The crew of Le Cléac’h (Morgan Lagravière, Corentin Horeau, Quentin Ponroy, Clément Duraffourg, Sébastien Josse and Pierre-Emmanuel Hérissé) crossed the line at 8:24 p.m. (GMT+2) after having covered the 2,184 miles (approximately 4,000 km ) in 4 days 7 hours and 24 minutes.
“We are going to savor this victory! Above all, what predominates is the pleasure of a job well done. We did everything to succeed in our maneuvers, our trajectories and always lead the boat at 100%,” appreciated the “Jackal ” after its success.
He was a few hours ahead of Charles Caudrelier, at the helm of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, expected with his teammates at the end of the evening in Antibes, after a close battle between the two Ultims since passing the Strait of Gibraltar.
“It came down to details. The fact of having taken the lead of the race relatively early allowed us to always be a little ahead of the crew of the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild. to choose our strategy”, estimated Le Cléac’h.
Last Saturday, five 32 m long maxi-trimarans, capable of flying above the waves thanks to their foils, took the start of this second edition of Finistère Atlantique.
Behind Caudrelier and Le Cléac’h, Thomas Coville (Sodebo Ultim 3) and François Gabart (SVR Lazartigue) were expected on Thursday at the finish line in the Alpes-Maritimes.
The “Little Prince of the Oceans” and his teammates have long been at the forefront, but a damaged mainsail suffered off the coast of Portugal forced the trimaran to make a first stopover on Monday.
Then, a broken furler when the crew of the SVR-Lazartigue had just left put an end to Gabart’s hopes. The last Ultim, Actual Ultim 3, helmed by Anthony Marchand, should not cross the line before Friday.
The objective for the crews of three of these giants of the seas – Sodebo, SVR Lazartigue and the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild – was to prepare for their Jules Verne Trophy attempts planned for this winter.