Global Champions Tour 2018

The Global Champions Tour 2018 was the 13th season of the Global Champions Tour , an international tournament series. It is considered one of the most important series in show jumping . For the third time, another series of tests, the Global Champions League 2018 team competition , was held parallel to the Global Champions Tour . Both series were tournament series recognized by the FEI .

Longines was the name sponsor and timepiece of the Global Champions Tour (GCT), which was called the Longines Global Champions Tour 2018 .

Course of the tournament series

For the 2018 season, the number of stages in the tournament series increased again. All venues from the previous year remained part of the seasonal calendar. New additions were the Athina Onassis Horse Show , which has been sponsored by Longines in Saint-Tropez since 2014, and a new season-end tournament in Prague . The latter was not a tournament with normal special stages. Instead, the Global Champions League held a play-off here , and the Global Champions Tour a Super Grand Prix only for the winners of the 16 special stages of the season.

All tournaments were  advertised as CSI 5 *, the highest category in show jumping.

Global Champions League

The Global Champions League was a series of tests for teams in which two riders from a team (which usually consisted of five riders) competed as one team per test. The teams were put together regardless of their nationalities.

The special stages of the Global Champions League (GCL) were held in 2018 before the stage of the Global Champions Tour. Each GCL stage consisted of two tests: The first partial test on Thursday or Friday was no longer a jumping competition with jump-off as in the previous year , but an error-time jumping competition (one round) .

The second partial test took place on the Saturday directly before the Global Champions Tour test. The announcements provided for an error-time jumping competition with one round. The courses of both exams had obstacle heights of 1.50 to 1.60 meters. The starting order of the teams was based on their result in the first partial test. The team result was calculated from the addition of the penalty points of the riders competing for the team in both partial tests; in the event of a penalty point tie, the addition of the times of the second round was decisive. In addition to the prize money for both exams, each GCL stage was endowed with 200,000 euros.

The rules of the GCL allowed up to 20 teams per season, compared to 2017 the number of teams increased by one to 19. The names and composition of the teams changed. In June 2018, at the middle of the season, there was the opportunity to exchange team riders as part of a transfer window. The teams included the following tabs:

• Berlin Eagles: Ludger Beerbaum , Kamal Bahamdan , Philipp Weishaupt , Christian Kukuk , Ben Asselin     
• Cannes Stars: Jane Richard Philips , Sergio Álvarez Moya , Piergiorgio Bucci , Karel Cox , Daniel Coyle     
• Cascais Charms: John Whitaker , Rolf-Göran Bengtsson , Luiz Felipe de Azevedo filho , / Mathilda Karlsson, Philip Houston   
• Chantilly Pegasus: Roger-Yves Bost , Carlos Enrique Lopez Lizarazo , Sadri Fegaier, Mégane Moissonnier, until June Dayro Arroyave , from July Carlos Ramirez    
• Doha Fursan Qatar: Ali bin Chalid Al Thani , Bassem Hassan Mohammed , Michael Whitaker , Raschid Towaim Ali al-Marri , Hamad Ali Mohamed Al Attiyah     
• Hamburg Giants: René Lopez , Christian Rhomberg , Cindy van der Straten , Sameh El Dahan , Emil Hallundbæk     
• London Knights: Ben Maher , Martin Fuchs , Olivier Philippaerts , Nicola Philippaerts , Emily Moffitt    
• Madrid in Motion: Maikel van der Vleuten , Marc Houtzager , Eric van der Vleuten , Eduardo Álvarez Aznar , Michael G. Duffy     
• Miami Celtics: Denis Lynch , Shane Breen , Jessica Springsteen , Cameron Hanley , Michael Duffy     
• Monaco Aces: Simon Delestre , Jérôme Guery , Julien Epaillard , Romain Duguet , Jeanne Sadran    
• Montreal Diamonds: Harrie Smolders , Danielle Goldstein , Eric Lamaze , Mark McAuley , Jos Verlooy     
• New York Empire: Georgina Bloomberg , Scott Brash , Cian O'Connor , David Will , Lillie Keenan     
• Paris Panthers: Darragh Kenny , Grégory Wathelet , Nayel Nassar , Jennifer Gates, Kent Farrington until June , Yuri Mansur from July     
• Prague Lions: Niels Bruynseels , Aleš Opatrný , Gerco Schröder , Anna Kellnerová, until June Holger Wulschner , from July Peder Fredricson     
• Rome Gladiators: Lorenzo de Luca , Laura Kraut , Marlon Módolo Zanotelli , Abdel Said , Constant van Paesschen     
• Scandinavian Vikings: Christian Ahlmann , Geir Gulliksen , Leopold van Asten , Evelina Tovek , until June José Maria Larocca , from July Mario Stevens      
• Shanghai Swans: Daniel Deußer , Pius Schwizer , Shane Sweetnam , Pedro Veniss , Alexandra Thornton     
• St Tropez Pirates: Edwina Tops-Alexander , Pieter Devos , Wout-Jan van der Schans , Athina Onassis , Laura Klaphake     
• Valkenswaard United: Marcus Ehning , Bertram Allen , Alberto Zorzi , Jur Vrieling , Maurice Tebbel     

To make the team competition easier to understand, the starting order in the GCL exams has been changed. The two riders of each team now rode into the tournament site together and start the test one after the other.

Global Champions Tour

The special stages of the Global Champions Tour were held on Saturday afternoon or evening, after the second stage of the Global Champions League. These were announced as a jumping competition with normal circulation and a jump- off, the height of the obstacles was up to 1.60 meters.

The number of riders qualified for the GCT special test has been increased to 35. The prize money for the special stage was at least € 300,000 each .

media

Furthermore, it was Euro sports media partner of the Global Champions Tour. The GCT exams were broadcast on Eurosport 1 , time-shifted or as a live broadcast. The GCT and GCL-stages and many other tests of the tournaments were on the websites of the two tournament series via live stream transmitted.

The stages

1st stage: Mexico City

The GCT / GCL season started in 2018 at the end of March, four weeks before the World Cup final in Paris . The tournament was held from March 22nd to 25th in Mexico City on the highest tournament site in this series of tournaments (approx. 2300 meters above sea level), the Campo Marte .

Global Champions League: The 19 newly assembled teams of the 2018 GCL season competed in Mexico for the first time. In the first part of the test, two teams managed to avoid obstacle errors. While the London Knights, represented by twin brothers Olivier and Nicola Philippaerts, ended the partial test with a time penalty, the Paris Panthers were able to remain completely error-free.

Both teams received 12 penalty points in the second part of the test. There, too, two teams were able to remain without penalty points: While the Prague Lions were only able to finish the competition in midfield due to 17 penalty points from the first partial test, the Miami Celtics made it to the top of the field. Michael Duffy and Denis Lynch had only received six penalty points with their horses in the first test. For their victory, the team received prize money of almost 33,000 euros.

	team	Riders / horses	1st exam	2nd exam		total		scoring points
			Penalty points	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Miami Celtics	Michael Duffy with Top Contender	5	0	63.95	6th	129.15	30th
		Denis Lynch with Cadeau de Muze	1	0	65.20
2	Paris Panthers	Grégory Wathelet with Coree	0	4th	57.79	12	118.29	27
		Darragh Kenny with Cassini Z	0
		Darragh Kenny with Team de Coquerie		8th	60.50

Global Champions Tour: In the first GCT Grand Prix of the new season, the time allowed in the normal circuit was generous. Only the Qatar Bassem Hassan Mohammed exceeded the permitted time of 82 seconds . Eight riders with their horses remained clear and qualified for the jump-off. The jump-off started with a more leisurely lap, Paola Amilibia Puig crossed the finish line in the saddle of Prunella d'Ariel with four penalty points in a time of over 46 seconds. Alberto Zorzi was the next starter to undercut her time by more than six seconds and on top of that he stayed clear. But even his lead lasted only one ritual, Daniel Deußer undercut Zorzi's time by a few hundredths of a second. The fourth change in leadership on the fourth ride brought Scott Brash, who was even faster with his 17-year-old mare Ursula XII . Jérôme Guery, as the fifth starter, also tried to keep up with the ever-increasing pace, but a refusal in the form of a passer-by deprived him of his chance (12 penalty points including time penalty points). Eric Lamaze was actually able to beat Brash's time with Fine Lady , but four penalty points prevented his victory. Slower and also with four penalty points, the Mexican Nicolas Pizarro and Gerco Schröder had nothing to do with the victory.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
			Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Scott Brash	Ursula XII	0	-	0	38.65	40
2	Daniel Deußer	Tobago Z	0	-	0	40.31	37
3	Alberto Zorzi	Contanga	0	-	0	40.37	35

(Places one to three out of a total of 33 participants)

2nd stage: Miami Beach

On the weekend before the World Cup finals in Paris , the second North American stage was on the program for the GCT / GCL. This was played in a makeshift riding stadium on Miami Beach from April 5 to 7, 2018.

