As the TDV fleet is about to leave the west coast and head down south towards Roses and the Mediterranean, event leader Team Lorina Limonade – Golfe du Morbihan earned keeps building up its lead over rivals Credit Mutuel de Bretagne and Grandeur Nature Véranda.
For last day of competition today in South Brittany, french co-skippers Matthieu Salomon and Quentin Delapierre recorded another top result winning today’s stadium racing super final in front of their public. « Conditions were so hard. There wasn’t much breeze and we had strong currents. Knowing the place was not an advantage, as it was too shifty anyway », said Bruno Mourniac. « Today was Quentin’s birthday so we had a but more pressure on and it’s great to finally offer him this victory at home. We celebrated a bit on the water after racing, but we won’t have a late party tonight because we have to hit the road early tomorrow morning».
The Lorina boys took advantage of Credit Mutuel bad results to increase their lead overall. Nicolas Troussel and his team are now 26 points behind and everyone wonder if they have lost the Tour here in Baden. But last year Groupama had a comfortable lead before the Mediterranean stages and Spindrift managed to clinch overall victory on the last day. « Of course it’s nice to have a good lead », admitted Bruno Mourniac. « But we still have five stages in the Med and we know everything can change there. So we have to stay focused ».
Polynesian team Trésors de Tahiti is the good surprise of this last stage on the Atlantic side. After finishing second yesterday in the coastal race, they managed to qualify for the grand final and to top another 2nd place finish. « It’s the first time we qualify for the grand final since the beginning of the Tour, so it’s a good performance », said helmsman Pierre Pennec. « It’s nice for everyone in the team because we are progressing well and that’s important. Manutea Mahai is still learning. He only sailed about 20 days on a racing multihull and he’s learning very fast ! It’s amazing to win an inshore race with him today ! »
