With just a few days to go before the Olympic Games, French Kévin Staut won the Rolex Grand Prix Ville de Dinard, a stage on the Rolex Series circuit. It was the crowning glory of four days of great sport at Jumping International de Dinard. After an impressive jump-off, he beat two members of the world’s top 5, Swiss Steve Guerdat (no.4), the 2012 Olympic champion, and Austrian Max Kühner (no.3), the defending champion.
And suddenly, the packed stands at Val Porée exploded. After holding their breath for the last few strides of Kévin Staut’s jump-off, his clear round of the final obstacle, with the fastest time, unleashed an entire crowd, immediately on their feet to salute his incredible performance. Now ranked no17 in the world, but one of the most consistent riders in the top 10 for many years, the Frenchman savoured the moment, his bombshell outstretched towards the Breton sky, blue as if for evidence, and his admiring gaze on Beau de Laubry Z, his 11-year-old Zangerscheide gelding.
In the jump-off, Guerdat, the 2012 Olympic champion in London, was the first to set the bar very high (42’44). Until the Frenchman was the last to start, no one had managed to get within 1 second. Olympic team champion in Rio, European individual champion in 1999 and a pillar of the French team for more than 15 years, the man from Normandy set off taking all the risks, cutting every trajectory. This commitment was essential if he was to win. A winning bet. By taking 1’02 off the Swiss rider’s time, he succeeds Alexis Deroubaix, the last French winner at Dinard, in 2019 with Timon d’Aure. “I’m obviously delighted, said the day’s big winner. We’ve had some incredible sport again. Dinard is a great competition, with an extraordinary public and a very special course with uneven ground on which my horse is at ease. History shines through in this competition and that gives it another dimension. It’s a competition that takes up the basics of our sport. I’ve taken part in the Grand Prix maybe ten or even fifteen times. I’ve often been runner-up but I’ve never had the pleasure of winning because the level is always extraordinary. It’s a great joy. All the more so in a Rolex Series event. Rolex has been a loyal partner of our sport for a very long time, with a real family spirit. On a personal level, it’s also a great support. This kind of victory is a way of repaying that support.” It’s the perfect scenario to build up confidence just a few days before the Paris Olympic Games, where Staut will be defending the colours of France in the gardens of the Château de Versailles, this time with Viking d’la Rousserie. It’s always good to win, it gives you great energy,’ he admits. But I’ve ridden every event in this competition without thinking about what comes next. It’ll be time to think about that afterwards.
In the end, Steve Guerdat finished second, oscillating between satisfaction and frustration. “In a competition like this, you don’t ask yourself any questions, explains the Swiss rider. Especially with a horse I know well. So I tried everything from the start. My horse was fantastic, but from number 3, I realised that I was lacking a bit of madness in this jump-off. I realised quite quickly that it wasn’t going to be enough. It’s a bit of a disappointment because it’s a competition that’s close to my heart but I haven’t won yet.”
