France won the spectacular floodlit competition at the CHIO Aachen: In the Mercedes-Benz Prize, part of the Meydan FEI Nations Cup™, the French celebrated a sovereign victory without picking up any faults, ahead of Germany and the Netherlands who came joint second (each with four faults).

40,000 fans in the sold-out main stadium contributed towards the electric atmosphere. The newly nominated German team comprising of Marcus Ehning on Plot Blue, Philipp Weishaupt on Souvenir, Carsten-Otto Nagel on Corradina and Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum on Checkmate gave a convincing performance in front of their home crowd. Michaels-Beerbaum was satisfied with the result. "We had a super team, which gave me a lot of security as the last rider." She also jumped clear in the second round and was thus able to secure second place for the team.

However the French had already sealed their victory after the third of their four riders completed the course, since they were the only team to finish both rounds without picking up a single fault. Only the German team could have put a spanner in the works, but unfortunately Carsten-Otto Nagel and Corradina knocked down the last but one fence. "It sometimes just happens, although we were actually having a good round," said Nagel afterwards. Pénélope Leprevost on Jubilee D´Ouilly, Roger-Yves Bost on Ideal de la Loge, Timothée Anciaume on Lamm de Fetan and Kevin Staut on Kraque Boom are the first French equipe to win in Aachen since 1990.

Peter Alexander Trettin, Chairman of the Executive Board of Mercedes-Benz Vertriebsorganisation Deutschland, had "a lot of fun" during his evening in Aachen. "We experienced fantastic, exciting sport amid an amazing atmosphere." Mohammad Al Khayat, Commercial Director Meydan was also impressed by the sport and the atmosphere: "This was definitely not our last visit here in Aachen," he promised during the Press Conference at midnight.

For the first time this year ten instead of eight nations are competing in the Mercedes-Benz Prize, part of the Meydan FEI Nations Cup™: The participating nations were the teams from Belgium, Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA. However, Italy and Great Britain were not able to qualify for the second round.

This year the competition is celebrating two special anniversaries: The first ever Nations Cup was held exactly one hundred years ago, and it made its debut at the Soers in Aachen precisely eighty years ago.