Transat Jacques Vabre: southerners Ruyant-Lagravière take power in Imoca monohulls

The Ultime class race ended with the arrival of the Marchand-Chabagny (Actual) duo in the night in 5th place, eyes turn to the battle in Imoca monohulls which has been raging since the fleet split into two . The supporters of the route to the south finally reaped the fruits of their strategy on the daring ones who had chosen to leave early for the west. On Wednesday, the pair Thomas Ruyant-Morgan Lagravière (For People) took the lead in the ranking with 26.2 miles ahead of Yoann Richomme and Yann Eliès (Paprec Arkéa) who benefit from the downwind trade winds.

The pair Justine Mettraux - Julien Villion (Teamwork.net) are still trying to resist further north, at 84 miles at midday, but their speed has dropped considerably, half as high as that of the southerners who are running at 22 nodes. The boat nevertheless retains its provisional third place if we take the ranking into account. A hierarchy which does not necessarily reflect the positions of the forces present given the radical choices made by the two groups which will have to cross paths, or at least come closer in the coming days.

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Among the Ocean Fifty (the 15-meter multihulls), Thibaud Vauchel-Camus and Quentin Vlamynck (Solidaires en peloton) continue to lead the way and should be the next crew to enter the bay of Fort-de-France equipped with a comfortable lead over their pursuers Fabrice Chier and Aymeric Chappellier (Réalités), 120 miles away.

Finally, among the Class40s (the 12 meter monohulls), the fleet headed west to the north of Cape Verde. The duo Ambrogio Beccaria-Nicolas Andrieu (Alla Grande Pirelli) is in the lead but a dust ahead of Alberto Bona-Pablo Santurde del Arco (Ibsa) at 4.1 miles. For them, the road to the Antilles is still long (1795 miles to go).