Sram Red AXS Crank Bolt Cap missing - how to remove crank, if at all? I've got an Sram AXS Dub Crankset on my bike and noticed a few days ago, that the black cover around the crankset bolt (chainring side.. where you tighten/loosen usally to remove the crankset) has apparently.. fallen off. I didn't touch that but it's gone. I asked my dealer and he said Sram doesn't offer these covers, yet so he sent me a replacement crankset which is nice, but I am having problems removing the old crankset in the frame.

I tried and tried but couldn't remove it (by turning counter-clockwise with an 8mm hex key) so I started googling and it appears that this particular black cap is actually needed to remove the crank - is that true?

Or let me ask another way: is it possible (and if so how) to remove the crankset as is / shown in the picture?
Yes, it's true!

The design is known as a self-extracting crank, you can find some excellent videos on how they work, by searching online. You'll see on page 24 of the installation manual that when the crank is removed in steps 1 and 2, it has the little cover with the four small holes in around the crank bolt (where yours is missing). The crank bolt turns against this cap to drive the crank off the spindle. The crank bolt might be nice and tight, but it is designed to be turned. 

There isn't any other good way to remove the crank. Some people might remove the bolt and then start hitting the crank until it falls off the spindle, but I wouldn't do that unless it was a last resort to save a bike with a crank which will be scrapped.