As the 24 teams hit the road towards next Tour venue in Spain (Roses), time has come to have a close look at the overall leaderboard.
With three Act victories out of four, Team Lorina Limonade – Golfe du Morbihan tops overal rankings with a comfortable 26 point margin over second Crédit Mutuel de Bretagne. Quentin Delapierre and Matthieu Salomon did not only scored very consistent results, they also took advantage of Nicolas Troussel lack of performance in Baden. And their confidence is now so strong moving to the second half of the event that they seem unbeatable. Technically, 26 points can be covered before the end of the Tour. But Lorina Limonade did not have a single bad result so far and never even got a black flag at a start of an inshore race, while other teams did. So they might not have won the 2016 Tour de France à la Voile yet, but they could not be on better path to reach their objective.
Next 9 places of the leaderboard are much more disputed, with only 44 points separating Crédit Mutuel de Bretagne in second position, from Natixis – Défi YC Saint-Lunaire in 10th. And some teams have progressed well since first Act in Dunkirk, like Trésors de Tahiti who has finished second in the last two racing days in Baden and is going to the next stages with Mediterranean specialist Dimitri Deruelle onboard for all coastal races. Tahiti is currently in 7th position overall and could be expected to finish in top 5 before the end of the event.
Team Coved is also another team in competition for top 5. Freeride ski champion Aurélien Ducroz has progressed well since last year and has had a set of consistent results since Dunkirk, his worst result being an 13th position in Baden coastal race. « We are very happy with our performance so far. Competition is fierce and the level is very high. We will have to fight hard until the end. Our first experience on the Tour last was very positive. We’ve learnt a lot and we are having much more fun this year ».
Young and Amateur teams are also in the game with three of them in the overall top 10, Natixis – Défi YC Saunt-Lunaire, Team Lorina Mojito, and Team France Jeune. Jules Bidegaray, from Team France Jeune, is also very confident going to the Mediterranean stages : « we are happy to lead the Young and Amateur rankings and happy to go and play on our home waters. A majority of us is from the Med, and I am from Hyères. This is my first tour on a Diam24, but I’ve sailed it twice before on an M34 with Toulon Provence Méditerranée. It will be nice to have a day break tomorrow though before the first half of the event has been intense physically and psychologically ».