Global Champions League: In the first partial test of the GCL in Miami there were only three zero-error rounds, two of which went to the Monaco Aces team. Jérôme Guery and Julien Epaillard were at the start for the team . There were even fewer rides in the second partial test, namely only two rides without obstacle and time errors. The Monaco Aces got 14 penalty points there, but only slipped to third place. Bertram Allen showed one of the faultless rides with Gin Chin van het Lindenhof for Valkenswaard United. The Valkenswaard United team achieved the best result of the second part of the test with just one time penalty and was able to work their way up to second place. Starting the second partial test with a slightly better starting position of six penalty points, a result of two time penalty points was enough for the Prague Lions to take the lead and win the test.

	team	Riders / horses	1st exam	2nd exam		total		scoring points
			Penalty points	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Prague Lions	Anna Kellnerová with Classic	1	1	73.66	8th	146.26	30th
		Gerco Schröder with London	5	1	72.60
2	Valkenswaard United	Alberto Zorzi with Contanga	1	1	74.18	10	143.75	27
		Bertram Allen with Gin Chin van het Lindenhof	8th	0	69.57

Global Champions Tour: The special stage of the Global Champions Tour took place on April 7, 2018 at 5:20 p.m. In contrast to the GCL test a few hours earlier, the time allowed did not play a significant role here, only one rider out of 35 starters received a time penalty. But only a few managed to get into the jump-off, five riders remained without mistakes.

In the jump-off, Pieter Devos set a very fast time: with Claire Z he only needed 30.98 seconds for the jump-off course, but received four penalty points. The third starter pair, Darragh Kenny and Cassini Z , only needed 30.87 seconds, but also with an obstacle error. Bassem Hassan Mohammed rode strategically, with a slow zero-error lap he took the lead as the penultimate starter. Edwina Tops-Alexander chose a slightly higher pace with the 11-year-old mare California , made no mistakes and won the test.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
			Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Edwina Tops-Alexander	California	0	-	0	32.07	40
2	Bassem Hassan Mohammed	Gunder	0	-	0	35.47	37
3	Darragh Kenny	Cassini Z	0	-	4th	30.87	35

(Places one to three out of a total of 35 participants)

3rd stage: Shanghai

After two American stages, the Chinese stage of the GCT / GCL was on the program. The tournament was held from April 19-22, 2018 in the immediate vicinity of the China Art Museum (China Art Palace) in Shanghai .

Global Champions League: On Friday (April 20) from 3 p.m. the teams competed for the first GCL partial test. The Berlin Eagles ( Christian Kukuk and Ludger Beerbaum ) and the London Knights finished this partial test without errors. Less than 24 hours later, the second GCL exam in Shanghai followed. Both Berlin Eagles riders got four penalty points, with eight penalty points it was enough for fifth place. While Ben Maher failed again with Explosion W , his teammate Emily Moffitt got four penalty points. Like the Monaco Aces, this resulted in an overall result of four penalty points from both tests. Time had to decide, and the decision was a tight one: the London Knights were together 0.27 seconds faster than the Monaco Aces riders and thus secured victory.

	team	Riders / horses	1st exam	2nd exam		total		scoring points
			Penalty points	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	London Knights	Ben Maher with Explosion W	0	0	73.04	4th	150.03	30th
		Emily Moffitt with Hilfiger van de Olmenhoeve	0
		Emily Moffitt with Tipsy du Terral		4th	76.99
2	Monaco Aces	Simon Delestre with Gain Line	4th	0	73.88	4th	150.30	27
		Jérôme Guery with Garfield de Tiji des Templiers	0	0	76.42

Global Champions Tour: Following the second GCL test, the Global Champions Tour test in Shanghai was on the program. In the first round of the test, which is very highly endowed with 610,000 euros, 12 of the 32 riders managed to make no mistakes and thus made it into the jump-off. Seven of you managed a faultless ride there too. The best result was delivered by Gregory Wathelet, who needed less than 38 seconds for the jump-off course with the gray mare Coree and thus won.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
			Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Grégory Wathelet	Coree	0	-	0	37.91	40
2	Ben Maher	Explosion W	0	-	0	38.55	37
3	Daniel Deußer	Tobago Z	0	-	0	39.11	35

(Places one to three out of a total of 32 participants)

4th stage: Madrid

The Spanish stage of the Global Champions Tour / Global Champions League took place as part of the 108th CSI in Madrid. The tournament was held from May 4th to 6th 2018 in the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid .

Global Champions League: While five of the 19 teams finished the first partial test with four penalty points, only one team remained without any mistakes: Pedro Veniss and Daniel Deußer had started with their horses for the Shanghai Swans. Both riders also competed in the second partial test, but brought other horses to the start. Every four penalty points increased the result of the Shanghai Swans to eight penalty points. Two teams were able to benefit from this and passed them: The Rome Gladiators received only one time penalty point in addition to their four penalty points from the first test. The London Knights, who won the stage in Madrid with a total of four penalty points, had no penalty points from the second partial test.

	team	Riders / horses	1st exam	2nd exam		total		scoring points
			Penalty points	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	London Knights	Emily Moffitt with Tipsy du Terral	4th			4th	139.50	30th
		Ben Maher with Winning Good	0
		Nicola Philippaerts with Harley vd Bisschop		0	70.77
		Ben Maher with Explosion W		0	68.73
2	Rome gladiators	Laura Kraut with Confu	0	0	74.98	5	150.13	27
		Lorenzo de Luca with Limestone Gray	4th
		Abdel Said with Jumpy van de Hermitage		1	75.15

Global Champions Tour: The Grand Prix as a GCT stage in Madrid was on the program on May 5, 2018 from 6.45 p.m. 35 riders started here, ten of them managed a faultless ride. In the jump-off of these ten riders, seven participants again failed to make mistakes. Nicola Philippaerts was with Harley vd Bisschop the first jump-off participant who needed a time of less than 40 seconds. Without a mistake he took the lead. Eduardo Álvarez Aznar followed with the 13-year-old Rokfeller de Pleville as the next starter. After crossing the finish line, there were two winners: Álvarez Aznar, like Philippaerts, needed 39.79 seconds without a mistake.

Danielle Goldstein was over two seconds faster at the finish line, but she made an obstacle error with Lizziemary . The last starter was Ben Maher, whose nine-year-old gelding Explosion W was one of the youngest horses in the field. He was slightly slower than Goldstein, but got no penalty points and thus secured the victory.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
			Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Ben Maher	Explosion W	0	-	0	37.73	40
2	Nicola Philippaerts	Harley vd Bisschop	0	-	0	39.79	36
	Eduardo Álvarez Aznar	Rokfeller de Pleville	0	-	0	39.79	36

(Places one to three out of a total of 35 participants)

5th stage: Hamburg

Successful in the first GCL partial test: Philipp Weishaupt with Asathir for the Berlin Eagles

The German show jumping and dressage derby will be held on the Ascension weekend from May 9th to 13th, 2018. The first of two German GCT / GCL tournaments took place in Hamburg - Klein Flottbek .

Global Champions League: The championship of Hamburg, the first partial test of the Global Champions League, has been adjusted in the announcement and simplified to an error-time jumping competition without jump-off. The second team, the Berlin Eagles, represented by Ludger Beerbaum with Chiara and Philipp Weishaupt with Asathir , did not make any mistakes. It wasn't until 15 teams later that there was the second faultless team, the St. Tropez Pirates. Three other teams finished the first part of the test with just one time error.

