First to go in the jump-off at the Massimo Dutti Eiffel Challenge in the five-star show at Paris today, Ireland’s Bertram Allen and GK Casper set a very fast time of 37.02 seconds to take the lead.

However, British Olympian Scott Brash with Quilata quickly chipped just under a second off Allen’s time to take over pole position.

However, it was the last batch of riders who claimed the top spots, with the Italian speed king Lorenzo de Luca living up to his reputation with a remarkable finishing time of 35.89 seconds on Halifax van het Kluizebos.

France’s Roger-Yves Bost with Sydney une Prince came closest to challenging de Luca, but was just under half a second off the pace, while last-man-in, Belgium’s Peter Devos and Apart, claimed fourth place, leaving Allen and Casper holding on to fifth place and a prize purse of 7,200 euro.

De Luca, meanwhile, went home from the Paris show with 39,600 euro from today’s competition.

Jack Burns