Tour de France à la Voile – Last days in the Med

by A.S.O./Tour de France à la voile on 26 Jul 2016 After four Acts on the Atlantic and three in the Med, the 2016 Tour de France à la Voile is coming to an end, and while event title is likely to go to Lorina Limonade-Golfe du Morbihan, competition is fierce for podium second and third place and for the Young and Amateur title.

With their 55 point lead Quentin Delapierre and Matthieu Salomon are in a good position to take their team to victory in the 2016 Tour de France à la Voile. But who will complete the podium?

Crédit Mutuel de Bretagne and Grandeur Nature Vérandas are only two points apart on the leaderboard and in fourth position, Team Coved is only eight points behind and Aurélien Ducroz and his crew are in top form after scoring a third yesterday in Act seven standing racing.

The eight racing days in the Atlantic had seen only two different winners, whereas four teams have snatched victory since Roses in just five racing days. All 24 teams are progressing and more of them can pretend for a top performance. Like Pays de l’Or Hérault who qualified for stadium racing grand final yesterday in Marseille whilst being in 17th position on overall rankings.

Top five is also very open, with only 20 points separating fifth Trésors de Tahiti from 10th Natixis – Défi Yacht-Club de Saint-Lunaire.

Currently in sixth, international team Oman Airports by OmanSail has been performing well in the last two days despite missing their two skippers Thierry Douillard, who hurt his back, and Stevie Morrison, who was in Portsmouth for doing America’s Cup World Series commentary. French 470 sailor Pierre Leboucher took the helm and managed to keep his team just seven points from the top five.

'We sailed well today but we can see we are still missing some training days. Considering we had a new crew, Gurvan Bontemps, onboard since Gruissan. We did pretty well. We speak a mix of french and english so that Omani crew Ali can understand. I was so happy to take the helm. We had a good boat speed. Thierry and Stevie will be back in Hyères but I am not sure Thierry will sail yet'.

On the Young and Amateur Rankings, the top three is tighter than ever, with only five points between current leader Lorina Mojito – Golfe du Morbihan and third Natixis – YCSL. Team France Jeune excels in stadium racing format but still makes some costly mistakes in coastal racing, while young crew Lorina Mojito can offer the best and the average, with last few results as diverse as 14-3-3-12.

Today the Tour sailors have a last day off to rest before Act eight in Hyères starts on Wednesday with a coastal race.