Leader of the solo race, the skipper of Macif Santé Prévoyance Charlie Dalin maintains a good lead over his pursuer Yoann Richomme before crossing the equator.
Off the coast of Brazil, Charlie Dalin is finally taking advantage of the tropical trade winds to accelerate and soon cross the equator, with a lead on Saturday evening of some 120 miles over Yoann Richomme, who maintains all his chances in this Vendée Globe. At 7:00 p.m., Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) was 118.44 miles ahead of Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA), compared to 65.95 twenty-four hours previously. But the first of the pursuers – by far – is holding on and has even regained some ground in recent hours.
After crossing a zone of light wind, the cars of the two leaders regained speed, with stronger winds approaching the equator, which they should cross on Sunday afternoon.
Dalin and Richomme widened the gap on the third man, Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil), who chose the option of going back north along the Brazilian coast, now relegated to 670 miles from the lead. Behind, the battle rages for the places of honor, Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE) ahead of Paul Meilhat (Biotherm) by only 20 miles.
Ranking Saturday at 7:00 p.m.:
1. Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) at 38,340.02 miles from the finish
2. Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA) 118.44 miles from first
3. Sébastien Simon (Dubreuil Group) at 670.58 nm
4. Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE) at 1639.49 nm
5. Paul Meilhat (Biotherm) at 1660.75 nm
6. Nicolas Lunven (HOLCIM – PRB) at 1792.54 nm
7. Jérémie Beyou (Charal) at 1848.95 nm
8. Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE) at 1975.88 nm
9. Boris Herrmann (Malizia – Seaexplorer) at 1992.59 nm
10. Justine Mettraux (TeamWork – Team Snef) at 2021.82 nm
…
35. Denis Van Weynbergh (D'Ieteren Group) at 7,564.37 mn
Abandons :
. Pip Hare (Medallia)
. Yannick Bestaven (Maître CoQ V)
. Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée)
. Maxime Sorel (V and B – Monbana – Mayenne)
. Szabolcs Weöres (New Europe)
