Key points :
- Nicolas Troussel gets a first victory in Roscoff coastal race
- After four wins in four days of racing, Team Lorina Limonade – Golfe du Morbihan finishes second
- First podium for Team Coved
- Natixis-YCSL back in the lead on Amateurs leaderboard
- Bad day for Oman Airports who finished 14th and drops in 8th place overall
Solitaire du Figaro Nicolas Troussel grabs a first victory on home waters in the Bay of Morlaix and stops Team Lorina Limonade’s parade in the Tour de France à la Voile. The young squad of Limonade finished second in today’s coastal race in Roscoff, after four wins in four days of racing. In Young and Amateur Rankings, Natixis-YCSL is back in the lead following his nice 4th place today, while main rival Team France Jeune finished 9th. Competition has just begun !
Lighter conditions might have changed the game today in Roscoff for Act 3 of the Tour. As they have moved futher south down the west coast of France, the 24 teams are finally enjoying summer conditions, with a beautiful sunshine and a nice 10 knots north-westerly breeze. Perfect to celebrate Bastille day and having a cruise sailing in the Bay of Morlaix ! But the Diam24s were not here for cruising. They had a tricky 23 mile coastal race along the rocky but stunning shore of Roscoff and Morlaix, North Brittany.
Crédit Mutuel de Bretagne skipper Nicolas Troussel learned to sail here in the bay and with top crewmembers like match racing and Tour specialists Mathieu Richard and Damien Iehl onboard, he started the race as favourite for victory. « We are so happy to win our first race here ! It’s fantastic for our sponsor and our team », said Troussel. « The hard work we’ve doing for a while is paying off. Will it be enough to initiate more victories, we will see at the end of the Tour. But at least our results are consistent and that’s the most important. Mistakes are coslty here on the Tour. Some of our rivals have experienced it today ».
Current leader Team Lorina Limonade – Golfe du Mobihan have sailed another good race today to cross the finish line in second, and althought they didn’t win this race, they still top the leaderboard with a comfortable seven point margin. But Mourniac father and son on Grandeur Nature Veranda did not succeed in scoring another top 3 position. They crossed the line in 12th place and lose precious points towards the overall leaderboard.
Freeride ski world champion Aurélien Ducroz is also a very good sailor and he is back in the Tour this year with the objective to finish in the top 5. His Diam24 Team Coved scored its first podium place today. « What a wonderful day for us ! It’s the first time we finish on the podium this year. We have a good boat speed, specially upwind. We can still do better downwind. But we are happy. We are in the game ! »
On the Young and Amateur rankings, non-professionnal team from north-britanny Natixis-YCSL takes the leader pink gennaker back from Team France Jeune. And climbs up to 5th place overall. While international crew Oman Airports by Oman Sail struggled to perform today in Roscoff, as British skipper Stevie Morrison explains : « it was a difficult day for us. We didn’t have a great start and then it’s a long race. We were fighting, but you’re a bit behind, it’s hard. After the start, we thought we’ve done a nice choice near the town. We were on the Roscoff’s shore and we were making nice gains. We were 5 o 6 which was ok considering the start. And then the wind came from the island and we were not on the right side. But the coast is stunning here. I think it’s easier on coastal races, it’s easier with Thierry onboard because his english is stronger than Pierre’s, but Thierry hurt his back a lot on the last coastal race in Dieppe, so he has a lot of physio to do before he can come back onboard. Of course it’s very frustrating, but ‘c’est la vie’. Tomorrow it will be Pierre, Abdul and myself again onoard and we’ll try to do better »
Tomorrow is day 2 of Act 3 and the fleet will sail a string of qualifying inshore races to try and win a spot for the Grand Final at 3.45pm. Don’t miss the action !
