The Ocean Race Europe Leg 3: Paul Meilhat reflects on an “incredible battle” with Team Holcim-PRB
by Ed Gorman / IMOCA Globe Series 29 Aug 23:24 AEST
23 August 2025
After a superb contest with second-placed Team Holcim-PRB in Leg 3 of The Ocean Race Europe, Paul Meilhat the skipper of race leader Biotherm, was able to breathe a big sigh of relief as he notched his third stage win in a row.
The Frenchman and his crew have now won each of the first three stages of this race, and on the dockside at the French city of Nice he reflected on an enthralling match race with Team Holcim-PRB skippered by Rosalin Kuiper of the Netherlands.
The two Guillaume Verdier-designed IMOCAs were almost always leading the charge during a highly complex stage from Cartagena in southern Spain that saw areas of calm and transition, but also violent winds, big seas.
While it was always close between them, Biotherm held the lead for most of the time and reached the line on the Baie des Anges off Nice this morning 28 minutes ahead of their rivals. But Meilhat said they never felt comfortable.
"These boats are quite similar in philosophy," he said, "we have different foils but, when it's not foiling, the speeds are very, very close...the fact that the hulls are Verdier designs, they are light boats and have really good crews, makes for incredible battles. It was really amazing - 2,000 metres from the finish, we were practically side-by-side. They were just behind us, not far at all."
This latest victory for Biotherm was all the sweeter for Meilhat and his crew - Sam Goodchild, Amélie Grassi and Benjamin Ferré - because they had had to work so hard for it. "Honestly," added Meilhat, "we wouldn't be as happy with the win if it hadn't been for that fight with Holcim-PRB, that's for sure."
On board Team Holcim-PRB, their rival crew are continuing with their remarkable comeback into this race after suffering serious damage in a collision at the start of Leg 1. Co-skipper Nico Lunven was happy to return the compliment to Meilhat. "There's one guy who's starting to annoy us a bit, winning every single leg," he joked, after Team Holcim-PRB crossed the line around 40 minutes ahead of third-placed Allagrande MAPEI Racing skippered by Ambrogio Beccaria of Italy.
Asked what is giving Biotherm the edge, Lunven replied: "Their extra thing is they're just good, plain and simple. And also, compared to our boat, even if the boats are more or less in the same family - let's say cousins - what we see is they're a bit easier in transition zones. I feel like they get out of them better than us. We're more comfortable when there's a bit more breeze."
The bottom line is that Meilhat and his crew now have one hand firmly on this trophy. With two legs to come, plus a coastal race at the finish port of Boka Bay in Montenegro that scores as an additional leg, they now have a margin of 11 points over Team Holcim-PRB and Paprec Arkéa, skippered by Corentin Horeau, who are tied on points in second place. Meilhat knows he can afford at least one bad performance and still win. "We have the right to one joker," he said.
A striking feature of the Biotherm crew's racing in this event has been their 100% success at the Bonus Scoring Gates, adding six important points to their score. As Meilhat explained, this has not happened by chance.
"When we talked about this race in the spring, we targeted the scoring gates and we understood that there were a lot of points to grab with that system and also a psychological edge, I think, at the start," he said. "So yeah, we worked hard, we always work well on that - on the starts and the weather and the tactical situations at the scoring gates."
This tough stage, which saw wind speeds of up to 70 knots for some crews crossing the Gulf of Lion, has featured the best performance of the race so far for Ambrogio Beccaria's team on Allagrande MAPEI Racing. The Italian sailor, who raced this leg alongside Thomas Ruyant, Abby Ehler and Morgan Lagravière, was happy with a more competitive display.
"If we finish third, it's because we've really made progress compared to before. I can tell you we made far fewer mistakes, we sailed much cleaner, and it shows," he said.
Beccaria says a difference between his boat and leading pair is lightwind and upwind speed, the result - he says - of the leaders optimising their boats for this race. "Upwind or in light airs the two boats ahead really seem very comfortable," he said. "Well, no just comfortable - very, very, very fast. We know they optimised their boats and they are focused only on this race and not on the others afterwards. We, on the other hand, have an offshore program lined up, so we couldn't strip down the boat the way they did."
With Canada Ocean Racing-Be Water Positive, skippered by Scott Shawyer of Canada, finished Leg 3 in sixth place later today, ahead of Alan Roura's Swiss entry Team Amaala in seventh, there will be precious little time for the sailors to recover ahead of the start of Leg 4 on Sunday.