In the end, it was Dutch rider Harrie Smolders who rode his 16-year-old Monaco (Cassini II) to victory. With a time of 34.27 seconds, he was unbeatable over the 1.60m high obstacles.

Harrie: "It feels great! It's actually very special. Nine years ago, I met Monaco here as a 7-year-old, and nine years later, he's winning here. That's really amazing. Every competition with Monaco is like a completely new competition. He's always a bit spooky on the first day, but on the last day he performs at his best. I don't want to enter Monaco in every competition as I always put him in first place. That means Rabat and Riyadh are out of the question for me, as I don't have enough horsepower. Monaco has already competed in 12 competitions and I would like to ride in a few other competitions later this year. During the Super Grand Prix in Prague, I would very much like to compete for the win. It's really the best against the best there, and I hope to peak with Monaco, just like we did here, which is why good management is so important. To be able to ride every leg of this competition, you need at least two GP horses, and I don't have that at the moment."

Gilles Thomas jumps to Silver and is the youngest LGCT winner!

Qalista DN (Emerald van 't Ruytershof) clocked a time of 34.41 seconds under Thomas, which was good enough for Silver in this Grand Prix. Thanks to this podium finish in Rome, Gilles Thomas now also takes home the 2025 LGCT victory. With a total of 275 points, no one else can catch him, and Thomas now goes down in history as the YOUNGEST LGCT winner!

Gilles: "It feels really good. It's been a long season, and my horses just kept performing. Again, Qalista is such a great horse! She's in really great shape right now, and I could only try to win here. (laughs) I think I currently have a really strong stable of horses with Ermitage, Qiara, Qalista and Luna. With such a handful of top horses, you can manage them better, I agree with Harrie on that. I got the #1 band early in the season and that really gave me and my horses wings. Winning with Ermitage Kalone in Paris this year was the best moment of the season. It was both my first win with him and my first LGCT win of the season, so it was very memorable!"

Maikel van der Vleuten ultimately rode to third place in the saddle of Beauville Z N.O.P. (Bustique), 0.43 seconds behind Thomas. Cocaine du Val (Mylord Carthago HN) jumped to fourth place under Gregory Cottard, while Katharina Rhomberg and Colestus Cambridge (Colestus) rounded out the top five.

Results