The “Wizard” from Madrid, Mario Roman, enjoyed a truly special moment among the rocky trails of Romania’s Carpathian Mountains. The Spanish extreme enduro rider won the new Adventure Ultimate category at the 2026 Red Bull Romaniacs, riding a CFMOTO 450MT twin-cylinder adventure bike with relatively few modifications for racing, finishing with a commanding lead over runner-up Pol Tarrés.

For anyone who follows hard enduro, Roman is certainly no stranger. With sixteen seasons of racing under his belt, he has consistently competed at the highest level of the Hard Enduro World Championship, most recently winning the season finale at Hixpania. He has built his reputation on consistency and an extraordinarily low number of mistakes. In Romania, he had reached the podium several times in the Gold class, but had never stood on the top step.

This time, victory came in a very different way: not aboard the lightweight two-stroke machine he knows inside out, but on an almost stock twin-cylinder adventure bike.

Before the event, more than a few people doubted whether the CFMOTO 450MT could withstand Romania’s extreme terrain. After all, it looks like a motorcycle designed primarily for road touring, with a substantial dry weight and very little in common with the slim, purpose-built enduro racing machines.

But Roman and his team had been working on the bike since the beginning of the year, focusing mainly on reducing weight and improving the suspension. The result was a Chinese adventure bike capable of taking on the established European manufacturers — and beating them.