Tour de France a la Voile - Trio of race wins for Groupama 34

by Fabienne Morin on 23 Jul 2014 In the Tour de France a la Voile, Franck Cammas and his crew haven’t said their last word yet. With three wins today, they have greedily eaten a big piece of Daniel Souben’s cake. The Tour leader Courrier Dunkerque 3 is now 13 points ahead of Groupama 34. But the team in the hot seat tonight is Bretagne Crédit Mutuel Elite. Nicolas Troussel is still third overall but only one point ahead of Team Oman Sail. If they can’t take better starts, they will quickly fall off the podium, in the benefit of the Omani team who performed well today on the race course, finishing third, third and fifth.

The competition is also getting tighter amongst the Corinthian teams. Before they left the pontoon today, local team Toulon Provence Méditerranée – COYCH was only one point behind the leader Normandy Acerel. Did they have too much pressure on? Or was it the change of crew (they had three new crew onboard)? Florian Simmonot and his team had a very bad day and lost 14 points on the leaderboard. After their nice performance in Gruissan, the youngest crew of the Tour is disappointed but

The unexperienced Belgian-Swiss team of Be. Brussel – Bienne Voile had their best result so far in the event with a sixth place in the third race.

Tomorrow, the nine teams will have another big day in light winds, with two inshore races in the morning (first start at 10am) and an coastal race in the afternoon (start at 2.30pm) in the beautiful bay of Hyères.

Antoine Carpentier, trimmer onboard Courrier Dunkerque 3: 'Not a great day for us as we lost six points over Groupama 34. We are a bit disappointed with our performance today. We have to recover in the next races. Today Groupama 34 sailed really well and managed to finish a few boats ahead of us. We were unlucky and we were not as fast as them, especially in the last race.'

Fabien Henry, pitman onboard Groupama 34: 'It’s a very good day with three wins. It’s the first time a boat wins three races in a row. We managed to gain a few points back over Courrier Dunkerque 3 and to put more pressure on them. We sailed well today. Maybe the wheel of fortune is turning in our favour. We hope to be able to beat them a few more times before the end of the event.'

Guillaume Bérenger, Team Oman Sail: 'It’s been a good day for us. Now we are only one point from Bretagne Crédit Mutuel and from the podium. It’s a tough race and it’s difficult to finish a few boats ahead of them.'

Overall ranking:
1 Courrier Dunkerque 3, Daniel Souben 808 pts
2 Groupama 34, Franck Cammas 795 pts
3 Bretagne - Crédit Mutuel Elite, skipper Nicolas Troussel 757 pts
4 Team OmanSail, skipper, Sidney Gavignet 756 pts
5 Ville de Genève – Carrefour Addictions, Nicolas Groux 701pts
6 Normandy – Acerel, Baptiste Choquenet 686 pts
7 Toulon Provence Méditerranée, Florian Simonnot 672 pts
8 Nantes Saint-Nazaire, Jean-Baptiste Gellée 653 pts
9 Be Brussels Bienne Voile, Delphine Wolters et Olivier Besire 595 pts

Offshore leg ranking:
1 – Courrier Dunkerque 3, Daniel Souben 343 pts
2 – Bretagne – Crédit Mutuel Elite, Nicolas Troussel 325 pts
3 – Team Oman Sail, Sidney Gavignet, 318 pts (…)

Technical ranking:
1 Groupama 34, Franck Cammas 479 pts
2 Courrier Dunkerque 3, Daniel Souben 465 pts
3 Team Oman Sail, Sidney Gavignet 438 pts (…)

Amateur ranking:
1 Normandy - Acerel, Baptiste Choquenet 686 pts
2 Toulon Provence Méditerranée, Florian Simonnot 672 pts
3 Nantes Saint-Nazaire, Jean-Baptiste Gellée 653 pts
4 Be Brussels Bienne Voile, Delphine Wolters et Olivier Besire 595 Event website