Two days later in the second part of the test, things went much worse for the Berlin Eagles, 20 penalty points for Beerbaum and Weishaupt threw the team back to 14th place. Only London Knights with Nicola Philippaerts and Martin Fuchs remained without jumping faults in this test , with nine penalty points from partial test one it was enough for fifth place. The Shanghai Swans ( Pius Schwizer and Shane Sweetnam ) and Valkenswaard United got four penalty points on top of their one time penalty from the first test. However, the riders from Valkenswaard United were a good ten seconds faster in the second lap and thus secured second place. In first place came the St. Tropez Pirates, who got four penalty points from both partial tests.

	team	Riders / horses	1st exam	2nd exam		total		scoring points
			Penalty points	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	St. Tropez Pirates	Laura Klaphake with Catch me if you can	0	4th	75.39	4th	151.38	30th
		Pieter Devos with Claire Z	0
		Pieter Devos with Apart		0	75.99
2	Valkenswaard United	Jur Vrieling with Glasgow v. Merelsnest	1	4th	74.57	5	146.04	27
		Maurice Tebbel with Chaccos' Son	0
		Marcus Ehning with Pret a Tout		0	71.47

Global Champions Tour: In the normal round of the Hamburg Grand Prix, which is also the GCT stage in Hamburg, the riders and their horses had to stay flawless in 84 seconds. Ten of the 35 starters did not manage to keep the time allowed. Otherwise, three of them had no mistakes and therefore missed the jump-off. In this, the seven riders competed who had remained error-free in the normal course.

Jos Verlooy, who with his gray Caracas as the fifth starter in the normal circuit, took the first zero-error lap, had to present in the jump-off. He crossed the finish line in a fast time of 39.12 seconds, but an obstacle error resulted in four penalty points for him. The world number one, Harrie Smolders, followed as the second rider in the jump-off. He made no mistakes and his time of under 38 seconds was very fast. The next three riders did not come close and also got obstacle errors. Martin Fuchs managed with Chaplin to undercut Smolder's time. But he also made a mistake, in the remaining double combination he came too close to the second jump due to the high speed. Maurice Tebbel was the last starter to manage the second zero-error lap of the jump-off, with Chaccos' Son he crossed the finish line in 39.14 seconds. After finishing second in the Global Champions League and winning the second GCL partial test (there as an individual rider), Tebbel was now second in the Global Champions Tour. For Harrie Smolders and his stallion Don , after two second places in 2016 and 2017, they won the 2018 Grand Prix of Hamburg.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
			Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Harrie Smolders	Don Z	0	-	0	37.97	40
2	Maurice Tebbel	Chaccos' Son	0	-	0	39.14	37
3	Martin Fuchs	Chaplin	0	-	4th	37.69	35

(Places one to three out of a total of 35 participants)

6th stage: Saint-Tropez

The beginning of three GCT / GCL tournaments on the Côte d'Azur in June was the Athina Onassis Horse Show in Saint-Tropez . The venue for the event is a good 200 meters from the beach in the south of Plage de Pampelonne , which is already part of the municipality of Ramatuelle .

The tournament has been taking place on the weekend before the GCT tournament in Cannes since 2014, and in 2018 it will be part of the two tournament series for the first time. It is the second time that a tournament has been organized under the patronage of Athina Onassis : From 2007 to 2012, Onassis and her then husband Doda de Miranda organized the Athina Onassis International Horse Show, first in São Paulo, then in Rio de Janeiro. From 2009 this was part of the Global Champions Tour.

Global Champions League: The main test of the first day of the tournament, the first partial test of the GCL, finished two teams without errors: The Shanghai Swans, represented by Pedro Veniss and Daniel Deußer, and the Miami Celtics, for which Shane Breen and Jessica Springsteen competed . Two days later, in the second partial test, the Miami Celtics could not maintain their top position, with 12 penalty points they finished the GCL in Saint-Tropez in fourth place. With only eight penalty points (four per sub-test), the London Knights moved up to second place. But the victory went safely to the Shanghai Swans team, who again completed both rides without mistakes.

	team	Riders / horses	1st exam	2nd exam		total		scoring points
			Penalty points	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Shanghai Swans	Pedro Veniss with Uccello de Will	0			0	139.44	30th
		Pedro Veniss with Quabri de l'Isle		0	71.50
		Daniel Deußer with Tobago Z	0	0	67.94
2	London Knights	Ben Maher with Winning Good	4th	0	70.87	8th	141.76	27
		Olivier Philippaerts with Legend of Love	0	4th	70.89

Global Champions Tour: The allowed time of 84 seconds on the normal course built by Uliano Vezzani turned out to be generous: Of the 34 participants, only Athina Onassis and her gelding Going Global got time penalties. The main mistake turned out to be the entry into the double combination (obstacle 9a), where Christian Ahlmann and Daniel Deußer also got one of their two obstacle errors each. Seven riders remained without obstacle errors and thus formed the starting field for the jump-off.

At the start of the jump-off there was a zero-error lap by Peder Fredricson and Hansson in a time of 39.77 seconds. The next three riders were faster than Fredricson, but each received one obstacle error. Among them was by far the fastest time in the jump-off: Olivier Philippaerts reached the finish with his gray mare Legend of Love in just 36.10 seconds. Edwina Tops-Alexander took the lead with the second flawless lap, but Ben Maher as the next starter took it from her again with an even faster time. Carlos Enrique Lopez Lizarazo as the last starter showed a quick zero-error lap with 13-year-old Admara and took second place. Thus, after Madrid, Maher had the second GCT victory of the season, with Winning Good he rode a horse that was only nine years old.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
			Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Ben Maher	Winning good	0	-	0	37.44	40
2	Carlos Enrique Lopez Lizarazo	Admara	0	-	0	38.41	37
3	Edwina Tops-Alexander	California	0	-	0	38.78	35

(Places one to three out of a total of 34 participants)

7th stage: Cannes

A week after Saint-Tropez, the second GCT / GCL Côte d'Azur tournament was due: The Jumping Cannes tournament took place in Cannes from June 7th to 9th, 2018 . The football stadium Stade des Hespérides , which is located in the immediate vicinity of the Boulevard de la Croisette, served as the venue.

Global Champions League: The first of the two partial tests turned out to be a solvable task for the teams: Eight of the 19 teams finished with four or less penalty points, two of them without penalty points. While the Prague Lions (represented by Aleš Opatrný and Niels Bruynseels) dropped 12 penalty points in the second test, the Miami Celtics were also able to ride for victory in the second partial test. With eight penalty points you got the same result as the Valkenswaard United team. But Valkenswaard United's time was a fraction of a second faster, so that the team represented by Alberto Zorzi and Jur Vrieling won.

	team	Riders / horses	1st exam	2nd exam		total		scoring points
			Penalty points	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Valkenswaard United	Alberto Zorzi with Fair Light van't Heike	0	4th	78.70	8th	157.20	30th
		Jur Vrieling with Glasgow van't Merelsnest	4th	0	78.50
2	Miami Celtics	Jessica Springsteen with Swinny du Parc	0	8th	76.07	8th	141.76	27
		Cameron Hanley with Quirex	0	0	81.75

Global Champions Tour: The course of the Grand Prix turned out to be extremely challenging for the first riders: The first two starters, Kevin Staut and Bertram Allen, both gave up in the area of ​​the triple combination (obstacle 9a / 9b / 9c). Geir Gulliksen and Quatro as the third starter pair also had a hard time here, in the end they got 20 penalty points. Ludger Beerbaum started the normal circuit as the eighth rider, and with Casello he managed the first zero-error lap. Seven more faultless rides followed during the normal course.

