Tour de France a la Voile - Overall winner determined with 3 days left

by ASO Sailing News on 25 Jul 2013 In the Tour de France a la Voile, the moment they crossed the finish in La Seyne, they claimed the win for the event.

Franck Cammas and Groupama 34 have won the Tour de France à la Voile 2013. Courrier Dunkerque and Bretagne Crédit Mutuel are tied for second place and Sodebo, who finished second today, is still in a threatening position. Cammas won but the fight for second is far from over.

The leg from Gruissan to La Seyne was a tricky one with a lot of wind shifts throughout the 123-mile route, scored by a factor of three. Groupama 34 claimed their 18th victory over the 30 races sailed since the race started in Dunkirk on June 29. Cammas and his men cannot lose the Tour before the end of the race in Marseille on Saturday. There are six races left (total scoring factor of seven) and they are 98 points ahead tonight.

Their first place overall is symbolised by a blue spinnaker but they are still looking to claim the green (offshore ranking) and red chutes (inshore ranking) as well. And to top it off, Groupama is gunning for a 100-point lead over the second place team.

As of today there are two runners up: Courrier Dunkerque 3 and Bretagne Crédit Mutuel, both tied for points after Bretagne was disqualified for an in-port race in Gruissan. But the second two places on the podium are wide open. Sodebo finished second today, and now Tomas Coville’s team is only 12.7 points becond the runners-up.

Nantes St Nazaire E.Leclerc and Iskareen did very well too, taking fifth and sixth. OmanSail finished in 11th place and is now fifth overall, 40.7 points behind Sodebo.

In-port races are scheduled tomorrow off La Seyne, in the Toulon bay. First start at noon.

Franck Cammas, Groupama 34 skipper: 'Clearly I’m happy we won! We heard about our overall victory only when coming in La Seyne. It’s a relief, we feel like we did a great job. I’m proud of the team. They’re a motivated and focused group. I think it’s just great to sail such an intense race, with both offshore and inshore races.'

Daniel Souben, Courrier Dunkerque 3 skipper: 'We are delighted to catch up to Bretagne, we’ve been looking forward to these points for a long time! We are tied for points today and it’s a restart. We are both on equal terms and Sodebo is not far behind with 12.7 points. Three boats are fighting for the second and third place. It’s going to be a great match. And Groupama 34 won the Tour by far. They are very good and they deserve this victory. But as far as we are concerned, we are going to give it our all tomorrow.'

Thomas Coville, Sodebo skipper: 'It’s a satisfying feeling to take second thanks to an option we thought about and chose to do. It gives us the possibility to finish on the podium. It’s a positive leg and congrats to Groupama. It’s tough to escape from them, they are so fast. Like a jet!'

Corentin Douguet, Nantes St Nazaire E.Leclerc skipper: 'In these sailing conditions you never give up. We changed sails all night. All places within the top five are good for us so we are happy about Tour Voile website