{"id":11679,"date":"2018-11-05T10:58:26","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T09:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jumpingamsterdam.nl\/?p=11679"},"modified":"2018-11-05T10:59:26","modified_gmt":"2018-11-05T09:59:26","slug":"fuchs-flies-to-victory-at-longines-leg-in-lyon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/fuchs-flies-to-victory-at-longines-leg-in-lyon\/","title":{"rendered":"Fuchs flies to victory at Longines leg in Lyon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Switzerland\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Martin Fuchs (26) and Clooney produced a spectacular victory in the fourth leg of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ 2018\/2019 Western European League more than lived up to expectations at Equita Longines in Lyon, France today. In an edge-of-the-seat 10-horse jump-off that included four riders flying the host-country flag, it came down to a race to catch the target-time set by Italy\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Lorenzo de Luca and Ensor de Litrange who were fifth to go. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And the last three chasing down that time were Rio 2016 Olympic team gold medallist Kevin Staut from France and the silver and bronze medallists from this year\u00e2\u0080\u0099s FEI World Equestrian Games™, Fuchs and fellow-countryman Steve Guerdat.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u0080\u009cI was always going for the win, but I wasn\u00e2\u0080\u0099t sure I could beat Lorenzo – I\u00e2\u0080\u0099m not always super-fast with Clooney and Lorenzo looked really fast on the screen. I didn\u00e2\u0080\u0099t know what time I had going through the finish, but when I looked up I saw first place and I was very, very happy!\u00e2\u0080\u009d Fuchs said after punching the air in delight.<\/span><\/p>\n

With a third-place finish last weekend in Verona, Italy the Swiss rider now heads the Western European League table carrying a handsome 35 points, so only needs a few more to book his ticket to the Longines Final in Gothenburg, Sweden next April.<\/span><\/p>\n

French course designer, Gregory Bodo, gave them plenty to think about in today\u00e2\u0080\u0099s first round in which the 75 seconds time-allowed proved highly influential. \u00e2\u0080\u009cWith the top riders and horses present it\u00e2\u0080\u0099s not easy to find the right balance, but the time was perfect and riders had to keep the right tempo from the start to the end to be in time\u00e2\u0080\u009d he explained. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Italy\u00e2\u0080\u0099s de Luca really put it up to the rest of them in the jump-off when stopping the timers in 37.78 seconds with a great run from his powerful 14-year-old gelding and, with just three left to go, Dutchman Maikel van der Vleuten was his nearest rival after posting 38.00 with Dana Blue. The 7,000-seater stadium was packed with French fans who held their collective breath as Staut set off with For Joy van\u00e2\u0080\u0099t Zorgvliet, but despite their best effort the pair didn\u00e2\u0080\u0099t threaten the lead when breaking the beam in 38.32 seconds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Second-last into the ring however, Fuchs had his foot to the floor all the way, and with a brilliant turn to the vertical three from home and a breathtaking gallop to the last, he stormed through the timers in 37.25 seconds and not even Guerdat and his brilliant mare Bianca could match that. De Luca held on for runner-up spot while 2012 Olympic champion Guerdat, twice-winner of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ title, had to settle for third when stopping the clock on 37.89.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u0080\u009cClooney had a one-month break after Tryon (FEI World Equestrian Games) and then we came to Verona and Lyon because I really want to qualify for the Final. I\u00e2\u0080\u0099m going to Wellington (USA) in January so I wanted to focus on the World Cup qualifiers now\u00e2\u0080\u009d Fuchs explained this evening. He\u00e2\u0080\u0099s had an extraordinary year with the horse he competed at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and with which he claimed two European team bronze medals, in 2015 and again in 2017. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

They kicked off 2018 with 5-Star Grand Prix wins at Basel and Zurich (SUI) but Clooney then had to undergo colic surgery in April and that was a worrying time. He bounced back however and, just a few weeks after claiming World Championship individual silver, the grey horse is continuing to show incredible form.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u0080\u009cHe\u00e2\u0080\u0099s such a tough horse, he always fights. When I got him in the beginning I was struggling a lot because he has his own mind and he\u00e2\u0080\u0099s so strong. But over time we have come to work really well together, and now we can do anything!\u00e2\u0080\u009d Fuchs said proudly today. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Swiss rider now plans to compete in the next leg of the series at Stuttgart in Germany in two weeks\u00e2\u0080\u0099 time and at Olympia in London (GBR) in December. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Result<\/b>: 1, Clooney (Martin Fuchs) SUI 0\/0 37.25; 2, Ensor de Litrange (Lorenzo de Luca) ITA 0\/0 37.78; 3, Bianca (Steve Guerdat) SUI 0\/0 37.89; 4, Dana Blue (Maikel van der Vleuten) NED 0\/0 38.00; 5, For Joy van\u00e2\u0080\u0099t Zorgvliet HDC (Kevin Staut) FRA 0\/0 38.32; 6, Apart (Pieter Devos) BEL 0\/0 38.72; 7, Valdocco des Caps (Guillaume Foutrier) FRA 0\/0 41.87; 8, Ida van de Bisschop (Irma Karlsson) SWE 0\/4 39.85; 9, Quilane de Lezeaux (Nicolas Deseuzes) FRA 0\/8 40.79; 10, Tempo de Paban (Olivier Robert) FRA 0\/Ret.<\/span><\/p>\n

Full Result <\/b>here<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Standings<\/b> after fourth leg of Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ 2018\/2019 Western European League at Lyon (FRA):<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Martin Fuchs SUI – 35
\n<\/span>2. Kevin Staut FRA – 34
\n<\/span>3. Steve Guerdat SUI – 32
\n<\/span>4. Hans-Dieter Dreher GER – 28
\n<\/span>5. Gudrun Patteet BEL – 21
\n<\/span>6. Luca Maria Moneta ITA – 21
\n<\/span>7. Daniel Deusser GER – 20
\n<\/span>7. Douglas Lindelow SWE – 20
\n<\/span>9. Pieter Devos BEL – 19
\n<\/span>10. Niels Bruynseels BEL – 18<\/span><\/p>\n

Full Standings<\/b> here<\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n

Watch highlights<\/b> here<\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n

Source and image: FEI<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Switzerland\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Martin Fuchs (26) and Clooney produced a spectacular victory in the fourth leg of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ 2018\/2019 Western European League more than lived up to expectations at Equita Longines in Lyon, France today. In an edge-of-the-seat 10-horse jump-off that included four riders flying the host-country flag, it came down to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11680,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11679"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11682,"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11679\/revisions\/11682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jumpingamsterdam.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}