Beerbaum was the first rider to show in the jump-off, he remained without mistakes. Nevertheless, it should only be enough for him for eighth place: All seven riders who followed crossed the finish line without mistakes, so that the jump-off was decided solely on time. Harrie Smolders, the second rider in the jump-off, was four seconds faster than Beerbaum with Emerald . Peder Fredricson was the fifth participant to take the lead from Smolders. It should stay that way, Fredricson won the GCT stage in Cannes.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
			Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Peder Fredricson	Hansson	0	-	0	38.05	40
2	Harrie Smolders	Emerald	0	-	0	38.46	37
3	Simon Delestre	Ryan	0	-	0	38.53	35

(Places one to three out of a total of 33 participants)

8th stage: Cascais

This year on an earlier date, between the GCT / GCL tournaments on the Côte d'Azur, the Portuguese stage took place. After only two days in the previous year, the CSI 5 * from Cascais was again held over three days from June 14th to 16th, 2018. The venue was the Hipódromo Manuel Possolo.

Global Champions League: The main test on June 14th was the first partial test of the Global Champions League. In five teams, both riders made no mistakes, another team received only one time penalty. The second partial test on the tournament Saturday completely mixed up the result: Only the Shanghai Swans and Chantilly Pegasus were clear here, but both teams had received 16 penalty points in the first test and thus had no chance of winning. The teams Paris Panthers and Scandinavian Vikings received just four penalty points in addition to their zero penalty points from the first test. In particular, a fast time by Gregory Wathelet and Nevados S brought the Paris Panthers the better time from the second partial test and thus victory.

	team	Riders / horses	1st exam	2nd exam		total		scoring points
			Penalty points	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Paris Panthers	Darragh Kenny with Balou du Reventon	0	0	66.68	4th	130.01	30th
		Gregory Wathelet with Qualido	0
		Gregory Wathelet with Nevados S		4th	63.33
2	Scandinavian Vikings	Christian Ahlmann with Clintrexo Z	0	0	67.15	4th	132.98	27
		Leopold van Asten with Beauty	0	4th	65.83

Global Champions Tour: In strong winds, the GCT special stage was held on June 16 from 9:30 p.m. Only one rider received time penalties in the normal course built by Frank Rothenberger, eight of them made no mistakes and made it to the jump-off.

Piergiorgio Bucci was the first rider to compete in the jump-off and with his nine-year-old stallion Diesel he made no mistakes, but with a rather slow time of 47.09 seconds. It was followed by last year's winning couple, Danielle Goldstein and Lizziemary . The rider starting for Israel took the lead and reached the finish in 41.72 seconds. Philip Houston did not come close to this time with his mare Chalanda , and Julien Epaillard did not make it to the top either. Gregory Wathelet was different, he needed 40.93 seconds without a mistake. But his lead only lasted one ride, Nicola Philippaerts and Harley vd Bisschop needed another second less time for the course. While Christian Kukuk got four penalty points, Eduardo Álvarez Aznar finished the jump-off course as the last starter without a mistake, he came in third place.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
			Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Nicola Philippaerts	Harley vd Bisschop	0	-	0	39.57	40
2	Gregory Wathelet	Nevados S	0	-	0	40.93	37
3	Eduardo Álvarez Aznar	Rokfeller de Pleville	0	-	0	41.36	35

(Places one to three out of a total of 32 participants)

9th stage: Monaco

On the last weekend in June, the city-state of Monaco hosted a GCT / GCL stage. The tournament Jumping International de Monte Carlo was held on a sand court on the banks of the Boulevard Albert 1er at Port Hercule . It took place from June 28th to 30th, 2018.

Global Champions League: On the evening of the first day of the tournament, the riders had to master the first of the two GCL courses. There were few mistakes here: 11 teams only got a maximum of four penalty points, five of them remained without any mistakes. The second round of the Global Champions League in Monaco, held on the last day of the tournament, brought the result upside down. Four previously faultless teams now received penalty points, so that the riders of the London Knights, who had previously placed sixth, moved up to second place with two faultless rounds and a fast time. In both rounds of the GCL with both riders without faults means victory for the Rome Gladiators.

	team	Riders / horses	1st exam	2nd exam		total		scoring points
			Penalty points	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Montreal Diamonds	Constant van Paesschen with Jilbert van't Ruytershof	0	0	68.46	0	134.64	30th
		Marlon Módolo Zanotelli with Rock'n Roll Semilly	0	0	66.18
2	London Knights	Martin Fuchs with Chaplin	4th			4th	130.23	27
		Martin Fuchs with Chica		0	66.97
		Ben Maher with Winning Good	0	0	63.26

Global Champions Tour: Many time penalties were recorded in the GCT special stage of Monaco, the Grand Prix of the Prince of Monaco. Christian Kukuk , for example, missed the jump-off as the best German with a time penalty, he rode the gray stallion Cordess . He came in seventh, six riders qualified for the jump-off. With Jérôme Guery, Harrie Smolders and Pius Schwizer, the first three jump-off participants did not achieve fault-free rounds. Then Denis Lynch rode slower as the fourth rider. His tactics worked, he made no mistakes and was already secure on the podium. Alberto Zorzi did not stop at a slow lap, he crossed the finish line almost five seconds faster than Lynch and took the lead. This meant that Shane Breen was the last rider to have to set a high pace if he wanted to win the test. He did so, with Ipswich van de Wolfsakker he crossed the finish line in 35.56 seconds. Without penalty points his victory was certain.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
			Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Shane Breen	Ipswich van de Wolfsakker	0	-	0	35.56	40
2	Alberto Zorzi	Fair Light van't Heike	0	-	0	35.72	37
3	Denis Lynch	Bella Baloubet	0	-	0	40.43	35

(Places one to three out of a total of 34 participants)

10th stage: Paris

The tenth stage was held in Paris in the center of Paris, on the Marsfeld in front of the École militaire and thus within sight of the Eiffel Tower . The Paris Eiffel Jumping tournament took place from July 5 to 7, 2018 .

Global Champions League: There were only a few penalty points in the first partial examination of the GCL. As in Monaco, 11 of the 19 teams crossed the finish line with four or fewer penalty points, three teams were completely without mistakes. The fastest team of these three, the Hamburg Giants, dropped to ninth place in the second partial test due to nine penalty points from Rene Lopez. Not so with Madrid in Motion and the Montreal Diamonds: Both teams also remained error-free a second time with both riders and thus completely without errors. Jos Verlooy and Harrie Smolders each needed less than 80 seconds with their horses to overcome the course in the second test, which brought Montreal Diamonds the better time and thus victory.

	team	Riders / horses	1st exam	2nd exam		total		scoring points
			Penalty points	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Montreal Diamonds	Jos Verlooy with Igor	0	0	79.51	0	159.37	30th
		Harrie Smolders with Don Z	0	0	79.86
2	Madrid in motion	Eduardo Álvarez Aznar with Rokfeller de Pleville	0	0	80.44	0	163.07	27
		Marc Houtzager with Calimero	0	8th	82.63

Global Champions Tour: Eleven of the 35 participants in the first round qualified for the jump-off with a zero-error round. Bertram Allen opened the jump-off and put in a strong lead with his gray mare Molly Malone V : He made no mistakes and only needed 36.32 seconds for the course. Gregory Wathelet was the first to come close to Allen's time, but with Nevados S he got four penalty points at an obstacle. Harrie Smolders needed 37.06 seconds for the course with his stallion Don , without a mistake he took second place. Shortly before the end of the jump-off, another rider, Olivier Philippaerts, managed to cross the finish line in a faster time than Bertram Allen. But at the jump of a double combination, which had to be ridden in jump-off from a right turn and followed by a left turn, he made an obstacle error. The penultimate starter was Sameh El Dahan. The Egyptian finally managed to finish the eight rides of Allen with his mare Suma's Zorro . The winning couple from Cannes, Peder Fredricson and Hansson , were the last couple to get four penalty points in the jump-off, El Dahan was thus the winner.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
			Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Sameh El Dahan	Suma's Zorro	0	-	0	36.32	40
2	Bertram Allen	Molly Malone V.	0	-	0	36.86	37
3	Harrie Smolders	Don Z	0	-	0	37.06	35

(Places one to three out of a total of 35 participants)

11th stage: Chantilly

On the weekend after the GCT / GCL tournament in Paris, the next tournament was about to take place in the greater French capital. From July 12th to 15th, 2018, the CSI 5 * tournament in Chantilly was held on the grounds of the racetrack on the edge of the Castle of Chantilly .

