. We covered the circumstances and the rider’s explanation in our Sea to Sky Hard Enduro report.

There was also considerable interest in Bolt’s return. The Husqvarna rider had missed three championship rounds during an injury-disrupted outdoor campaign and arrived with relatively modest expectations. His speed had never been in doubt, but his physical condition over a full Hard Enduro distance remained a question.

The Junior World Championship was much less settled. South African James Moore carried a three-point advantage over Ashton Brightmore into the finale, with only each rider’s best six rounds counting towards the championship. That scoring arrangement meant the younger Brightmore brother faced a more complicated challenge than simply beating Moore on aggregate points at Hixpania.

Friday – The champion is crowned without scoring a point

The opening SuperEncierro took the leading riders into Hixpania Village for a series of short, intense races culminating in a 14-rider final.

Mitch Brightmore had been quickest in timed practice, while Bolt and Lettenbichler won their respective semi-finals. When the final arrived, however, Bolt produced the decisive performance.

The Briton set the fastest lap and completed the contest in 7m15.10s, winning by 5.56 seconds from Ashton Brightmore. Kabakchiev completed the podium, another 2.02 seconds behind.

Mitch Brightmore finished fourth, ahead of Lettenbichler in fifth. Ordinarily, those results might have suggested a championship battle still awaiting its decisive moment. Instead, the first evening brought the title fight to an unexpectedly early conclusion.

Only the top three in SuperEncierro earned championship points, with three for the winner, two for second and one for third. Neither Lettenbichler nor Mitch Brightmore scored.

Consequently, the German retained his 32-point lead with only 30 points remaining across Saturday and Sunday. His fifth consecutive FIM Hard Enduro World Championship was secured before the most demanding racing of the weekend had even begun.

It was also enough to guarantee Mitch Brightmore second place in the championship, with Kabakchiev no longer able to bridge the gap.

For Lettenbichler, the timing of the championship confirmation came as something of a surprise.

Manuel Lettenbichler

“I didn’t expect to get it done on Friday, as I thought it would come down to the final race, so it was a really nice surprise.”

With the principal championship positions settled, attention shifted towards the individual race victories and the remaining championship battles. Bolt had already established his intentions, while Ashton Brightmore’s second place strengthened his challenge for the Junior crown.

Saturday – Bolt holds off a charging Lettenbichler

Saturday’s Campoo Xtreme presented a very different challenge to Friday’s short urban races. A six-kilometre loop beside the reservoir would be tackled for one hour plus a lap, rewarding sustained speed and consistency rather than the explosive precision required in the SuperEncierro.

For more than 74 minutes, Bolt and Lettenbichler were almost inseparable.

The Husqvarna rider ultimately took his second victory in as many days, stopping the clock at 1h14m21.8s, just 3.5 seconds clear of the world champion.

Lettenbichler had been pushing particularly hard in the closing stages, producing the fastest lap of the entire contest on his final circulation. His 8m59.38s lap was the only one below nine minutes, but it was not enough to overhaul Bolt.

Ashton Brightmore finished third, only 9.7 seconds behind the winner. After eight laps, less than ten seconds covered the leading three riders, an exceptionally close result for an event lasting well over an hour.

Behind them, James Moore finished fourth, with Kabakchiev fifth and Mitch Brightmore sixth. The latter had been running much closer to the leaders before a particularly costly lap, lasting almost 15 minutes, severely compromised his result. A technical problem was reported as the cause.

Mario Román was seventh, more than seven minutes behind Bolt. At that stage, he had yet to demonstrate the pace that would carry him to Sunday’s victory.

For Bolt, however, the first two days represented a substantial achievement. Returning from an extended absence, he had won two quite different contests against the best riders in the discipline.

Even with the championship already decided, Lettenbichler had shown no inclination to cruise through the remaining races. His final-lap attack was evidence enough of that.

The battle for third in the overall championship also remained significant. Kabakchiev held the advantage over Ashton Brightmore and Moore, but there was still enough riding to be done on Sunday for those positions to change.

Sunday – Román finds another level on The Lost Road

Sunday’s main race brought the competitors to the demanding Lost Road course, combining a spectacular cave start with repeated laps around the Caracol peninsula and the final challenge of Hixpania Hill.

Seventy competitors faced a race designed to progressively eliminate riders over the opening laps, before the leading ten on the lead lap were permitted to tackle the final hill section.

It was a very different proposition from the previous two days. Riders had to combine outright speed with technical precision, physical endurance and an ability to manage the numerous difficulties encountered over more than two hours of racing.

Lettenbichler initially took command, but Román began to emerge as the leading challenger. By the third lap, around half an hour into the race, the Spaniard had moved into the lead.

The pair then became locked in a contest of their own. Román opened his advantage during the fourth lap, while Lettenbichler continued to apply pressure and reduce the deficit whenever possible.

Behind them, Bolt and Mitch Brightmore were already losing ground. The tight margins that had characterised Saturday’s sprint were replaced by increasingly substantial gaps as the final race wore on.

As the riders approached Hixpania Hill, Román had established enough of an advantage to remain in control. The final climb still demanded precision, but the Spaniard had done the work required to secure victory over the complete race distance.

Román finished the nine-lap contest in 2h11m18.43s, taking the win by 1m00.82s from Lettenbichler. Bolt completed the podium in third, 5m26.83s behind Román.

Interestingly, Bolt was actually quicker through the concluding Hixpania Hill section than either of the riders ahead of him. His recorded 7m38.07s compared with 7m39.39s for Lettenbichler and 8m00.32s for Román. However, the race had already been decided by what happened over the preceding distance.

