"Today was not our day," was the initial reaction of coach Jos Lansink. Last year, TeamNL won the Nations Cup at CHIO Rotterdam for the third consecutive year. Now, the team finished sixth in the Longines League of Nations™️ with 9 penalty points over two rounds. "The horses jumped well. But you also need to have luck. My riders also rode well. Harrie had some bad luck in the triple combination. In the second round, Maikel made a mistake that he normally never makes. Harrie’s Uricas vd Kattevennen jumped phenomenally in the second round."
It was a competition of exceptionally high standards. The French won with a flawless result. "All the countries were here in full force today. There was a lot of competition. For many countries, this was also the final selection for Paris. We didn't have Willem Greve in the team, so we weren’t at full strength." However, that choice was deliberate because the coach still has to make his selection for Paris and wanted to try other combinations like Kim Emmen and Leopold van Asten. Grandorado, Willem Greve's top horse, was intentionally not in Rotterdam. "Kim Emmen jumped great in the first round with a time fault. Because we had already made a plan, she knew she wouldn’t ride in the second round. It’s tough that she has to drop out, even though she rode such a good round." Leopold van Asten and VDL Groep Iron rode perfectly clear in the first round. In the second round, they had a fault at the oxer after the water, where Iron, as always, jumped with a lot of action and height. "Because of that, Leopold couldn’t get Iron fully on his hindquarters, resulting in the fault," Lansink analyzes.
Lansink will announce his team for the Olympics on Tuesday. "We want to perform very well there. But even after Paris, there are important competitions we want to win, so I have several combinations in my selection."
"The form was good, the execution quite good, but the result was not good," Harrie Smolders responds to the sixth place. "Fine-tune the details, then on to Paris. We'll win in Paris."
Maikel van der Vleuten started the competition well with a clear round. In the second round, they made one of the rare mistakes at the wall. "In the second round, it felt easier, and Beauville jumped more easily than in the first round when the result was better. The mistake was partly my fault." Three years ago, the combination won bronze in Tokyo. "The feeling now is no less than in the run-up to Tokyo. Matching that result will not be easy. We have that bronze medal from then, and they can't take it away from us. Now we will do everything we can over the next five weeks to be in the best possible shape. In Paris, we just have to make no mistakes."
Source: KNHS