Global Champions League: On Friday afternoon, three teams completed the first round of the Global Champions League in Chantilly without errors: London Knights, Miami Celtics and Valkenswaard United. The second round, not quite 24 hours later, only one team finished without a mistake, the Hamburg Giants. But the team represented by Rene Lopez, Sameh El Dahan and Cindy van der Straten had already received 12 penalty points in the first round, so that it was only enough for seventh place in the overall result. The London Knights and Valkenswaard United got four penalty points each and made the victory among themselves. Alberto Zorzi mastered the course of the second round with Contanga without mistakes , but with a time of over 82 seconds it was quite slow. So Valkenswaard United, for whom he was at the start, fell behind the London Knights.

	team	Riders / horses	1st exam	2nd exam		total		scoring points
			Penalty points	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	London Knights	Nicola Philippaerts with Chilli Willi	0	4th	76.83	4th	152.18	30th
		Ben Maher with Winning Good	0
		Ben Maher with Explosion W		0	75.35
2	Valkenswaard United	Alberto Zorzi with Contanga	0	0	82.04	4th	155.70	27
		Marcus Ehning with Comme il faut	0
		Marcus Ehning with Cornado NRW		4th	73.66

Global Champions Tour: Ten riders qualified for the jump-off with one faultless round in the normal round. While Jerome Guery and Jos Verlooy finished the jump-off with error, succeeded the third starter, the first error-free ride: Nicola Philippaerts and the Holsteiner stallion Chilli Willi came in 37.26 seconds in the goal. Two more times in this jump-off, riders and their horses were not punished. Daniel Deußer came very close to Philippaerts' time with Tobago Z , finishing second with a time of 37.30 seconds.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
			Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Nicola Philippaerts	Chilli Willi	0	-	0	37.26	40
2	Daniel Deußer	Tobago Z	0	-	0	37.30	37
3	Alberto Zorzi	Contanga	0	-	0	38.63	35

(Places one to three out of a total of 33 participants)

12th stage: Berlin

For the second time the Global Champions Tour made a stop in Berlin . The venue for the Global Jumping Berlin tournament was the summer garden of the Berlin exhibition center , it took place on the weekend after the CHIO Aachen from July 27 to 29, 2018.

Global Champions League: On the evening of the first day of the tournament, four teams finished the first Global Champions League partial test without penalty points. In the second partial test on the following day, two teams succeeded in doing this. Only the St Tropez Pirates, represented by Edwina Tops-Alexander and Pieter Devos, achieved a faultless result in the overall result and thus won the GCL stage in Berlin.

	team	Riders / horses	1st exam	2nd exam		total		scoring points
			Penalty points	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	St Tropez Pirates	Edwina Tops-Alexander with California	0	0	67.67	0	135.34	30th
		Pieter Devos with Apart	0
		Pieter Devos with Claire Z		0	67.67
2	London Knights	Martin Fuchs with Clooney	4th	0	66.16	4th	129.23	27
		Olivier Philippaerts with Legend of Love	0	0	63.07

Global Champions Tour: On Saturday, July 28th, 2018, around 3 p.m., the GCT-Grand Prix of Berlin was on the program. Eight riders and horses moved into the jump-off of the test after a faultless ride in the normal round. Niels Bruynseels was the first rider in the jump-off to put in a zero-error lap, with Cas de Liberte he needed 39.10 seconds. Alberto Zorzi as the third rider was also clear in the jump-off and was three and a half seconds faster than Bruynseels. Pieter Devos and Christian Ahlmann lined up directly behind Zorzi with somewhat slower rides without penalty points. The last three starters in the jump-off got four penalty points each, so that Alberto Zorzi was the winner.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
			Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Alberto Zorzi	Fair Light van't Heike	0	-	0	35.53	40
2	Christian Ahlmann	Clintrexo Z	0	-	0	36.65	37
3	Pieter Devos	Claire Z	0	-	0	37.96	35

(Places one to three out of a total of 33 participants)

13th stage: London

For the second time, the only British stage of the Global Champions Tour / League was held in the gardens of the Royal Hospital Chelsea on the left bank of the Thames . The tournament in London took place from August 3rd to 5th, 2018.

Global Champions League: Four of the 19 teams made no mistakes in the first round of the Global Champions League in London. The London Knights team succeeded again in the second round on the following day. As the only team without penalty points, they won the test.

	team	Riders / horses	1st exam	2nd exam		total		scoring points
			Penalty points	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	London Knights	Nicola Philippaerts with Chilli Willi	0	0	78.51	0	153.03	30th
		Ben Maher with Winning Good	0
		Ben Maher with Explosion W		0	74.52
2	Shanghai Swans	Daniel Deußer with Cassini Bay	4th			4th	153.66	27
		Shane Sweetnam with Chaqui Z	0
		Daniel Deußer with Tobago Z		0	73.89
		Shane Sweetnam with Indra van de Oude Heihoef		0	79.77

Global Champions Tour: The GCT Grand Prix of London was hosted on August 4, 2018 from 5:15 p.m. Of the 34 riders, seven completed the normal round without errors. Scott Brash kicked off the jump-off for these seven participants. With the nine-year-old gelding Mr President he set a very fast time of 38.88 seconds and remained without penalty points. Ludger Beerbaum, as the second starter, also finished this test for the second time without penalty points, and with the Holsteiner Casello he lagged well behind Brash. The third zero-error ride in the jump-off was achieved by Peder Fredricson, who took second place. The last starter in the jump-off, Ben Maher, was faster than Brash. But his time of only 38.82 seconds did not give him the lead, four penalty points let him finish the test in fourth place.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
			Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Scott Brash	Mr. President	0	-	0	38.88	40
2	Peder Fredricson	Hansson	0	-	0	39.84	37
3	Ludger Beerbaum	Casello	0	-	0	41.15	35

(Places one to three out of a total of 34 participants)

14th stage: Valkenswaard

On the weekend after the London tournament, the 14th station of the GCT / GCL was on. The venue was the hometown of the series founder Jan Tops, the Dutch Valkenswaard . The tournament took place in the modern Tops International Arena from August 10th to 12th, 2018.

Global Champions League: 14 of the 19 teams received four or less penalty points in the first round of the Valkenswaard GCL. The number of faultless teams was also quite high at five. There were significantly more errors in the second part of the test. So in the end there was only one team without penalty points from the second round, the Rome Gladiators. Since the team represented by Constant van Paesschen and Marlon Modolo Zanotelli were also among the faultless teams in the first lap, they won by four penalty points.

	team	Riders / horses	1st exam	2nd exam		total		scoring points
			Penalty points	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Rome gladiators	Constant van Paesschen with Jilbert van't Ruytershof	0	0	72.89	0	144.27	30th
		Marlon Modolo Zanotelli with Rock'n Roll Semilly	0
		Marlon Modolo Zanotelli with Sirene de la Motte		0	71.38
2	Valkenswaard United	Alberto Zorzi with Fair Light van't Heike	0	4th	68.20	4th	135.85	27
		Marcus Ehning with Cornado NRW	0
		Marcus Ehning with Comme il faut		0	67.65

Global Champions Tour: In the normal circuit of the Grand Prix von Valkenswaard, the number of rides with four or fewer penalty points was very high - 21 out of 34 riders. The number of riders qualified for the jump-off was also well above average, 11 participants with their horses made no mistakes.

As a result, the riders who started early in the jump-off had to set very fast times in order to induce the many riders who came after them to make mistakes due to even higher speed. Alberto Zorzi and Eric Lamaze as the first and third starters did well in terms of time (39.35 and 38.11 seconds), but they each made one obstacle error. Christian Ahlmann chose a slower pace with his dark chestnut gelding Tokyo , but with it he succeeded in his first zero-error ride in the jump-off. Frank Schuttert also managed the clear round, with Chianti's Champion he stayed below 40 seconds. While the next three riders could not jeopardize Schuttert's leadership, it looked completely different with Marcus Ehning. With his gray stallion Cornado NRW , he crossed the finish line with no penalty points in a time that was only a hundredth of a second behind that of Schuttert. This was the last jump-off ride without penalty points. For the 24-year-old Frank Schuttert his first victory in a Grand Prix of a 5 * tournament was certain. He also proved that his nomination for the World Equestrian Games in September 2018 was justified.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
			Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Frank Schuttert	Chianti's Champion	0	-	0	39.89	40
2	Marcus Ehning	Cornado NRW	0	-	0	39.90	37
3	Christian Ahlmann	Tokyo	0	-	0	41.01	35

(Places one to three out of a total of 34 participants)

15th stage: Rome

The only stage of the Global Champions Tour in September 2018 took place less than a week before the start of the 2018 World Equestrian Games . Italy's capital, Rome, was the venue for this tournament, which was held from September 6th to 9th, 2018 in the Stadio dei Marmi .

