Rodrigo Pessoa, of course: A prestigious winner

The Jumping de Caen could not have expected a more prestigious winner for its Grand Prix 2012: The World Champion of 1998, triple winner of the World Cup, Olympic Champion 2004 and flag bearer of the Brazilian delegation at the Olympic Games in London: Rodrigo Pessoa.

The predominance of Latin America at the 2012 Jumping de Caen was evident: after his compatriot Marlon Modolo Zantonelli in the Prix du Conseil General du Calvados and after the victory of the Mexican Alberto Michan Halbinger in the Grand Prix CITROËN (CSI**), Rodrigo Pessoa is the third „Latino“ to win a class in Caen, and what’s more it’s the most coveted one. Pessoa was able to come out on top in a jump-off between eleven contestants, including seven French riders. In a speed class, experience is a crucial advantage that’s visible in the results. Rodrigo’s experience has without a doubt made the difference: two tiny tenths of a second before the unfortunate Raynald Angot! “It was a difficult course, quite twisted, the obstacles followed one another rather quickly and there were enough possibilities to get caught in a trap. It was a beautiful Grand Prix, though, with a suspenseful final for the audience”, states the contented Brazilian.

Rodrigo was invited to Caen at the last minute, as a sort of surprise-guest, a very lucky surprise-guest. After his troubles with Rebozo at the World Cup in Oslo last week, he decided to not go away that far again this week-end (to Helsinki, where Roger-Yves Bost won the World Cup qualifier) and to pledge Ashley’s indoor comeback to Grand Prix in Caen instead, closer to Waterloo: “It’s a mare that was injured last year, after the Pan-American Games, and I started to compete her again in May. Ashley has good potential and after today’s victory I can certainly begin thinking about initiating her in the World Cup as a substitute for Ribozzo, even if the World Cup level is a bit higher than that of the Jumping de Caen. It is not, however, impossible and maybe we will see her in a qualifier around the end of the year, maybe even in Lyon, in two weeks, I will think about that.”

To win in the city of the next World Championship may be a good sign for someone who already knows the joy of winning this title, back in 1998 in Rome. The Brazilian states: “This region seems to bring me luck and it hopefully will do so in 2014, but that will be a totally different story. This said, I am really glad that I changed my plans and came to the jumping here… All’s well that ends well.”