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Schröder and Eurocommerce London top the GCT in Cannes
Jun 17, 2012
After two incredible exciting rounds and a super fast three-horse jump-off it was Gerco Schröder and Eurocommerce London that went to the top in the Global Champions Tour Grand Prix in Cannes. Gerco rode three fantastic rounds on the 10 year old Nabab de Reve-stallion, that really impressed under the floodlights in Cannes. A total of 46 riders lined up for the weekend's biggest class, but the first round did not see more than seven clears.
The first clear in the class came from home rider Jerome Hurel on Ohm de Ponthual. Then followed several riders with plenty of fences down, before Tina Fletcher arrived for Great Britain as start number fifteen and set a clear on Hallo Sailor. Cannes-back to back winner from 2010 and 2011 Edwina Tops-Alexander proved that she could be counted with this year as well, and jumped a fantastic clear on Cevo Itot du Chateau. Billy Twomey also had a great clear on Tinka's Serenade.
Then came Gerco and Eurocommerce London, and the pair jumped an amazing round. The stallion gave every fence lots of air, and looked like a really dangerous competitor. Rolf-Göran Bengtsson and Casall La Silla also wanted to be a part of the game, and posted a lovely clear before Christian Ahlmann and Taloubet Z rode the last of the seven clears in the first round.
Eighteen riders went on to the second round, eleven of them with four faults. Marco Kutscher/Cornet Obolensky, Ben Maher/Tripple X III , Marcus Ehning/Copin van de Broy and Alvaro de Miranda/AD Rahmannshof's Bogeno all had four faults in the first round but managed to ride great clears the second time around. Doda's result was in the end good enough for fourth place, while Ben finished fifth.
Out of the seven clears from the first round, only three managed to repeat the success.
As first to go in the jump-off with two very fast riders behind, Rolf had a big task ahead of him. He set off around the shortened track, and really tightened the turns all the way – but did not go flat out to the penultimate combination – but put in the top gear to the final fence. The time was really good, and he crossed the finish line on 34.38 seconds. Gerco was next, and held a really high pace from the start – and was maybe a little quicker towards the combination than Rolf and raced against the last. The time was fractions better; the Dutch rider shaved off 0.16 seconds on Rolf's time and took the lead!
As last to go Edwina could push the two guys down, but time was not on her side despite wild cheering from the crowds – but she was clear again and crossed the finish line on 34.89 seconds to finish third. A great ending to an extremely entertaining night in Cannes!
Source worldofshowjumping.com