Global Champions League: Only the Miami Celtics and Prague Lions teams were able to finish the first of the two partial tests of the GCL in Rome without errors. While Anna Kellnerová once again made no mistakes with the 10-year old Silverstone G for the Prague Lions, Peder Fredricson received six penalty points in this round. The team fell back to third place. Unlike the Miami Celtics, Jessica Springsteen and Denis Lynch finished both partial tests without a penalty point and thus secured victory. The St Tropez Pirates moved up to second place: Athina Onassis got a time penalty point with Going Global in both laps, so that the final result was two penalty points for the team.

	team	Riders / horses	1st exam	2nd exam		total		scoring points
			Penalty points	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Miami Celtics	Jessica Springsteen with Zecilie	0	0	74.87	0	151.98	30th
		Denis Lynch with Bella Baloubet	0
		Denis Lynch with Echo		0	77.11
2	St Tropez Pirates	Athina Onassis with Going Global	1	1	82.52	2	157.87	27
		Edwina Tops-Alexander with California	0	0	75.35

Global Champions Tour: At the only stop of the Global Champions Tour in his home country Italy - as in most of the GCT stages - Uliano Vezzani was the course designer of the special stage. Five riders and their horses overcame his normal course without mistakes.

The prelude to the jump-off of these five was made by Michael G. Duffy, whose ride without penalty points should only be enough for fourth place at the end of the test. While Constant van Paesschen was the only one to finish the jump-off course with an obstacle error , Jos Verlooy with 13-year-old Caracas was almost a second faster than Duffy at the finish without making a mistake. Henrik von Eckermann took the lead from Verlooy with a time of 38.32 seconds. But Ben Maher, as the final rider, clearly undercut Henrik von Eckermann's time again without penalty points. Maher has already won the third GCT special test this season. Before the last special stage of the Global Champions Tour, he already had a lead of 47 rating points and was already the winner of the overall ranking for 2018.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
			Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Ben Maher	Explosion W	0	-	0	37.45	40
2	Henrik von Eckermann	Cantinero	0	-	0	38.32	37
3	Jos Verlooy	Caracas	0	-	0	38.85	35

(Places one to three out of a total of 34 participants)

16th stage: Doha

After a two-month break, the last stage of the Global Champions Tour and Global Champions League took place from November 8th to 10th. The venue was the Al Shaqab riding facility, built in 2013 in the Qatari capital Doha.

Global Champions League: A large number of riders got eight or more penalty points in the first partial test of the Global Champions League in Doha, ten teams got a result of ten or more penalty points. The London Knights and Rome Gladiators, however, finished without errors. In third place with a time penalty was the Qatari team Doha Fursan Qatar after the first partial test next to the Miami Celtics.

Lorenzo de Luca and the gray mare Irenice Horta made a jumping fault in the second part of the test, which caused the Rome Gladiators to drop to third place. Nicola Philippaerts and Ben Maher also managed a flawless ride in the second part of the test - they secured victory for the London Knights in the Doha stage.

	team	Riders / horses	1st exam	2nd exam		total		scoring points
			Penalty points	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	London Knights	Nicola Philippaerts with Chilli Willi	0	0	74.36	0	144.69	30th
		Ben Maher with Explosion W	0	0	70.33
2	Miami Celtics	Jessica Springsteen with Swinny du Parc	0	0	72.86	2	150.26	27
		Michael Duffy with Egalini	1
		Michael Duffy with Quintano		1	77.40

Global Champions Tour: While the indoor season was already in full swing in Europe, the riders and their horses in Doha had to switch again - from rather narrow indoor courses to the large riding arena in Doha. Due to the late start time - 5:45 p.m. local time - the test took place under artificial light. The normal course turned out to be very difficult: none of the first seven starters got a result that was better than eight penalty points. But after the two following rides a jump-off was assured: Peder Fredricson and Edwina Tops-Alexander managed a zero-error ride. At the end of the first round, 15 pairs of starters had a result of four or less penalty points. Nine entered the jump-off without any mistakes.

Peder Fredricson presented his 10-year-old stallion Hansson and managed the jump-off course without any mistakes in just 36.34 seconds. Edwina Tops-Alexander and Lorenzo de Luca also followed without penalty points in times of over 37 seconds. The fourth clear round in the jump-off was achieved by Harrie Smolders, who was faster than 37 seconds with Don , but was still behind Fredricson in terms of time. The last starter in the jump-off was Ben Maher. As in Rome, he rode Explosion W and also in Doha he beat all his competitors: Maher won the fourth GCT special stage of the 2018 season in a time of 35.50 seconds and without any mistakes.

	equestrian	horse	1st round		Sting		scoring points
			Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Ben Maher	Explosion W	0	-	0	35.50	40
2	Peder Fredricson	Hansson	0	-	0	36.34	37
3	Harrie Smolders	Don Z	0	-	0	36.94	35

(Places one to three out of a total of 34 participants)

Overall ratings

Global Champions Tour

The overall ranking decided the overall victory of the Global Champions Tour. Based on this ranking list, bonus prize money was awarded to the most successful riders on the Global Champions Tour at the end of the season. With four wins and one second place, Ben Maher took the overall victory of the 2018 season by a clear margin.

	equestrian	Mexico	Miami	Shanghai	Madrid	Hamb.	St. Tropez	Cannes	Cascais	Monaco	Paris	Chant.	Berlin	London	Valkensw.	Rome	Doha	scoring points	Prize money (bonus)
1	Ben Maher	-	(26)	37	40	-	40	-	-	(29)	33	32	-	33	-	40	40	295	€ 294,500
2	Harrie Smolders	-	-	31	-	40	-	37	-	33	35	22nd	(17)	19th	-	(16)	35	252	€ 190,000
3	Nicola Philippaerts	23	-	-	36	22nd	-	-	40	-	-	40	-	29	29	-	19th	238	€ 123,500
4th	Alberto Zorzi	35	(0)	15th	-	-	27	(13)	-	37	(0)	35	40	(0)	31	17th	(12)	237	€ 76,000
5	Daniel Deußer	37	-	35	24	-	23	-	(0)	-	-	37	32	(15)	22nd	23	(13)	233	€ 47,500
6th	Edwina Tops-Alexander	(14)	40	(18)	28	19th	35	18th	(0)	(14)	27	-	27	-	(13)	(13)	32	226	€ 33,250
7th	Scott Brash	40	27	32	32	-	-	-	-	26th	-	-	-	40	0	28	(0)	225	€ 33,250
8th	Pieter Devos	27	33	-	33	(0)	-	-	-	(0)	31	-	35	-	0	26th	31	216	€ 19,000
9	Christian Ahlmann	-	-	13	-	32	19th	22nd	22nd	-	(0)	29	37	-	35	(0)	-	209	€ 19,000
10	Peder Fredricson	-	-	-	-	-	33	40	-	-	28	-	-	37	-	29	37	204	€ 19,000
11	Marcus Ehning	26th	(16)	-	23	26th	-	-	24	-	17th	(0)	30th	-	37	-	18th	201	€ 19,000
12	Jos Verlooy	21st	(0)	28	-	33	16	21st	-	-	(14)	28	-	-	(12)	35	17th	199	€ 14,250
13	Niels Bruynseels	-	-	25th	-	-	31	(14)	-	-	-	16	33	22nd	33	20th	15th	195	€ 14,250
14th	Christian Kukuk	20th	21st	-	18th	(0)	-	(0)	30th	30th	-	30th	22nd	21st	-	(15)	(14)	192	€ 14,250
15th	Julien Epaillard	24	-	-	(0)	30th	28	-	29	15th	0	15th	-	(0)	-	-	26th	167	€ 9,500
16	Gregory Wathelet	-	31	40	-	-	-	-	37	-	29	-	-	-	-	-	27	164	€ 9,500
17th	Danielle Goldstein	-	-	26th	29	25th	0	-	33	-	25th	-	-	-	-	-	21st	159	€ 7,125
18th	Simon Delestre	-	-	29	0	-	29	35	-	-	23	-	15th	0	27	-	-	158	€ 7,125

Places one to 18, the eight best results of each rider are included in the overall ranking.

