Courrier Dunkerque wins Tour de France Sailing

by Anatole Lucet on 24 Jul 2008
Elcimaï – Ville de Marseille (Dimitri Deruelle) had come closer and closer since the fleet arrived in Marseille. But that wasn’t enough to finish ahead of Courrier Dunkerque (Daniel Souben), leader since Lorient. The winner in the amateur ranking is Val Thorens (Lucas Millieret / Alexis Littoz), they rank four in the overall ranking. CSC – HEC – Ecole Navale (Hervé Gautier) wins in the student ranking.

Elcimaï – Ville de Marseille (Dimitri Deruelle) was only twenty-three points behind Courrier Dunkerque yesterday, and was still likely to win the race today! Unfortunately, they didn’t manage to put enough space between them and their adversary during the first two legs of the day, and a victory on the last race of the day didn’t allow them to compensate that! 'Of course we’re a bit tired of being second of this race… but it has never been the same in front of us, which is a good thing!' says Dimitri Deruelle. He finishes only seven points behind the winner.

For their fourth participation, the winner crew of the 2008 Spi Ouest France wins the most important race of the Crew Sailing France Championship! Souben’s crew was assured to win the race after the second leg of the day… so finished only twentieth in the last race of the Tour de France Sailing Race! 'We are relieved to finish first after a nice race. There is no great winner without great adversaries, and for that we have to thank Elcimaï – Ville de Marseille and Nouvelle-Calédonie'.

Nouvelle-Calédonie (Vincent Portugal / Ronan Dreano / Bernard Mallaret) finishes third in the overall ranking. 'We are proud of having given a lot of trouble till the end to the winner. It’s only our third participation, and we are close to many other professionals!'. Nouvelle-Calédonie had had the red Honda Civic Hybrid spinnaker until they arrived in the Atlantic.

Winner of the first race of the day, the defender and local crew Toulon Provence Méditerranée – COYCHyères (Fabien Henry) finished only fifth of this Tour de France Sailing Race. 'We are glad to have won one race today, but we knew since the arrival in Marseille that we wouldn’t be able to win the race anymore!'

Bâtisseurs du Morbihan (Nicolas Pauchet / Victor Lanier) is also disappointed. 'We wanted to finish first or on the podium at least, and we only rank sixth. However, we still managed to have a good time and win a lot of races!' Victor Lanier’s crew won their seventh race today!

Val Thorens : another victory for the highlanders

'We won again in the amateur ranking, which is what we wanted to do. The very good surprise is that we finish fourth in the general ranking!' Lucas Millieret and Alexis Littoz’s crew was only sixth yesterday! Saint-Malo Purflo Team SNBSM (François Lebourdais) ranks ninth in the overall ranking, and the bronze is for Ville du Port – Région Réunion (Gabriel Jean-Albert), thirteenth in the overall ranking.

CSC – HEC – Ecole Navale is back in the lead of the student ranking!

'Our aim at the beginning of the race was to finish first student and in the top ten of the overall ranking… that’s done! Our adversaries were awesome, that was a great regatta', says skipper Hervé Gautier. Behind them, INSA – Sopra Group (Simon Troel) ranks fourteenth in the overall ranking, one place and more than fifty points ahead of Brest Grandes Ecoles ENSIETA ESC (Loïc Le Garrec).

As part of the tradition, both crews and organisers of the Tour de France Sailing Race finished in the waters of the harbour of Hyères – Toulon Provence Méditerranée… the happy end of a successful event!