"Luckily, the heat didn’t bother Ermitage Kalone. Despite the warmth, he felt pretty fresh!" Thomas added. "For me, this Grand Prix was my last competition before the European Championship. I came here to fine-tune things and try out some new strategies..."

"I had seen a few of the other riders, but not all. My initial goal was to finish on the podium to maintain my lead in the rankings. Fortunately, Niels Bruynseels was able to motivate me to really go for it!"

First Grand Prix win for Ermitage!

"It's also great... this is Ermitage’s first ever CSI5* Grand Prix win, and I’m glad I could give that to him!" Thomas continued. "It’s now clear that, aside from the European Championship, I’ll focus on the Global Champions Tour. Just to clarify—I hope to compete in the European Championship, but that’s not certain yet!"