In the 1.45m CSI5*, Maikel van der Vleuten held the top spot on the leaderboard for quite some time. Ultimately, five pairs managed to surpass his time. Over his last nine international starts, he has won nearly everything and remained faultless each time. Today, Rodrigo Giesteira Almeida continued his strong form with a victory in this CSI5*. The Portuguese rider repeated his success with his 13-year-old Solidat (Semper Fi).
“It’s really a great feeling to compete here. And I’m happy to start my weekend like this,” Almeida said after the event. Harrie Smolders came closest to the winner’s time. In front of his home crowd, Smolders finished just under two seconds behind with Mr. Tac (Non Stop, breeder: Edmond Meyers). Together with the 13-year-old BWP gelding, Smolders pushed Pim Mulder to third place.
Mulder completed the top three with his 12-year-old Ustinov son, Dunaghmore. Just outside the top three, Michael Greeve followed with Luka-Cara (Akarad Hero Z), ahead of Kim Emmen and the 12-year-old Island V G (VDL Zirocco Blue).
Maikel van der Vleuten ultimately finished in 6th place with his 14-year-old Dywis HH (Toulon).
