Blom, riding Crossborder Radar Love, finished the previous evening's dressage section as joint leader with home rider Laure Redele, riding Cheers 12, on 29.0 penalty points.

But a faultless round in a time of 78.26sec was enough for her to head the overall competition going into tomorrow's concluding cross-country with an score of 29.0 faults.

While Redele had an unhappy day which saw her drop to 86th place, the opposition behind Blom remained largely Belgian or German.

Home rider Virginie Caulier, who finished seventh in the dressage on Hobama de la Baille Rouge, moved up to second place with 30.80, having incurred just 0.40 in terms of penalties.

Meanwhile, Germany's double Olympic team eventing gold medallist, Ingrid Klimke, moved up to third on Scrabble 15 after incurring just 1.20 faults for a total of 31.00.

France won last month's team competition on home soil at Haras du Pin.

A second-place finish saw Italy move into the overall lead of the Nations Cup series, after five of seven competitions – Italy lead on 380 points, with Sweden following on 345.

The Netherlands also remain in the hunt for the overall title on 300 points.

The battle for the overall title should become clearer after the three days of competition in Belgium, with the series concluding next month in Boekelo, The Netherlands, from October 10 to 13.

The event will see the awarding of the final Tokyo 2020 Olympic berth.

Switzerland, The Netherlands and Belgium will battle for the place.

Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Italy, Poland, United States, Brazil, China, Thailand and hosts Japan have already qualified for next year's Olympics.