That contrast tells much of the story of this Hixpania. Bolt had the speed to dominate Friday and Saturday and was still capable of producing exceptional individual sections on Sunday. Román, however, put together the strongest complete performance when the event reached its longest and most demanding race.

It was a fitting home victory for the Spaniard, who had overcome an unremarkable opening two days to defeat the newly crowned world champion in front of his home supporters.

Lettenbichler, for his part, had pushed all the way to the finish despite having secured his title nearly two days earlier.

Manuel Lettenbichler

“He was riding unbelievably well, so congratulations to him. I’m really happy with my riding, I gave it everything I had and pushed hard until the end.”

Mitch Brightmore finished fourth, nine minutes behind Román, while Moore claimed fifth place ahead of Ashton Brightmore in sixth.

Kabakchiev took seventh, with Wade Young eighth, Francesc Moret Clota ninth and Lorenzo Gandola completing the top ten.

Bolt’s recovery another important part of the weekend

While third place in Sunday’s main race was not the result Bolt had been chasing after winning the opening two contests, the Husqvarna rider’s performance marked a significant step forward following his injury problems.

He subsequently admitted that Sunday’s physical demands had initially threatened to overwhelm him. Rather than dominating from the outset, he had to manage his energy, recover his rhythm and work his way forward through the field.

His eventual third place came after a late-race recovery and a pass for the final podium position on the last lap.

Billy Bolt

“I managed to hang in there, find a bit of a second wind and start clawing my way back, picking off a few positions before making the pass for third on the final lap.”

Bolt said he had not ridden a two-stroke since Abestone and had arrived in Spain with few expectations. He nevertheless ended the weekend with two race victories, a Sunday podium and the highest championship points haul of any rider at Hixpania.

Indeed, Bolt accumulated 28 points across the three races, compared with 26 for Lettenbichler and 24 for Román. Those figures illustrate the distinction between winning the weekend’s individual races, accumulating championship points and conquering the main event.

His interrupted campaign left him seventh in the final world championship standings on 104 points, but Hixpania offered encouraging evidence that he was returning towards his best form.

Bolt’s attention now turns towards the indoor season, with the 2027 FIM SuperEnduro World Championship beginning in December.

Moore withstands the Brightmore challenge

While Lettenbichler had effectively taken the suspense out of the premier championship battle, the Junior title provided a much closer contest.

Defending champion James Moore arrived at Hixpania just three points ahead of Ashton Brightmore, with the championship’s best-six-rounds scoring system adding another complication to the calculations.

Ashton made the stronger start. He finished second in Friday’s SuperEncierro and followed it with third outright on Saturday, ahead of Moore on both occasions.

However, the South African responded when Sunday’s longer and more demanding race arrived.

Moore finished fifth outright, immediately behind Mitch Brightmore and one position ahead of Ashton. That result proved decisive in allowing the Beta rider to successfully defend his Junior World Championship title.

It was an important achievement for Moore, who had changed machinery and joined the Beta programme for 2026 after winning his first Junior world championship the previous season.

The result also highlighted the progress being made by the younger generation. The two Brightmore brothers finished second and fourth in the outright world championship standings, while Moore was fifth. All three have increasingly become regular contenders against the established names in Hard Enduro.

Kabakchiev completes the championship podium

Kabakchiev’s third place in the final world championship standings was another significant result, particularly considering the controversy that had surrounded his disqualification at Sea to Sky.

The Bulgarian had been one of the few riders capable of defeating Lettenbichler during 2026, highlighted by his Roof of Africa victory. He entered Hixpania under pressure from both Ashton Brightmore and Moore, but collected enough points across the three days to hold third overall.

His final tally of 149 points put him six clear of Ashton Brightmore and 11 ahead of Moore.

The broader World Cup competitions also reached their conclusion. Sandra Gómez secured the Women’s World Cup honours on home soil, having entered the finale with an unassailable advantage. Roberto de Matos and Damon Garrell likewise completed successful campaigns in the Senior and Youth World Cups respectively.

A fifth successive crown for Lettenbichler

For all the individual battles and contrasting results at Hixpania, the lasting championship story remains Lettenbichler’s continuing dominance of the discipline.

Five consecutive FIM Hard Enduro World Championships, and six world titles across his career, represent an extraordinary record. Yet the 2026 campaign was not simply about overwhelming speed.

Brightmore, Kabakchiev and Bolt all demonstrated that they could challenge or defeat the German in particular races and conditions. What none could match over the complete season was his ability to consistently produce championship-winning results, even when setbacks threatened to compromise his weekend.

His performance at Sea to Sky was perhaps the clearest example, recovering from a penalty and a lowly starting position to win the decisive race. Hixpania then provided another demonstration of his competitive instincts, with the German still fighting for victory long after the title was secured.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager Fabio Farioli pointed towards that consistency as a defining element of the campaign.

Fabio Farioli – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager

“Even when a win wasn’t possible, he focused on scoring as many points as he could and making the most of every opportunity. That consistency has paid off.”

The final championship margin was 40 points over Mitch Brightmore, with Kabakchiev third.

Hixpania nevertheless provided a reminder that the gap between Lettenbichler and his challengers is not always reflected by the championship table. Bolt won two of the three races, Román won the main event, and the next generation continued to close in.

Whether that growing pressure is enough to disrupt Lettenbichler’s reign in 2027 remains to be seen. For now, the German has another world championship to celebrate, while Hixpania’s final day belonged to Mario Román.

2026 Hixpania – Friday SuperEncierro Results

2026 Hixpania – Saturday Campoo Xtreme Results

2026 Hixpania – Sunday The Lost Road Results

2026 FIM Hard Enduro World Championship – Final Points

Final championship points based on the published post-event manufacturer standings and the Hixpania scoring classification.

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