PrintAfter a competition full of surprises and unexpected incidents, it was home driver Thibault Coudry who claimed first prize in the last FEI World Cup™ Competition in Bordeaux, France. Sweden’s Tomas Eriksson and Switzerland’s Werner Ulrich miraculously finished second with the exact same score. Favourite drivers IJsbrand Chardon and second wild card driver Daniel Würgler had to deal with the combination of bad luck and too much pressure, and ended at the bottom of the results list.
Surprises
The World Cup™ Competition in Bordeaux was full of surprises. Leipzig winner Daniel Würgler had received the second wild card at the very last moment after Czech driver Jiri Nesvacil had pulled back because of health problems.
Würgler was second to last to go in the first round, which was led by Thibault Coudry until that moment. Würgler however had made some changes to the bridles of his horses in the warm up arena and he afterwards admitted he should not have done so. His horses that went so well in Leipzig now went everywhere except the right way, which caused three balls to fall, and which took the sympathetic professional carriage driver to the fifth place. Last starter IJsbrand Chardon had every chance to win, but this was soon disturbed when his left wheeler horses jumped over the lead bars. Both grooms had to dismount to assist resulting in 20 penalty seconds. Even though Chardon was quickly back into his speed and rhythm in the fast course, designed by French course designer Alain Houard, he was not able to make up for his bad luck and came last.
Winning round
After a somewhat disappointing first round in which both Ulrich and Eriksson, who had to compete with a spare horse after his experienced horse Dennis had not passed the vet check, knocked two balls down, both drivers were unexpectedly qualified for the winning round. Ulrich’s team of Swiss warm blood horses knocked one ball down, which allowed Eriksson and advantage of 16 seconds. The double World Champion however got precious penalty seconds after he knocked an obstacle over that he had not passed yet. Both drivers finished with a score of 269,20 penalty seconds and shared the second place. Last starter Thibault Coudry drove a fast round with his outdoor team of horses, cheered by the enthusiastic public and motivated by the music. Coudry kept the tension until the very last moment as he knocked an obstacle over on his way to the finish. Luckily this did not endanger his victory, as he remained 7 seconds ahead of Ulrich and Eriksson.
Bordeaux back on the calendar