Global Champions League

	team	Mexico	Miami	Shanghai	Madrid	Hamb.	St. Tropez	Cannes	Cascais	Monaco	Paris	Chant.	Berlin	London	Valkensw.	Rome	Doha	scoring points
1	London Knights	19th	13	30th	30th	17th	25th	19th	21st	25th	15th	30th	25th	30th	5	19th	30th	353
2	Valkenswaard United	21st	25th	16	14th	25th	17th	30th	19th	16	19th	25th	21st	13	25th	14th	13	313
3	Miami Celtics	30th	9	4th	11	11	19th	25th	11	9	21st	19th	16	21st	8th	30th	25th	269
4th	Rome gladiators	15th	6th	11	25th	16	7th	10	17th	30th	16	8th	15th	19th	30th	10	21st	256
5	Shanghai Swans	12	11	12	21st	21st	30th	8th	12	3	12	21st	17th	25th	16	13	19th	253
6th	Montreal Diamonds	14th	15th	10	13	13	11	9	16	21st	30th	13	9	16	19th	9	14th	232
7th	Scandinavian Vikings	9	17th	8th	12	19th	14th	15th	25th	17th	17th	14th	14th	8th	10	16	7th	222
8th	St Tropez Pirates	11	10	14th	17th	30th	15th	4th	3	19th	6th	7th	30th	17th	3	25th	9	220

Prague playoffs

New in the 2018 season is the Prague Playoffs tournament , which will take place from December 13th to 16th, 2018 in the O ₂ Arena in the Czech capital Prague .

The event will host two competitions, the Global Champions League Playoffs and the Global Champions Tour Super Grand Prix.

Global Champions Tour Super Grand Prix

The Super Grand Prix was not part of the regular Global Champions Tour season and therefore had no effect on the overall standings. His starting field consisted of 16 riders. The winner of each special stage of the Global Champions Tour qualified for the Super Grand Prix. If a rider had already qualified in an earlier GCT stage, the best placed one has not yet moved up for the Super Grand Prix.

Thus the following riders were qualified for the Super Grand Prix:

Scott Brash (1st place Mexico City)  Edwina Tops-Alexander (1st place Miami)  Gregory Wathelet (1st place Shanghai)  Ben Maher (1st place Madrid)  Harrie Smolders (1st place Hamburg)  Carlos Enrique Lopez Lizarazo (2nd place Saint-Tropez)  Peder Fredricson (1st place Cannes)  Nicola Philippaerts (1st place Cascais)

Shane Breen (1st place Monaco)  Sameh El Dahan (1st place Paris)  Daniel Deußer (2nd place Chantilly)  Alberto Zorzi (1st place Berlin)  Ludger Beerbaum (3rd place London)  Frank Schuttert (1st place Valkenswaard)  Henrik von Eckermann (2nd place Rome)  Lorenzo de Luca (4th Doha)

The test was advertised as a jumping competition with two different circuits over obstacles up to 1.60 meters high. In the first, very technically built circuit, the obstacles followed in quick succession. In addition, the time allowed was tight, five riders received time penalties. Only two of the 16 participants failed to make mistakes.

The second round was only slightly shorter than the first, but provided with longer gallop stretches. Due to the regulations (all riders were allowed to start in the second round), the participants were able to destroy their good starting position from the first round with a less good second round. In return, they had the chance to work their way up the ranking with a quick, faultless ride due to mistakes by others.

After a bad first lap, Peder Fredricson did not compete in the second lap. Ben Maher with Explosion W and Lorenzo de Luca with Ensor de Litrange LXII were 13th and 14th after the first lap with eight penalty points. In the second lap they each managed a zero-error lap, which put them in fifth place in the final result and brought six forward.

The last obstacle in the second round was an almost monochrome dark blue wall, which was positioned in the direction of the entrance. Gregory Wathelet's stallion Iron Man van de Padenborre did not jump over the obstacle, but ran between the hall board and the jump and knocked down the wall's trap stand. In the second attempt at breaking in, the stallion showed no will to overcome the obstacle and refused. Wathelet was eliminated. A few rides later, Sameh El Dahan fared a little better. With Suma's Zorro he came completely unsuitable to the steep jump in front of the wall, the mare tore the top bar of the obstacle with her chest and was thus unable to get to the wall properly. El Dahan parried through and rode the wall again (final result: 17 penalty points from both laps).

In the meantime Frank Schuttert, who was to be counted as an outsider in the high-class starting field, was the first rider to keep his result with four penalty points from the first round. For the riders with four penalty points, the second round developed into a jump-off: In the event of a tie, the time of the second round decided on the ranking. While Daniel Deußer got an obstacle error, Sameh El Dahan and Nicola Philippaerts fell far behind. Besides Schuttert, only Ludger Beerbaum from this group was able to maintain his result, and on top of that he was three seconds faster than Frank Schuttert.

Shane Breen, after lap one in third place with only one time penalty, gave up on lap two after four obstacles. Harrie Smolders had received no penalty points in the first round. In the second lap he had collected eight penalty points up to about halfway through the course when suddenly his gelding Zinius refused directly in front of the obstacle and Smolders fell over the horse's neck and was eliminated. Thus, Edwina Tops-Alexander, also without mistakes in the first lap, should only have remained error-free in the second lap without time pressure. But about halfway through the course, she made a mistake. So she had to push her mare California on to be able to beat Ludger Beerbaum's time. She actually succeeded. Thus, the victory in the test endowed with 1,250,000 euros went to Edwina Tops-Alexander.

	equestrian	horse	Penalty points			Time 2nd round
			1st round	2nd round	total
1	Edwina Tops-Alexander	California	0	4th	4th	61.08 s
2	Ludger Beerbaum	Casello	4th	0	4th	61.56 s
3	Frank Schuttert	Chianti's Champion	4th	0	4th	64.91 s
4th	Daniel Deußer	Tobago Z	4th	4th	8th	59.20 s
5	Ben Maher	Explosion W	8th	0	8th	59.40 s

(Places one to five out of a total of 16 participants)

Super Cup (Global Champions League Playoffs)

The Global Champions League play-offs took place at the end of the season. The overall ranking of the 2018 season served as a qualification criterion.

On Thursday (December 13th) the so-called Super Cup started with the quarter-finals. In this test, the teams placed on ranks five to 16 in the 2018 overall ranking started. Eight teams qualified for the semi-finals from this test. In the semifinals, they also met the four best teams in the 2018 overall standings, which were directly qualified for the semifinals.

In the final on the last day of the tournament, the six best teams from the semi-finals competed again. Here the winner of the Super Cup was determined. In contrast to the normal Global Champions League stages, not two, but three riders per team started in all final stages. There was no deletion result.

Quarter finals

The hosting team Prague Lions (ninth place) and the St Tropez Pirates team led by Edwina Tops-Alexander and Athina Onassis were eliminated in the quarter-finals . The Paris Panthers achieved the best result in this test. The prize money of 1,200,000 euros was distributed evenly to all 12 participating teams.

	team	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Paris Panthers	4th	203.13
2	Doha Fursan Qatar	5	213.43
3	Shanghai Swans	8th	206.60

Semifinals

In the semi-finals, the second-placed team Doha Fursan Qatar could not achieve a full team result, as Michael Whitaker gave up during his ride. This brought the team to twelfth place and was eliminated in the semi-finals. The other five teams that did not reach the final included the Berlin Eagles ( Christian Kukuk , Philipp Weishaupt , Ludger Beerbaum - tenth place) as well as two teams that had qualified directly for the semifinals: The Rome Gladiators were in the overall standings Fourth place, but in the Super Cup semi-finals it was only seventh. The same happened to the Miami Celtics, third place overall and only eighth place in the Super Cup semi-finals.

