Bengtsson denies French duo with Longines Global Champions Tour win in Paris

Riding Casall ASK, the experienced Swede took gold in the Longines Paris Eiffel Jumping in a six rider jump-off, ahead of leading French riders, the world number two Simon Delestre and world number four Pénélope Leprevost.

Bengtsson’s win also means the LGCT Ranking battle has taken another twist with less than 10 points separating him from current long-term leader Christian Ahlmann of Germany and the top three now separated by just twelve points.

A starting field of 47 horse and rider combinations took to Uliano Vezzani’s sand arena course with many of the fences were set at the maximum 1.60 metres. First to go clear was third starter Georgina Bloomberg from the USA on Lilli, but it was young German Philip Houston who was the initial pace setter, jumping clear on Loewenherz in 75.96 seconds.

The first round saw fourteen combinations jump clear rounds, with four others on four faults making up the top 18 going through to round two.

The second round was a big but very jumpable course and the French riders, who had been on form all weekend winning many of the classes on offer, maintained their streak of success. Delestre, Leprevost and Mathieu Billot again made the course look easy to post double clear rounds and set up a jump-off along with Bengtsson, Qatar’s Bassem Hassan Mohammad and Great Britain’s Scott Brash.

Mohammed was first to go and jumped clear again, setting the benchmark at 41.33 seconds. However next to go Leprevost soon smashed his time with Vagabond de la Pomme, crossing the line in a spectacular 39.12 seconds. Next up was leading home rider Simon Delestre with Hermes Ryan, and they bettered Leprevost’s time by stopping the clock in 39.02 seconds.

Their compatriot Billot on Shiva d”Amaury went round in a time of 38.26 seconds but incurred four faults to push them out of contention. Brash on Ursula XII was somewhat cautious in comparison, going clear in a time of 45.94 seconds, but it was last-to-go Bengtsson and Casall ASK who stole the show and took victory by completing a fast clear round in 38.50 seconds, half a second quicker than Delestre.

The win moves Bengtsson one place up the leaderboard on the overall LGCT Rankings and into second, cutting the lead held by Ahlmann to just nine points. Australia’s Edwina Tops Alexander has moved to third in the rankings as the LGCT now heads to Estoril in Portugal with just five legs remaining on this year’s Championship.

Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Paris
Result

1 Casall ASK Rolf-Göran Bengtsson Sweden 0/ 38.50 seconds (jump-off)
2 Hermes Ryan Simon Delestre France 0/ 39.02
3 Vagabond de la Pomme Penelope Leprevost France 0/ 39.12
4 Dejavu Bassem Mohammed Qatar 0/ 41.33
5 Ursula XII Scott Brash Great Britain 0/ 45.94
6 Shiva d”Amaury Mathieu Billot France 4/ 38.26
LONGINES GLOBAL CHAMPIONS TOUR 2016
Overall standings after leg 10 – Paris, France

1. Christian Ahlmann Germany 209 points
2. Rolf-Goran Bengtsson Sweden 200
3. Edwina Tops-Alexander Australia 197
4. Bertram Allen Ireland 154
5. John Whitaker Great Britain 146
6. Daniel Bluman Colombia 144
7. Kevin Staut France 137
8. Emanuele Gaudiano Italy 136
9. Harrie Smolders Netherlands 133
10. Simon Delestre France 132