Andrea Goga completed all four Offroad Days at Red Bull Romaniacs 2026, finishing 26th out of 37 competitors in the Adventure Core class.
It was her second consecutive Romaniacs finish in an Adventure category. In 2025, she became the first woman to complete the newly introduced Adventure Lite class. This year, she moved up to Core—a harder step between Lite and Ultimate.
The longer days and more technical terrain were only part of the challenge. Andrea was riding a motorcycle weighing more than 180 kilograms, and the weight difference between rider and bike made every fall, lift and restart even more expensive. But this Romaniacs became an even bigger fight inside her helmet.
When the finish felt too far away
Shortly before the race, Andrea suffered a major personal loss. Mentally, she arrived at Romaniacs more vulnerable than usual and struggled to find the concentration and confidence she normally relies on.
She could not eat properly, while fear and doubt began using energy before the riding had even started. At times, exhaustion brought nausea and chills. Frequent crashes only made things worse as fatigue left more room for mistakes.
After reaching Petroșani completely drained on Offroad Day 1, one question appeared for the first time: what if she could not finish?
“I stopped thinking about reaching Gușterița on Saturday. The target became getting from the Start to the Service Point, and then from the Service Point to the Finish. Every day. Baby steps.”
Andrea reduced her pace and allowed herself to stop whenever her body needed it. Other competitors also helped when they found her pinned beneath the 180-kilogram motorcycle, stopping to put “the big girl” back on two wheels.
Romaniacs might be a race, but sometimes the most important result is simply helping another rider continue.
Terrain made for an enduro bike—not a big Adventure machine
The Core route brought descents that Andrea says would have demanded respect even on an enduro motorcycle.
There were rocky climbs covered in branches and sections she would never have willingly entered on a big Adventure bike. But the GPS said yes, the course tape agreed, so there was only one way forward.
“There were descents that would have worried me even on the enduro bike, and rocky climbs I would never have entered with the Adventure bike if the GPS had not insisted that this was the route.”
Offroad Day 2, with the start and finish at Straja, became her favourite despite also feeling like the most technical and demanding day. The endless climbs, descents and rocks took Andrea back more than ten years, to when she raced in the Romanian Hard Enduro Championship on the same terrain.This time, however, she was doing it on a motorcycle weighing over 180 kilograms.
As Andrea put it: “That shows you how we evolve.”
Injured leg, wrong loop and 60 kilometres still to go
On Offroad Day 3, with the race heading back towards Sibiu, the finish finally started to feel possible. Then, around 20 kilometres before the end of the stage, Andrea crashed on a climb and the motorcycle landed on her leg. The pain was severe enough to make her fear she had fractured her tibia.
After taking some time to recover, she realised she could still place her foot on the footpeg. She slowed down and made her way to the finish.
The final day was shorter, but far from easy. Before the Service Point, Andrea made a navigation mistake and entered an Adventure Ultimate loop. A heavy crash deployed the airbag inside her protective vest, while the impact with a rock left her dizzy and with blurred vision for several minutes.
She waited until the dizziness eased. With approximately 60 kilometres still separating her from the finish at Gușterița, she got back on the motorcycle.
“For four days, it was a constant negotiation: just one more climb and then you can stop; I can’t—yes, you can; my leg, hand and ribs hurt—fine, we go slower, but we keep the wheel turning.”
She returned home without any serious injuries, while the motorcycle survived the punishment without mechanical problems. More importantly, she achieved exactly what she had set out to do: finish Adventure Core and return home safe.
The 26th place tells us where Andrea finished among the other competitors. It does not show how many times she first had to win the fight against herself.
I want to thank everyone who supported me throughout the race, together with Go Racing, my technical assistance team, Xplorator Adventures, CFMOTO Romania and especially Stefan, whose support made even reaching the start possible.
“It was a fight,” she admitted, “and I definitely came out stronger.”
