Yuri Mansur and Vitiki take a first LGCT Grand Prix win by 0.70 seconds, earning a Super Grand Prix ticket after a tense Valkenswaard jump-off.
The Valkenswaard Grand Prix 2026 ended with Yuri Mansur doing the least useful thing a rider can do in a jump-off: watching. His work was finished.
Vitiki had stopped the clock at 37.27 seconds, clear, and Pieter Devos was still out on course with Casual DV Z. Devos crossed in 37.97. Seven-tenths of a second had decided it.
Mansur had his first Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix victory, Vitiki had his first 5* Grand Prix win, and sentiment — for once — had managed to keep pace with the stopwatch.
37.27 seconds gives Mansur the edge
Eight combinations made the jump-off at the Longines Tops International Arena, but Mansur’s round altered the contest immediately.
Christian Ahlmann had opened with serious intent on Untouched LB, posting 38.74 seconds before clipping the final fence. Annelies Vorsselmans then supplied the first double clear, guiding Trezeguet home in 38.85.
Mansur did not appear interested in leaving himself a tactical escape route. He tightened the turns, opened Vitiki’s stride and committed to the last. The round stayed clean. The time fell to 37.27.
Olivier Philippaerts and Miro later produced another clear in 39.32, while Arne van Heel gave the Dutch crowd something to chase with Keaton HV in 39.08. Neither was close enough.
Devos was.
His 37.97-second clear was the only late run that made Mansur wait for the scoreboard rather than the applause. Second place by 0.70 seconds is either painfully close or reassuringly distant, depending on which side of the podium one occupies.
Valkenswaard’s first round cut through the big names
The jump-off had been earned the difficult way.
Scott Brash and Hello Chadora Lady were among the early casualties, finishing with four faults and eventually 16th. Defending Valkenswaard champions Harrie Smolders and Monaco also had one fence down, although their 72.25-second round was the fastest of the four-faulters and left them ninth.
Series leader Abdel Saïd dropped a rail with Whatnan Zasou vom Claashof, opening a little daylight for the riders behind him in the championship. Edwina Tops-Alexander also finished on four faults, as did Dutch hope Maikel van der Vleuten with Beauville Z N.O.P.
By the end of the first round, eight clears remained. That is enough for a sporting contest and few enough to make every hoofbeat feel expensive.
Vitiki’s comeback gives the win its weight
Mansur’s reaction on the podium was not simply the release of a rider who had finally found the right line through a jump-off.
Vitiki’s return to this level after an earlier injury had already made the partnership notable. Winning at Valkenswaard gave the comeback a hard result rather than a sentimental footnote.
Mansur put the long wait rather more simply:
“I’ve had so many good chances and could never finish the job… finally! Especially with my favourite horse, it is even more special.”
The achievement also closed a conspicuous gap on Vitiki’s record.
“He’s won so many 1.50 and 1.55 Grand Prix’s but we’ve never managed to take a 5* Grand Prix and for it to be a Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix win makes it even more special. I can’t believe that I have the golden ticket to the LGCT Super Grand Prix! ”
There are horses whose careers resemble tidy progress charts. Vitiki’s has not been one of them. That makes this result considerably more interesting than another quick Sunday in the arena.
Devos misses the ticket by seven-tenths
Pieter Devos had little reason to be displeased with Casual DV Z and every reason to notice the clock. His 37.97 was quick enough for second and marked his first appearance on an LGCT Grand Prix podium.
“Each time we get to do a jump-off together I feel like it is getting better and better, and not being far off Yuri makes it disappointing that we didn’t get the ticket for the LGCT Super Grand Prix but really I am very happy with my horse.”
Vorsselmans completed the podium with Trezeguet in 38.85. In her debut LGCT season, she offered the more revealing observation about the standard surrounding her:
“My horse really deserved this, and sticking to the plan in round 1 really worked.”
The arithmetic of elite show jumping is occasionally rude. A clear round is merely the entrance fee. To win, it also has to be quick enough to make somebody else uncomfortable.
The LGCT title race tightens after Valkenswaard
Mansur took the Grand Prix and the LGCT Super Grand Prix ticket, but the championship remained in Abdel Saïd’s hands after Leg 11.
Saïd led on 206 points, ahead of Christian Ahlmann on 182 and Edwina Tops-Alexander on 181. Max Kühner sat fourth on 170, with Scott Brash fifth on 167.5.
That order leaves very little room for an indifferent weekend. Ahlmann and Tops-Alexander are separated by a single point; Brash is 38.5 behind Saïd. Valkenswaard did not settle the championship. It did, however, make the remaining rounds look rather less like administration.
Mansur’s afternoon will be remembered for the tears, but the more durable image is probably Vitiki landing over the last fence with the clock still on their side.
Comebacks are usually discussed in months and years. This one, at its decisive moment, lasted 37.27 seconds.
