The 40-year-old, on board trusted horse Taloubet Z, saw off 10 other riders to seal a deserved triumph in the Belgian city.

The pair eventually finished the course in a time of 39.22sec, finishing  ahead of home favourite Niels Bruynseels, riding Cas de Liberte, while compatriot Jerome Guery and Papillon Z were third.

The result saw Ahlmann extend his lead at the summit of the series leaderboard with just three qualifying legs left on 77 points, 26 ahead of nearest challenger, France's Simon Delestre.

Ahlmann now looks well placed to qualify for the 2016 Longines Final, due to take place in Gothenburg, Sweden in March, and will be one of the favourites for victory should he confirm his place at the event.

“I knew I had the best horse and the fastest horse,” the German said.

“Niels also had a great round so I tried to do almost the same but be a little faster and it worked.

“Taloubet did a great job in the first round and gave me a super feeling - when he’s in that shape I can ride fast and take the risks.

“To be honest, he just played with the fences today - he has produced some really great rounds over the last few weeks, but this one was possibly the best.”

The 10-strong jump-off provided a thrilling finale as Belgium’s Jos Verlooy, on board Sunshine, set what looked to be an ominous time of 42.09.

His effort, however, was surpassed by Bruynseels three jumps later as he lowered the mark to 39.37.

Ahlmann then stepped up and went 0.15 seconds quicker than his Belgian counterpart to take the lead, and neither of the two remaining jumpers were able to surpass his time to ensure he secured victory.

The next event is due to place in Leipzig, Germany on January 17.

Elsewhere, Australia’s Boyd Exell clinched his fourth World Cup Driving success of the season as he held off the challenge of Koos de Ronde of The Netherlands.

Georg von Stein of Germany did enough to claim third in what proved to be a thrilling competition in Mechelen.

“It certainly wasn’t the plan to hit that last cone, but luckily I still had some time advantage so it was OK in the end,” Exell said.

The Australian heads the overall standings on 30 points, with IJsbrand Chardon of The Netherlands three adrift in second and De Ronde currently sits in third.