Tour de France à la Voile - Groupama 34 claims crucial win

by Fabienne Morin on 8 Jul 2014 Following a long and painful night hiking out upwind, the nine teams of the Tour de France à la Voile arrived in Dieppe (Normandy) at 3pm this Monday. A first offshore leg which sees the victory of Groupama 34. Fabien Henry and his crew extend their lead overall and are now six points ahead of Courrier Dunkerque 3. Not a huge gain, but a psychological edge over the rest of the fleet.

They knew it would be a tough leg. At the dock in Dieppe, the sailors have tired looking faces, red eyes and tousled hair. They are exhausted. And some of them look downcast. 'We are a bit disappointed because we’ve spent the night holding on, giving everything, sailing 100% sitting on the rail without a rest, just to gain a few meters and in the end, Groupama 34, Courrier Dunkerque 3 and Team Oman Sail finish ahead of us. We are not far behind, but we are behind,' said Bretagne - Crédit Mutuel Elite navigator Félix Pruvot.

After a windward-leeward course at the start in Dunkerque and a mark to round off Nieuwpoort in Belgium, the fleet headed west towards Cape Griz Nez. The boats sailed upwind all night in 20 knots of wind and along the coast of Normandy, the wind started to drop. Groupama 34 crossed the finish line first at 2.59pm, five minutes ahead of Courrier Dunkerque 3 and six minutes ahead of Team Oman Sail.

This offshore leg was a high scoring race (coef 3) and allows Groupama 34 to collect some precious points in the overall ranking. 'It’s not huge gap but it’s increasing and we will have to find a way to stop their progression very quickly,' said Courrier Dunkerque 3 skipper Daniel Souben after the race.

There is only one way to stop Groupama 34 from increasing their lead: consistency. The level of the competition is such on this 37th Tour de France à la Voile that every single race counts and the winner is always the team who makes the fewest mistakes. Daniel Souben and his crew led the fleet for the first half the leg. They made a mistake. Groupama 34 past them. And it was game over.

Tonight in Dieppe, everyone knows they don’t only have to sail well. They have to be flawless.

Fabien Henry, second skipper on Groupama 34: 'We are tired, it was a tough leg. We gave everything at the start and worked really hard on the boat speed. We didn’t sleep much at all, but we’re happy. We had a great rac ! There’s still a long way to go so we just have to keep sailing like this and hold on.'

Sidney Gavignet, skipper onTeam Oman Sail: 'That was not a bad race, but we had moments where we could not find the right settings to go fast. Courrier Dunkerque 3 also had those down times. But not Groupama 34. The game is still open because everyone is learning with the new sails so we are all improving. We all look at each other trying to do the same set-up. Apart from that, it was a horrible leg upwind sitting in the rail. A torture!'

Daniel Souben, skipper onboard Courrier Dunkerque 3: 'We’ve been coming here in Dieppe for 10 years and it’s always with great pleasure! We had a great start in this leg with Team Omansail. We were downwind for a few miles and then upwind all the way to Dieppe. We got tired before the Cape Gris Nez and Groupama passed us. I guess they managed to keep a clear head all the way through. From a tactical point of view, we went off to get a left handed windshift. The shift happened, but a little bit too late. Groupama 34 took it before us. Then all he had to do was to control the rest of the fleet.'

Delphine Wolters, skipper de Be.Brussels - Bienne Voile: 'We are exhausted. We were cold. We that wasn’t too bad. We managed to stay with the pack until Cape Gris Nez. It was our first night together so that was nice. When we sailed downwind to Nieuwpoort, we caught up three boats but we messed up our last manœuvre. The we got tired. It’s a shame to finish last but we’re happy. We didn’t break anything and we ‘re improving all the time.'

Overall ranking:
1 Groupama 34, Franck Cammas 195 pts
2 Courrier Dunkerque 3, Daniel Souben 189 pts
3 Team OmanSail, skipper, Sidney Gavignet 80 pts
4 Bretagne - Crédit Mutuel Elite, skipper Nicolas Troussel 176pts
5 Normandy - Acerel, Baptiste Choquenet 166 pts
6 Ville de Genève - Carrefoux Addictions, Nicolas Groux 164 pts
7 Toulon Provence Méditerranée, Florian Simonnot 156 pts
8 Nantes Saint-Nazaire, Jean-Baptiste Gellée 149 pts
9 Be Brussels Bienne Voile, Delphine Wolters et Yann Burkhalter 136 pts

Technical ranking:
1 Groupama 34, Franck Cammas 120 pts
2 Courrier Dunkerque 3, Daniel Souben 117 pts
3 Team OmanSail, skipper, Sidney Gavignet 111 pts (…)

Amateur ranking:
1 Normandy - Acerel, Baptiste Choquenet 166 pts
2 Toulon Provence Méditerranée, Florian Simonnot 156 pts
3 Nantes Saint-Nazaire, Jean-Baptiste Gellée 149 pts
4 Be Brussels Bienne Voile, Delphine Wolters et Yann Burkhalter 136 Event website