Maikel van der Vleuten amazed his home crowd in Valkenswaard

What a great preparation for the European Championships for Maikel van der Vleuten ! With his amazing Dana Blue, the Deutsch made two perfect rounds in the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Valkenswaard. With this performance, he signed his second victory in the circuit after Monaco where he won with Beauville Z. As for Dana Blue, she confirmed her incredible regularity. She is currently scoring five international victories this year, including two CSI5* Grand Prix: Geesteren and Valkenswaard. Horse lovers will have to keep an eye on the mare as she will participate at her first big championship in Rotterdam.

At home, the couple outshined eight pairs during the jump-off. First to go, Belgium’s Olivier Philippaerts did great and put a lot of pressure on his opponents. His fast H&M Legend was only participating to her second CSI5* since the World Cup final in Goteborg last April and offered to her rider a nice second place.  In good shape too, Kevin Staut and For Joy van’t Zorgvliet ended third thanks to a fast and clear jump-off. Perfect in the second round, Netherlands’ Harrie Smolders on Don VHP Z and Germany’s Marcus Ehning on Cornado NRW had to settle for the fourth and fifth place. Slower but clear, Christian Kukuk took the sixth position on Quintino.

Favorite for a new victory in Valkenswaard, France’s Simon Delestre and Julien Epaillard did not manage to stay clear during the jump-off. Taking all the risks, the first one on his legendary Hermès Ryan did not avoid a fault. The second one on Virtuose Champeix ended with eight points despite a victory few hours earlier. They respectively finished at the seventh and eighth place.

Regarding Great Britain’s riders, none of them travelled to Valkenswaard.

Full results : here