Leader of the Vendée Globe on Tuesday, Jean Le Cam completely fell down the rankings after seeing the tide turn.
The strategy chosen by Jean Le Cam seemed for a time to be the right one. While the vast majority of skippers had chosen to go around the Cape Verde islands to the west, the oldest participant in the Vendée Globe had in fact headed to the east of the archipelago. A winning option until Monday.
On Tuesday morning, the Finistère rider was at the top of the rankings, almost 60 miles ahead of his closest pursuer, the Briton Sam Goodchild. But the situation has completely changed in 24 hours. Consequence of a changing wind. While the bulk of the fleet was able to regain speed before approaching the Doldrums this Wednesday, the skipper of Tout commence en Finistère – Armor-Lux is moving slowly and was left to shift towards the west in order to approach the Doldrums in the best conditions.
Jean Le Cam fell to 13th place
But the flow is particularly heavy for Jean Le Cam. Wednesday morning, it only clocks at 13e place, almost 150 miles behind Sam Goodchild, who regained his leadership seat. The differences are nevertheless minimal since the first eleven in the ranking are within 100 miles.
Second behind the skipper of Vulnerable, Sébastien Simon is 26 miles behind the leader, closely followed by Yoann Richomme and Charlie Dalin, who are 35 miles behind the first. Followed by Nicolas Lunven, Thomas Ruyant and Jérémie Beyou while Yannick Bestaven, the outgoing winner, occupies eighth place.