Team Madrid in Motion, which came fourth in the quarterfinals, won the semifinals. In this test, too, the prize money was divided equally among the twelve teams that had started; a total of 2,400,000 euros was distributed in the semifinals.

	team	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Madrid in motion	0	219.23
2	Scandinavian Vikings	4th	213.25
3	Paris Panthers	4th	218.07

final

The final test was a jumping competition with two different rounds . A large number of errors occurred in the first round. The teams London Knights and Montreal Diamonds did not achieve a team result, as their second rider was eliminated in the first round. Of the 14 riders who finished the first round, three managed a faultless ride. After the first round, the teams Valkenswaard United and Madrid in Motion were in the lead with eight penalty points each.

In the second round there were significantly fewer jumping errors, but the time was extremely tight. Bertram Allen from Team Valkenswaard United managed the only round without mistakes. But as a team, Madrid in Motion showed the better performance in the second round and thus confirmed the results of the previous days. With just three additional time penalties, Madrid in Motion (Eduardo Alvarez Aznar, Maikel van der Vleuten and Marc Houtzager) won the Global Champions League Playoffs and with it prize money of over 2.7 million euros. A total of 6.4 million euros were paid out in this one test. The test clearly replaced the Grand Prix of the Spruce Meadows Masters as the most highly endowed jumping competition in the world.

	team	Riders / horses	1st exam	2nd exam		total
			Penalty points	Penalty points	Time ( s )	Penalty points	Time ( s )
1	Madrid in motion	Marc Houtzager with Calimero	4th	1	66.01	11	200.04
		Maikel van der Vleuten with Verdi	0	1	67.51
		Eduardo Álvarez Aznar with Sirene de la Motte	4th	1	66.52
2	Valkenswaard United	Marcus Ehning with Comme il faut	0	4th	64.00	17th	193.49
		Bertram Allen with Harley vd Bisschop	0	0	62.71
		Alberto Zorzi with Contanga	8th	5	66.78
3	Paris Panthers	Yuri Mansur with Ibelle	4th	1	67.63	26th	197.52
		Gregory Wathelet with Nevados S	8th	4th	62.95
		Darragh Kenny with Balou du Reventon	4th	5	66.94
4th	Scandinavian Vikings	Leopold van Asten with Miss Untouchable	8th	1	64.03	27	194.66
		Evelina Tovek with Dalila de la Pomme	12	1	66.20
		Christian Ahlmann with Caribis Z	4th	1	64.43
5	London Knights					eliminated
6th	Montreal Diamonds					eliminated

Web links

Commons : Global Champions Tour 2018  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Internet presence of the Global Champions Tour and Global Champions League (English)
• FEI tournament calendar
• Individual stages:
  • CSI 5 * Mexico City and CSI 5 * Madrid
  • CSI 5 * Hamburg
  • CSI 5 * Cannes
  • CSI 5 * Saint-Tropez
  • CSI 5 * Monaco
  • CSI 5 * Paris
  • CSI 5 * Chantilly
  • CSI 5 * Berlin
  • Prague playoffs

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Higher, faster, further: Longines Global Champions Tour 2018 , Karen Peschke / St. Georg, February 5, 2018.
2. ↑ Rules for the 2017 Global Champions League and GCL 2018 playoff (PDF).
3. ↑ Teams talent shake up as GCL transfer window closes , worldofshowjumping.com, June 26, 2018
4. ↑ Rules for the 2018 Longines Global Champions Tour (PDF).
5. ↑ Result Global Champions League of Miami Beach 2018 (PDF).
6. ^ Result of the Longines GCT Grand Prix of Mexico City 2018
7. ↑ Longines GCT Grand Prix of Mexico City 2018, jump-off start list
8. ↑ Result Global Champions League of Miami Beach 2018 (PDF).
9. ^ Result of the Longines GCT Grand Prix of Miami Beach 2018
10. ↑ Longines GCT Grand Prix of Miami Beach 2018, jump-off start list
11. ↑ Result Global Champions League of Shanghai 2018 (PDF).
12. ^ Result of the Longines GCT Grand Prix of Shanghai 2018
13. ↑ Result Global Champions League of Madrid 2018 (PDF).
14. ^ Result of the Longines GCT Grand Prix of Madrid 2018
15. ↑ Result of the Global Champions League of Hamburg 2018 (PDF).
16. ↑ Harrie Smolders winner in the Grand Prix of Hamburg, Maurice Tebbel over 90,000 euros richer , Jan Tönjes / St. Georg, May 12, 2018
17. ^ Result of the Longines GCT Grand Prix of Hamburg 2018
18. ↑ Inside the Lonely World of Athina Onassis , townandcountrymag.com, November 14, 2016
19. ↑ Result Global Champions League of Saint Tropez 2018 (PDF).
20. ^ Result of the Longines GCT Grand Prix of Saint Tropez 2018
21. ↑ Result of the Global Champions League of Cannes 2018 (PDF).
22. ^ Result of the Longines GCT Grand Prix de la Ville de Cannes 2018
23. ↑ Longines GCT Grand Prix de la Ville de Cannes 2018, jump-off start list
24. ↑ Program and results CSI 5 * Cascais 2017
25. ↑ Result Global Champions League of Cascais 2018 (PDF).
26. ^ Result Longines GCT Grand Prix of Cascais, Estoril 2018
27. ^ Longines GCT Grand Prix of Cascais, Estoril 2018, jump-off start list
28. ^ Result Global Champions League of Monaco 2018
29. ^ Result of the Longines GCT Grand Prix du Prince de Monnaco 2018
30. ↑ Longines GCT Grand Prix du Prince de Monnaco 2018, jump-off start list
31. ↑ Result of the Global Champions League of Paris 2018
32. ^ Result of the Longines GCT Grand Prix of Paris 2018
33. ↑ Longines GCT Grand Prix of Paris 2018, jump-off start list
34. ↑ Result of the Global Champions League of Berlin 2018 (PDF)
35. ^ Result of the Longines GCT Grand Prix of Chantilly 2018
36. ↑ Longines GCT Grand Prix of Chantilly 2018, jump-off start list
37. ↑ Result of the Global Champions League of Berlin 2018 (PDF)
38. ^ Result of the Longines GCT Grand Prix of Berlin 2018
39. ^ Longines GCT Grand Prix of Berlin 2018, start list jump-off
40. ↑ Result of the Global Champions League of London 2018 (PDF)
41. ^ Result of the Longines GCT Grand Prix of London 2018
42. ^ Longines GCT Grand Prix of London 2018, jump-off start list
43. ↑ Result of the Global Champions League from Valkenswaard 2018 (PDF)
44. ^ Result of the Longines GCT Grand Prix of Valkenswaard 2018
45. ↑ Longines GCT Grand Prix of Valkenswaard 2018, jump-off start list
46. ↑ Show jumping: Home win for Frank Schuttert in Valkenswaard at the Global Champions Tour , press release of the Global Champions Tour
47. ↑ Result Global Champions League of Rome 2018 (PDF)
48. ^ Result Longines GCT Grand Prix of Rome 2018
49. ↑ Longines GCT Grand Prix of Rome 2018, jump-off start list
50. ↑ Show jumping: Ben Maher wins the Global Champions Tour 2018 in Rome ahead of schedule , press release of the Global Champions Tour
51. ↑ Result of the Global Champions League of Doha 2018 (PDF)
52. ^ Result of the Longines GCT Grand Prix of Doha 2018
53. ^ Longines GCT Grand Prix of Doha 2018, jump-off start list
54. ↑ Final result of the overall ranking Global Champions Tour 2018 (PDF)
55. ↑ Final result of the overall ranking Global Champions League 2018 (PDF)
56. ↑ ^{a b} Prague Playoffs: About
57. ↑ Result Global Champions Tour Super Grand Prix 2018 with videos of the individual rides
58. ↑ Super Cup Prague 2018, quarter-finals results (PDF)
59. ↑ Super Cup Prague 2018, results semi-finals (PDF)
60. ↑ Super Cup Prague 2018, final result (PDF)