Smolders claims Longines GCT Grand Prix victory in Rome as Bengtsson takes pole position in

Smolders snatched the win from his compatriot Maikel van der Vleuten and then narrowly hold onto his lead after a challenge from the final rider Frenchman Simon Delestre who took the silver medal.

There was disappointment for Australia’s Edwina Tops-Alexander who started the event as ranking leader, but lost out on points to close rival Rolf-Goran Bengtsson who finished fifth and is now five points ahead of her on the leaderboard.

Thunderstorms and lightning at The Stadio dei Marmi had left organisers with no choice but to postpone the Grand Prix class for 24 hours, meaning the rescheduled event on Sunday was part of a thrilling double bill of the Longines Global Champions Tour individual competition followed by the Global Champions League team competition later in the day.

Course designer Uliano Vezzani set a straightforward but delicate course, which made it easy to pick up four faults at any point, adding on the extra pressure of finishing the rest of the round clear and fast.

The first round saw the young stars of show jumping setting the pace initially, as Great Britain’s Jessica Mendoza took pole position on Spirit T. With the previous day’s clear rounds carried through, Belgium’s Jos Verlooy on Caracas and home rider Gianni Govoni with Antonio also progressed as the resumed first round course proved a tough test for the world’s best with many rolling a pole in all areas of the course.

The LGCT Championship battle looked set to take an interesting turn after Tops-Alexander and Caretina de Joter had a rail down in the middle of the Longines triple combination, but just scraped through on four faults and were first to go into round two.

Bengtsson and Casall ASK jumped clear to set themselves up well for round two, and they were joined by many top names including Delestre with Chesall, Smolders and Don VHP Z, van der Vleuten with VDL Groep Arera C and Germany’s Ludger Beerbaum with Chiara, plus four home riders including Emanuele Gaudiano and Caspar 232 and Piergiorgio Bucci with Casallo Z joining.

The second round course featured fences up to the full 1.60m height and faults came from all over the course, until van der Vleuten put in a stunning clear round with VDL Groep Arera C. Beerbaum and Qatar’s Sheikh Ali Bin Khalid Al Thani both rolled poles to eliminater them from a jump-off, but home riders and Alberto Zorzi both earned their place as part of the seven horse and rider combinations in the final jump-off round.

Van der Vleuten was first to go and set a fine time to beat of 34.07 seconds. Verlooy and Zorzi both also jumped clear for their third clear rounds respectively but with slightly slower times both riders were unable to knock the Dutch rider off the top position.

Bengtsson knew a good result would shoot him up to the overall ranking lead, however despite a similar flawless clear round he too was slower and ended fifth overall.

Bucci and Casello Z looked set to be on for a podium finish, that was until they clipped the final fence and out of the running to the disappointment of the home fans.

However the turn of Smolders on Don VHP Z saw the pair complete a third clear round and stopping the clock at 33.11 seconds to take the lead with one rider left to go.

It was left then to current world Number 3 Delestre and Chesall Zimequest to snatch victory but the pair had to settle with silver finishing second with their clear round coming in a time of 34.00 seconds.

The victory for Smolders moves him up to fifth place on the LGCT leaderboard rankings, but it is Bengtsson’s fifth place finish in Rome which is the more significant.

He takes over at the top of the leaderboard from Tops-Alexander with now only two rounds remaining, the first of which is the penultimate event of the 2016 season in Vienna, Austria next weekend.
Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Rome
Result
1 Don VHP Z Harrie Smolders The Netherlands 0 faults/33.11 seconds
2 Chesall Zimequest Simon Delestre France 0/34.00
3 VDL Groep Arera C Maikel van der Vleuten The Netherlands 0/34.07
4 Fair Light van’t Heike Alberto Zorzi Italy 0/35.15
5 Casall ASK Rolf-Göran Bengtsson Sweden 0/35.16
6 Caracas Jos Verlooy Belgium 0/35.46
7 Casallo Z Piergiorgio Bucci Italy 4/33.99
Longines Global Champions Tour 2016
Overall standings after leg 13 – Rome, Italy

1. Rolf-Goran Bengtsson Sweden 272 points
2. Edwina Tops-Alexander Australia 267
3. Christian Ahlmann Germany 232
4. Bertram Allen Ireland 217
5. Harrie Smolders The Netherlands 200
6. Ludger Beerbaum Germany 194
7. Simon Delestre France 169
8. Daniel Bluman Colombia 166
9. Kevin Staut France 162
10. Olivier Philippaerts Belgium 160