Tour de France a la Voile - Race win for Bretagne Crédit Mutuel Elite

by Fabienne Morin on 15 Jul 2014 In the Tour de France a la Voile, after their bad day yesterday, the local team from Brittany won the 11 mile coastal race in the Bay of Morlaix today. It was the fleet’s last day on the Atlantic coast of France and Team Bretagne Crédit Mutuel Elite finishes the first half of the event on a high note.

The breeze being too light in the morning, the race comittee decided to cancel the inshore race. The fleet took the start of the coastal race at 1pm. Nicolas Troussel and his crew didn’t have the best start, but their tactician Christopher Pratt did a perfect read of the race course despite the shifty breeze, and at the first mark, Bretagne Crédit Mutuel was in the lead, in front of Courrier Dunkerque 3 and Team Oman Sail.

The wind was very unsettled and the race turned into a nerve wrecking fight. But in the end, Nicolas Troussel crossed the finish line in first far ahead of Courrier Dunkerque 3 and the Corinthian team Nantes – Saint Nazaire who had its best result so far in this year’s edition, with a third.

On the overall ranking, Courrier Dunkerque 3 increases the lead over Groupama 34. Franck Cammas and his team are now under pressure to get some good results in the Mediterranean and come back in the game. Behind, Team Oman Sail and Bretagne Crédit Mutuel Elite are fighting for the third place. They are only five points apart.

The M34 will be lifted out of the water tonight and delivered by truck to Roses in Spain where they will start racing again on Friday the 18th July.

Daniel Souben, skipper of Courrier Dunkerque 3: 'We had a great day, winning more points on the ranking and increasing our lead. In the last two days, everything has been positive for us. Now we just have to do the same in the Med. If we could have taken more points, we would have, but we are happy. We’ve reached our objective. If someone has told me this scenario before the beginning of the Tour, I would have signed for it straight away!'

Félix Pruvot, mainsail trimmer onboard Bretagne Crédit Mutuel Elite: 'We had a bad start but we managed to quickly get away from the pack. Our tactician found the right patches of wind, even though it was very shifty. We rounded the first mark in the lead and then the wind dropped on the race course but we were the first boat to find some breeze again. It’s fantastic for us to win the last race of the Atlantic part of the event. And this is our home race course so it’s even better. Hopefully we will do just as well in the Med.'

Christophe André, bowman onboard Groupama 34: 'We had a collision with another boat on the start of the coastal race, and the empires said we were at fault so we had a penalty turn. Then the breeze started to drop and became cery shifty. It’s very difficult when you are not in the lead and when you don’t have any control on the weather. It’s a lottery. We are not happy with this race. We didn’t do well and we were unlucky. Not great. We’ll do better in the Med.'

Alexandre Pallu, mainsail trimmer onboard Team Oman Sail: 'It was a frustrating day. We were leading the fleet at the start of the race, then we lost a bit, and came back in the lead, and in the end, we finished fifth. We had some patches with no wind, it was very tricky on the water. Now we are going to rest for two days and try to learn the lessons from it.'

Overall ranking:

1 Courrier Dunkerque 3, Daniel Souben 574 pts
2 Groupama 34, Franck Cammas 555 pts
3 Team OmanSail, skipper, Sidney Gavignet 538 pts
4 Bretagne - Crédit Mutuel Elite, skipper Nicolas Troussel 533pts
5 Ville de Genève – Carrefour Addictions, Nicolas Groux 505 pts
6 Normandy – Acerel, Baptiste Choquenet 487 pts
7 Toulon Provence Méditerranée, Florian Simonnot 474 pts
8 Nantes Saint-Nazaire, Jean-Baptiste Gellée 448 pts
9 Be Brussels Bienne Voile, Delphine Wolters et Yann Burkhalter 419 pts

Offshore leg ranking:

1 – Courrier Dunkerque 3, Daniel Souben 293 pts
2 – Bretagne – Crédit Mutuel Elite, Nicolas Troussel 277 pts
3 – Team Oman Sail, Sidney Gavignet, 274 pts (…)

Technical ranking:

1 Groupama 34, Franck Cammas 285 pts
2 Courrier Dunkerque 3, Daniel Souben 281 pts
3 Ville de Genève – Carrefour Addictions, skipper, Nicolas Groux 265 pts (…)

Amateur ranking:

1 Normandy - Acerel, Baptiste Choquenet 487 pts
2 Toulon Provence Méditerranée, Florian Simonnot 474 pts
3 Nantes Saint-Nazaire, Jean-Baptiste Gellée 448 pts
4 Be Brussels Bienne Voile, Delphine Wolters et Yann Burkhalter 419 pts Event website