Philippe Guerdat has announced his selection for Riders Europe for the third edition of the Riders Masters Cup, which will be held in Paris on December 1st. 

This is undoubtedly the first time that Philippe Guerdat has had to select his own son. That's why he always refused to take over the management of the Swiss team, but this time the coach of the French team had no other option. Steve Guerdat, individual Olympic Champion in 2012, has just won another medal at the Tryon World Equestrian Games and is now rank two on the Longines FEI world ranking.

And he is not the only Olympic Champion on this Riders Europe short list, which includes two team gold medalists too: French rider Kevin Staut (Rio 2016) and British rider Ben Maher (London 2012). On the team is also Team World Champion (Caen 2014) Maikel van der Vleuten of the Netherlands, as well as two solid Germans: Daniel Deusser and Christian Ahlmann. Five of these six riders have been world number one at one time in their career. Two other in-form riders complete the list on the senior side: Italian rider Lorenzo De Luca and Spain’s Eduardo Alvarez Aznar. Philippe Guerdat will have to choose four names from among these eight.

To complete his team, he will also have to select a fifth rider, an U25, from between Great Britain’s Harry Charles and the young Frenchman Edward Levy. 

The Riders Europe team manager will have to make his decision by 28 November in time for the duels draw of this exciting competition. The draw will be held at the prestigious Hôtel de Talleyrand, owned by the United States Embassy, from 6:30 pm.

Press release from Agence R&B Presse

Photo © Sportfot