The fleet, led by Basile Bourgnon (Edenred), is progressing in single file. Things have not yet started to get serious. Pep Costa is in difficulty.
On board the Express boat
The day has just dawned. The grey skies envelop the spines while the wind-blown Guérande wind farm has just been rounded. The long 120-mile leg from the Gironde estuary to the Loire estuary has made little difference. The fleet, reduced to 34 units after the retirements of Antony Quentin (JPS Contrôle) and Stéphane Le Diraison (Flexirub), is still progressing together since the sunset, which disappointed the most opacarophile aesthetes. Shortly before the 7:30 a.m. safety call, the Spaniard Pep Costa (VSF Sports Sailing) announced by VHF to the race director, Yann Chateau, that he had just broken his bowsprit by hitting a cargo ship, anchored off Saint-Nazaire. Game over for the Catalan given the forecast weather conditions.
Shortly before, the pack leaders were impatiently waiting for a bit of movement before starting their route towards the Occidentale de Sein, the intermediate sprint mark and its bonuses that they will salute tomorrow at the same time. Basile Bourgnon (Edenred), in the lead, seemed very motivated by the tone of his voice: “The night is cool, I’m going pretty fast, that’s good news. We’re waiting for a rotation that will allow us to get a bit more wind offshore. It’s going to be very unstable, we’ll have to be vigilant, especially during naps, with a few alarms so as not to miss the wind oscillations. This tack should happen very soon. I was able to string together 5-6 20-minute naps. It’s good to be correctly positioned, but we’re going to have to have the stamina for sailing in the Channel. The idea is not to arrive too burnt out up there. Upwind is the best point of sail for sleeping. The fleet is quite tight on this straight since leaving the Gironde. The gaps aren’t huge yet. It’s cold and damp, we should have that until the end.»
The road is still long
In his wake, Victor Le Pape (Region Bretagne-CMB Espoir) said he was less lively but seemed stimulated by his good start to the race. : “This first night was rather peaceful. We have a wind between 13 and 20 knots, from the west, slightly northwest, it’s not bad, it gave us the opportunity to take a few naps until the island of Yeux. Fatigue is starting to set in. We have two stages in our legs, it’s a bit tiring. Everything is going well, I’m happy with my position, I’m with Basile and Loïs in the leading group, it’s a bit of a remake of stage 1, that suits me well. Since the island of Yeu, we no longer have much time to rest, we are now on a slightly more coastal course with what that entails, the traffic, the buoys, it is quite dense, but it allows us to be wide awake. This start of the race is in line with what I wanted, not too warlike, it will be for Tuesday, but for the moment everything is fine. We have a few passages of squalls, the sky is clearing a little. For the moment, I am staying dry, it is cooler outside, it smells like the beginning of autumn.”
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Loïs Berrehar (Skipper Macif 2022), the winner of the first stage, currently 6e 1h39 behind Tom Dolan (Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan) in the general classification, had found his form again: “The start was magnificent under the Royan sun. It was cool to take the lead on the coastal course. I wonder if I haven’t won the Paprec challenge. We’re heading north now, it’s a bit straight ahead for now but the options will become clear in a short time. In fact, we’re waiting for a wind shift and that’s why we’re all on a mandatory tack, in inverted commas. In any case, we’re going to hit the coast in a short while. There’s going to be a tack change to head west. There will be shifts to exploit linked to warm or cold fronts. It’s going to be interesting with a nice strategic game. We’ve just shaved Noirmoutier at night, there are some little traps, some small site effects and there will be things to play during the day. We’re currently close-hauled with between 12 and 20 knots of wind. The sea has flattened out quite nicely since we got closer to the entrance to the Loire. I didn’t sleep too badly at the start of the night, when the wind was more stable. We’re not going to have to arrive too cooked, especially for the English part of this route and the descent into the Four. We have to tear ourselves away but be vigilant to stay lucid. We’ll be at the Occidentale de Sein in just under 24 hours.»
The road is still long before the final arrival in La Turballe. A bumpy and very windy course remains to be swallowed up via two marks on the English coast. The mass is therefore far from being said.
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