Maikel van der Vleuten provided the Parisian crowds with a spectacular performance in Saturday’s Prix GL events at the Saut Hermès. It was Denis Lynch who took an early lead though, bringing the crowds to the edge of their seats as he put Abbervail van het Dingeshof (Non Stop x Jus de Pomme) in top gear over the 1.45-1.50 track and with a little bit of luck leaving the final fence - the Hermès wall - in one piece as one of the bricks rattled.

It looked almost impossible to beat, but Maikel van der Vleuten had chosen VDL Groep Eureka (Chin Chin x Quidam de Revel) for the class - and on the speedy grey mare the Dutch rider is always a threat. Today was no exception, and with an unbelievable round that was 0.62 seconds faster the pair pushed Lynch down to second and Abdelkebir Ouaddar on crowd favorite Quickly de Kreisker (Diamant de Semilly x Laudanum) down to third - with none of the remaining riders being able to catch the trio that made up the top three.