Although Cyril Despres had already announced before the race that he would come to Romania to win - the fact how he actually won was still surprising. Prologue: Victory for Cyril Despres. Day 1: Victory for Gau. Day 2: Despres second, three places in front of Gau. Day 3: Victory for Gau. For four days Cyril Despres and his countryman Michel Gau had been fighting hard for the victory at the fourth edition of the Red Bull Romaniacs. So far they have been the only ones to have the possibility to take top honours. Until the final stage on 21 June: Gau dared too much, slipped on a piece of wood and broke his right arm. Cyril Despres immediately stopped and stayed with his hardest opponent until the first aid arrived. - ,,In this moment I didn't care about the race, we are friends first!" he said and spoke in high terms of the organisers and the first aid: "I have never thought that they could be on the spot so fast in case of an accident in the deepest Carpathian woods." For the first time in this rally four riders needed help from the mountain rescue team and physicians, who were taken to the place of the accident by emergency vehicles the fastest way. After 2004 and 2005 Cyril Despres won the Red Bull Romaniacs already for the third time - thus the victory was on his side three out of four times. The German Gerhard Forster was second, the New Zealander Chris Birch, who is especially proud of his victory at the third stage, finished third overall: ,,I am extremely stoked that I was faster than Cyril Despres! Nobody is going to believe me! He is kind of my idol and I have his poster at home". Aged 19 the US-American Kyle Redmond was the youngest rider in the professional class. In Romania he could show his talent and was placed fourth, in front of Alex Antor (AND), who was third last year. The Dutchman Frans Verhoeven, Despres' team mate at the Dakar 2007, had stomach problems for two days and crossed the finish line in sixth position, in front of the best Austrian Dieter Happ.
At the fourth edition of the Red Bull Romaniacs the riders had to pass up to 750km through the off road jungle around Sibiu/Hermannstadt and about 50,000 m altitude difference. However, the riders had soon forgotten about strenuous ascents and tricky serpentine roads when they were able to enjoy the view of the surrounding Fagaras Mountains on the high plateaus or when they were going on high speed sections. 20h13 on the bike for the fastest pro rider and 52h39 (including time penalties) for the last expert team. "The weather was fine during the whole rally. If it had rained once even the pros wouldn't have finished before sunset", reports Martin Freinademetz. If even with perfect weather condition things happened to the riders "we did not dare to think of, before the race" (Jrgen Zeiler & Karl Potzl, AUT, Hobby), the question has to be: "What will follow?" - Definitely a fifth edition of the Red Bull Romaniacs 2008 has to answer this question.
Professionals
1. Cyril Despres FRA 20:13:42
2. Gerhard Forster GER 20:51:42
3. Chris Birch NZL 20:54:43
4. Kyle Redmond USA 21:20:53
5. Alex Antor AND 21:59:18
6. Frans Verhoeven NED 22:29:31
7. Dieter Happ AUT 22:53:48
Experts
1. Simon Crafar/Pandrea Mirel NZL/ROM 27:16:38
2. Aron Gorog/Michel Dumoulin ROM/BEL 27:27:24
3. Sepp Suttner/Stefan Zwerenz GER 28:57:33
4. Nick Plumb/Craig Bounds GBR 33:20:22
5. Erik Mocker/Oliver Mocker AUT 33:27:28
Hobby
1. Ciprian Popescu/Babes Cristinel ROM 19:59:46
2. Benedefki Geza/Gereb Domokos ROM 20:50:21
3. Marc Fehrmann/Harald Vollmer GER 21:02:52
4. Ivo Cotterchio/Joe Kirsch LUX 21:02:58
5. Karl Potzl/Jrgen Zeiler AUT 21:33:66
Complete results on www.redbullromaniacs.com