Photo Caption: (left to right) Team Germany’s Robert Sirch, Jörg Kurbel, Bodo Battenberg and Wolf Dieter-Eckl scored the victory in Montelibretti (ITA) at the weekend to put Germany back in the lead of the FEI Nations Cup™ Eventing 2014. All eyes are now on the final two legs of the series in Waregem (BEL) this coming weekend and Boekelo (NED) on 9-12 October. (Massimo Argenziano/FEI)
Germany, winners of the inaugural FEI Nations Cup™ Eventing in 2012, are now once again at the top of the leaderboard, and could prove hard to beat with just two more legs to run in the 2014 series.
The Germans, led by the overall winner Jörg Kurbel on Brookfield de Bouncer, scored a win at the seventh leg of the series at Montelibretti (ITA) CIC3* at the weekend. As a result, they have overtaken Great Britain, the 2014 series leaders, and edged France into third place.
Montelibretti was Germany’s fourth win of the 2014 series, following consecutive victories in Strzegom (POL), Aachen (GER) and Malmö (SWE).
Germany’s rival and home team in Montelibretti, Italy, has now moved up from equal eighth to fourth place, pushing The Netherlands down into fifth on the FEI Nations Cup™ Eventing 2014 leaderboard.
This weekend, the action moves to the Internationale Military Waregem CICO3* in Belgium (25-28 September) for the penultimate leg of the series, before what promises to be a fierce final event at the very popular Military Boekelo International Horse Trials CCIO3* (NED) on 9-12 October.
A total of five teams - Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain and Ireland - have signaled their intention to head to Waregem. Follow the action at www.eventingwaregem.be.
Results from Montelibretti
1 Germany, 1,179.0
Jörg Kurbel/Brookfield de Bouncer, 72.1; Eckl Wolf-Dieter/Rainman, 106.9; Robert Sirch/La Samira, EL Cross Country; Bodo Battenberg/Cadgold, EL Cross Country
2 Italy, 2,097.2
Andrea Docimo/Waldo, 97.2; Emiliano Portale/Rubens Delle Sementarecce, EL Cross Country; Marco Cappai/Freewell Clai, WD after Dressage
Montelibretti online results here.
FEI Nations Cup™ Eventing leaderboard (after 7 out of 9 legs)
1 Germany 53 points
2 Great Britain 45
3 France 42
4 Italy 22
5 Netherlands 20
6 New Zealand 18
7 Ireland 14
7 Denmark 14
9 Sweden 13
10 Spain 6
11 Poland 5
12 Australia 4
View the series current standings here.
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