Steve Guerdat dominated Waregem

After a demanding first round only seven riders managed to qualify themselves in the jump-off of the CSI5* of Waregem in Belgium. At home, Yves Vanderhasselt was the first rider to enter the ring for the jump-off. With Jeunesse under the saddle, he jumped a clear round in 43,62 seconds. Even if he signed the best performance for Belgium, that was not enough to claim the victory, but it was good enough to put a lot of pressure on his opponents. His compatriot Gilles Thomas was the second rider to enter for the jump-off. He and Konak jumped a fast round, but they got one penalty for jumping. Third rider to enter was James Wilson. He did manage to jump a faster round than Vanderhasselt but they got one penalty for jumping as well. Max Kühner was next to enter. With Elektric Blue P he immediately went fast as lightening. At the end of the course he did slow down a little bit but he did manage to ride faster than Vanderhasselt.
After that it was up to the number one in the world: Steve Guerdat. He rode the KWPN gelding Alamo. He did what a number one is expected to do: he rode faster than Kühner and he did it by three seconds. At that moment there were two riders would could still steal Guerdat’s victory: the Irish Denis Lynch and the Belgian rider Jérôme Guery.

Denis Lynch was the first rider. It immediately became clear that he really wanted to win. He jumped Ruben Ls La Silla to a clear round, but in the end his time of 38,26 seconds wasn’t enough to take the victory home. Then it was up to Jérôme Guery. He did everything in is power to give the crowd a Belgian crowd a home victory but he and Quel Homme de Hus got one penalty for jumping and ended on seventh place.