COYCHyères, wins the Tour de France à la Voile

by Anatole Lucet on 28 Jul 2007
COYCHyères (Fabien Henry) won two legs out of three Friday, and is now certain to win this years Tour de France Sailing Race 2007. The three followers are still fighting for the second place.

In the amateur ranking, Bred (Sylvain Chtounder) is only a few points behind Val-Thorens (Lucas Millieret). For the first time since the beginning of the race, Caisse d’Epargne – HEC – Ecole Navale (Hervé Gautier) lost their first place in the school ranking, after the great performance of Les Saisies – INSA (Sylvain Leboeuf).

The boats sailed in very light winds this morning, and they had almost no wind at all by the end of the first leg. In the late afternoon, they got between 15 and 20 knots of wind.

The crew of Manche – Basse Normandie did a very good performance: they ranked first and second in the first two legs of the day. The amateur crew Val-Thorens did an impressive first leg too: after starting too early, they went back under the departure line only three minutes after the start, and sailed most of the race behind the fleet. Even if it might seem paradoxical, they managed to observe all the fluctuations of the wind, and finally ranked second at the end of the race! Despite that, their direct opponent, Bred is now very close to them.

'We’ve managed to remain ahead during fifteen days; we will do everything to stay like this until tomorrow!'

Les Saisies – INSA went crescendo all day long and finished second in the last leg. Consequently, they are now first in the school ranking, before the everlasting leader Caisse d’Epargne – HEC – Ecole Navale.

In the third leg, the Belgian team T. Service Interim – Région de Bruxelles – Capitale (Laurent Declercq, Cyril Michel) led half of the course but couldn’t manage to lower their spinnaker and finished 24th.

Toulon Provence Méditerranée – COYCHyères is now more confident than ever when it comes to the outcome of the race. Behind him, Ile de France (Victor Lanier, Nicolas Pauchet), Tahiti et ses Iles (Teva Plichart) and Elcimaï – Ville de Marseille (Dimitri Deruelle) will have to give their best tomorrow to finish on the second step of the podium.

The boats will start the last race of the Tour de France Sailing Race tomorrow morning. Thirty days after the departure, after twenty-seven legs and more than 900 nautical miles, the competitors will have to in a 100% shape!

General classification - leaders

1 TOULON PROVENCE MEDITERRANEE COYCHYERES Fabien HENRY 1066.5
2 ILE DE France Victor LANIER - Nicolas PAUCHET 1012.5
3 TAHITI ET SES ILES Teva PLICHART 1012.25
4 ELCIMAI VILLE DE MARSEILLE Dimitri DERUELLE 995.75
5 COTES D'ARMOR Michaël AVELINE 913.75
6 NOUVELLE CALEDONIE Vincent Portugal 889.75
7 COURRIER DUNKERQUE Daniel SOUBEN 884.25
8 MANCHE-BASSE NORMANDIE Benoît CHARON - Nicolas JOSSIER 870.5
9 VAL-THORENS Lucas MILLIERET 833
10 BRED Sylvain CHTOUNDER 827.75

Amateur classification

1 VAL-THORENS Lucas MILLIERET 833
2 BRED Sylvain CHTOUNDER 827.75
3 SAINT-MALO PURFLO TEAM SNBSM François LEBOURDAIS - Pierre HINGANT 777.5
4 VILLE DU PORT REGION REUNION Gabriel JEAN-ALBERT - Marc GUESSARD 765.5
5 NANTES SAINT-NAZAIRE Erwan AUBURTIN - Julien MASSON 742.5
6 ING ESPOIR ESCP EAP Dimitri CAUDRELIER/Vincent AILLAUD 656.75
7 ESPOIRS AQUITAINS J-Philippe ALLILAIRE - Nicolas RADOT 618.5
8 BIENNE VOILE Walter KOCH 532.75
9 T.SERVICE INTERIM REGION DE BRUXELLES CAPITALE Laurent DECLERCQ - Cyril MICHEL 505.25
10 NAVTECH.CA Thomas BARBEAU 490
11 DIEPPE SEINE MARITIME Manuelle ADAN 475.75

Student classification

1 LES SAISIES INSA Sylvain LEBOEUF 812.75
2 CAISSE D'EPARGNE HEC ECOLE NAVALE Hervé GAUTIER 791.75
3 BREST GRANDES ECOLES ENSIETA ESC Loïc LE GARREC 656.5
4 DEFI SCLEROSE EN PLAQUES TOSHIBA Stéphane VENEL 614.5
5 EIGSI CHARENTE MARITIME Frédéric GAUTHIER 608.25
6 VANUDEN TUDELFT VANOORD Suzanne LEIDERS - Michiel VAN DER5 MEULEN 501.5
6 TEAM CENTRALE NANTES EPA SOPRA François LOURDAIS 501.5
8 ETAMINE CENTRALE PARIS Pierre PENNEC 492.75
9 ECHO MER SUP DE CO LA ROCHELLE Jean-Marc ALLAIRE 436.25