Thibeau Spits secures biggest career win in Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Riesenbeck

It was a sensational day at the German stage of the 2024 Longines Global Champions Tour season culminating in the exhilarating €500,000 Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Riesenbeck. Hosted at the spectacular purpose built venue, the event attracted an enthusiastic crowd who enjoyed top-tier sporting action, making for an unforgettable day for all attendees.

The electric atmosphere at the prestigious event soared to new heights as at just 23 and 9 years old respectively, young talents Thibeau Spits and Impress-K van 't Kattenheye Z denied Germany a home win as he finished over a second faster than Marcus Ehning and Coolio 42. Standing on his second podium of the season Abdel Saïd and Bonne Amie finished in third place as the fastest on four faults in the jump-off. 

n emotional Spits spoke of the feeling he had today, bringing home the win with the support system he had around him at the eleventh stage of the Championship race. He said, “To win a Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix is for sure the biggest achievement of my career. Both my grandfathers were here and my sister, as it is close to home in Belgium, so it is nice to have my family here to support, it makes it more special.”

Thibeau Spits is now the 5th Belgium rider to earn their spot in the prestigious Longines Global Champions Tour Super Grand Prix in Riyadh later this season. 

Breaking of his winning partner who has now backed up an impressive fourth place in the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Cannes, and proven they are a force to be reckoned with, Spits said, “He’s only 9 but i have ridden him for 6 years so we know each other inside and out

He went on to add, “I have always loved this horse, not everyone saw it, but the feeling he gave over every single jump. What he has done is amazing today, but I have the feeling it is only the beginning and he really will be the horse of my career.”

Hero of the sport Marcus Ehning couldn’t sing the praises of young-gun Spits when speaking exclusively with GCTV after his second place. With a smirk on his face, “Look he is an amazing rider…  I just told Thibeau that us people who are older than fifty years old should get to start with minus two seconds on the clock, as these young guns need a handicap.”

Following the win in the first stage of the 2024 season, Doha, Qatar, for Abdel Saïd and Bonne Amie, an unfortunate fall left Saïd out of the saddle for the middle part of the season. In a comeback to be proud of, Abdel spoke of his thrill of being back on tour and back on the podium. He said, “The first round meant a lot and to have her back on form and feeling the way she did - it for me, is everything.

As for what’s next for the on-form duo? “My main aim for the rest of the season is Rabat, the Finals of the Championship - and of course, the Longines Global Champions Tour Super Grand Prix in Riyadh.”

After stage 11 of the LGCT Championship race there are no changes to the top two of Max Kühner who still leads on 208 points, and Andreas Schou stays on 192 points, while Maikel van der Vleuten leapfrogs up to third place on 183 points after finishing just outside the placings today. Although it wasn’t his day with an unlucky rail down in his home town of Riesenbeck, Christian Kukuk moves up to fourth place with 172 points, and Gilles Thomas rounds off the top 5 just nine points behind on 163.

It was a gut wrenching single time fault for Olivier Philippaerts on his LGCT Grand Prix of Stockholm winner H&M Miro as the pair stopped the clock 0.19 seconds over the time allowed on 81 seconds. Also breaking German hearts around the arena was power duo of Katrin Eckermann and Iron Dames Cala Mandia Nrw as they came in 0.31 seconds over the time allowed, also adding a single time penalty to their scoresheet. 

Frank Rothenberg’s 1.60m track caught out some of the biggest names in the sport with the likes of Chrstian Ahlmann, Laura Kraut, Marco Kutscher and LGCT Grand Prix of Mexico winning combination Nicola Philippaerts and H&M Luna van't Ruytershof Z all opted to retire after early faults.

So it would be four in the jump-off…

First to go was the LGCT Grand Prix of Doha 2024 winning combination of Abdel Saïd and Bonne Amie. The huge striding horse made easy work of the course until the penultimate fence came crashing down, as he shook his head in disappointment crossing the finish line with four faults in a rapid time of 41.04 seconds. 

German maestro Marcus Ehning and Coolio 42 were long due a LGCT Grand Prix win. Playing a tactical game Ehning opted for a smooth clear not risking too much to come home clear putting the pressure on the rest of the field but in a beatable time of 43.57 seconds.  

In his second LGCT Grand Prix jump-off Thibeau Spits was hungry for a podium on Impress-K van 't Kattenheye Z after finishing fourth in Cannes. Having been able to watch Ehning’s masterclass of a round Spits knew exactly what he needed to do. Turning it up a gear on the 9 year old, Thibeau took all the inside lines and with a bigger stride than Ehning stopped the clock clear in 41.93 seconds as Belgium teammates and 2024 LGCT Super Grand Prix qualified riders Olivier Philippearts & Gilles Thomas let out a huge cheer from the kiss and cry. 

The last chance to make it a German home win was from Sophie Hinners who took to the arena on Iron Dames Singclair. With David Will and Richard Vogel watching on from edge of the arena, the hearts of the whole crowd stopped as she set off at a rapid pace. Up on the time she looked set for a fairly tail win until fans' hearts were broken. She then steadied the pace a bit, stopping the clock in 43.27 seconds to finish just off the podium today. 

So it would be a win for the young Belgium, Spits, his first ever CSI5* Grand Prix and Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix win and the biggest moment in his career so far. 

The Championship race now has a few weeks off before heading to the iconic Royal Hospital Chelsea, London from 16 - 18 August 2024.