ph. LGCT/Stefano Grasso
The feature CSI5* class of the first day of the Longines Global Champions Tour of Cannes was won by Portugal’s Luciana Diniz and with her beautiful mare Lady Lindenhof, 2nd was Johannes Ehning (GER) and Appearance, 3rd was Rolf-Göran Bengtsson (SWE) and his ever-consistent Casall ASK.
Celebrities from all walks of life enjoyed the sport from the elegant VIP area – ‘The Boss’ Bruce Springsteen, actor Guillaume Canet (who was an earlier winner here in Cannes) and model Charlotte Casiraghi (placed 3rd in the first class today) enjoyed all that the stunning French Riviera location had to offer as the competition unfolded.
Uliano Vezzani’s course offered smooth sweeping turns and generous distances, but it was deceptive in it’s simplicity. Clears were incredibly thin on the ground despite the world-class line-up. The light top rails fell all over the floodlit arena leaving just seven clear rounds from the 53 elite level starters.
Rolf-Goran Bengtsson (SWE) led from first to go with a daring round in a time of 67.35s that forced those who followed him into making a mistake. Luciana Diniz and Lady Lindenhof, who had a great show in Hamburg, put in a swift time of 64.84s to take the lead from the Swede from late in the draw. Johannes Ehning chased the leading time but could not quite better the leading lady’s time, stopping the clock at 65.53s.
Source: GCT