Third spot for De Luca at Longines Speed Challenge

The Longines Speed Challenge took place, as usual, on Friday night. It was a packed house and the crowd was on fire as the curtain went up on this thrilling world speed competition. Right from their first discovery lap, the riders all sung the praises of the new course designed by course designer Louis Konickx. They went as far as to deem it one of the best ever seen in the Longines Speed Challenge. To the joy of the home fans, Julien Epaillard was the fastest with Cristallo A LM. Behind him was his fellow countryman Kevin Staut, who was first at the start, riding Ayade de Septon HDC, and top of the ranking, before being overtaken by Epaillard. Italy’s Lorenzo De Luca slotted into third with a time of 63.53 seconds, making an impressive performance atop of Limestone Grey. Emanuele Gaudiano was also competing with his Carlotta 232 and ended 14th in 69.72 seconds, while Alberto Zorzi was 20th spot with Florette van het Lambroeck in 72.19 seconds. Full result list: http://www.longinestiming.com/#!/equestrian/2017/1429/html/en/longinestiming/resultlist_E3.html This was just a taster for the all-new Riders Masters Cup event, a series of duels between the United States and Europe to be contested for the first time ever tonight at 9pm. The CSI5* will start at 1pm with the Masters One Salon du Cheval de Paris and will be followed by the Masters Power Lido de Paris. www.longinesmasters.compress releasephoto: ©Sportfot & ©Christophe Tanière pour EEM