De Luca shines in the Longines Masters Riders Cup in Paris

Paris has been hosting the first seasonal round of the Longines Masters Series this weekend. Once again the Grand Slam of the show jumping indoor has returned to Europe in its most traditional location, where it all started from with the world best riders of this discipline.
After the highly expected Longines Speed Challege on Friday, which saw the triumph of France’s Julien Epaillard, yesterday the brand new type team competition made its debut, with USA against Europe in the Masters Riders Cup.
The two teams made up of five pairs each were involved in exhilarating head-to-head challenges. The final showdown will then take place in New York on April 28.
Eventually Europe took the first Cup on home soil with a total of nine points versus the six points of Robert Ridland’s USA team. It all came down to the final duel between Lorenzo de Luca and Lauren Hough. The Italian rider with Jeunesse van’t Paradijs went clear to give his team the success.
Europe was represented by France’s Kevin Staut riding Ayade de Septon HDC and Belgium’s Jos Verlooy atop of Igor, Netherlands’ Maikel van der Vleuten with Dana Blue and Belgium’s Gregory Wathelet with MJT Nevados S.
The USA-flag was represented by worldcup rider, Devin Ryan (Cooper, v. Unaniem), who was the only male selected by coach Robert Ridland. The rest of the team was a powerhouse of female show jumpers, including Lauren Hough with Waterford, Reed Kessler atop of KS Stakki, Laura Kraut iriding Viper Vrombautshoeve Z and the young talent Chloe Reid with Sally 643.
Full ranking: http://results.hippodata.de/2017/1429/docs/riders_masters_cup_after_2rounds.pdf
Today the Longines Grand Prix starts at 3pm.
press release 
Photo Credit: Laurent Vu for EEM