The six-time Olympic gold medallist managed a totally score of 84.410 riding Emilio, thanks to two technical scores over 80 percent and one artistic mark of 93 percent.

It left her comfortably ahead of Sweden’s Patrik Kittel in second on 42, and Antonia Ramel in third on 33.

 Werth, who won three golds at the 2017 FEI European Championships and two at the FEI World Equestrian Games less than two months ago, is looking to win her fifth World Cup title and her third in a row.

Ramel, who finished third, is often coached by Werth, and revealed afterwards that she had been to visit her earlier this week to ask for advice on her horse Delatio.

“I was at Isabell’s on Monday because I wasn’t sure if I should take him to Lyon - but she said yes,” she said.

Meanwhile Werth, talking about her own horse, said she was “very happy” with how the competition went.

“It’s his first indoor of the season and it’s a new freestyle for him so there were a lot of new things for him to handle and I’m very happy how it went, even though there are still some details to be worked out.”

Werth and her horse will be back in action in two weeks’ time on the next leg of the circuit in Stuttgart in Germany.