LGCT 2015 London: Rolf-Goran Bengtsson rides to first victory

Rolf-Goran Bengtsson rode to victory in the Longines Global Champions Tour at the Syon Park Arena on the banks of the river Thames in London. The Swedish rider was on the back of his Holsteiner stallion Casall Ask while the Scott Brash, from Scotland, has managed to take control of the rankings ahead of Luciana Diniz from Portugal.  
12 riders were involved in the third edition of this main event (the first two in 2013 and 2014 were both won by British riders, Ben Maher and Scott Brash respectively) and Rolf-Goran managed his first ever victory on the LGCT tour.
Bengtsson managed the win with Casall Ask thanks to a time of 34.9 in what proved to be a tense finale. Home hero John Whitaker finished just 0.8 of a second behind the Swedish rider on the back of Argento to take second place.
Third was another big name, the French rider Simon Delestre who was riding his top horse Qlassic Bois Margot. His time of 35.63 around the arean was another stunning performance.
This event in London always manages to bring the best our of the British riders, obviously still inspired by the Olympic games that took place here wher a gold medal was won. For the last two years a British rider has always stood on the top step of the podium and this year John Whitaker went so close to making it a hat-trick, while Brash overtook Luciana Diniz in the over LGCT rankings, an important result.
The course set out by Uliano Vezzani was very selective in the firt round where some illustrious names struggled: The dutch rider Maikel van der Vleuten and the Germans Ludger Beerbaum and Markus Ehning all came away with four penalties.
four penalties in the first round also for Emanuele Massimiliano Bianchi who is slowly improving in his performances. He finished in 21st place with Vadetta vh Mettenhof.
The top 10
1 Rolf-Goran Bengtsson SWE Casall Ask
2 John Whitaker GBR Argento
3 Simon Delestre FRA Qlassic Bois Margot
4 Gerco Schroder NED Glock’s Cognac Champblanc
5 Christian Ahlmann GER Taloubet z
6 Scott Brash GBR Hello Sanctos
7 Kamal Abdullah Bahamdan QAT Noblesse des Tess
8 Penelope Leprevost FRA Ratina d’la Rousserie
9 Jaime Azcarraga MEX Anton
10 Robert Whitaker GBR Catwalk IV
The complete standings: http://eventcontent.hippoonline.de/1057/sta_erg/10_ergENG.htm?style=long…
RANKING:
1 SCOTT BRASH GBR 274
2 Luciana Diniz POR 246
3 Christian Ahlmann GER 204
4 Rolf-Goran Bengtsson SWE 198
5 Sheikh Ali Bin Khalid Al Thani QAT 195
6 Simon Delestre FRA 163
7 John Whitaker GBR 155
8 Penelope Leprevost FRA 136
9 Bertram Allen IRL 134
10 Pius Schwizer SUI 133
The complete rankings: http://www.globalchampionstour.com/ranking/2015/
photo: Stefano Grasso/LGCT
www.globalchampionstour.com