Roger Yves Bost left the brakes at the in-gate in the Eiffel Sunday Challenge presented by la Mairie de Paris, and snatched the victory after a blistering fast class. 

The 1.55 speed competition went faster and faster as it progressed, with the riders giving everything in front of the enthusiastic French crowds that cheered on every effort made to win. 

It was Luciana Diniz that took the lead half-way after a fantastic round on Lennox (Lifestyle x Grannus). It looked hard to beat, but in the end it was 'only' good enough for seventh which says quite a lot about the speed in the class. Just one rider later, Diniz was overtaken by Lauren Hough that put the tiny rubber-ball Ohlala (Orlando x Cardento) in top gear from start to finish to shave off over a second on Diniz's time. Laura Renwick came close to Hough, slotting in only 0.38 seconds behind on Bintang II (Tangelo van de Zuuthoeve x Orlando).

With ten riders to go it was time for home hero Roger Yves Bost that gave everything on the wonderful Pegase du Murier (Adelfos x Le Tot de Semilly), flying around the eleven fence track with no brakes whatsoever to take over the lead with a time that was a second faster than that off Hough taking home yet another French win at the Longines Paris Eiffel Jumping.

Text © World of Showjumping // Picture © Stefano Grasso/LGCT