Yannick Bestaven: “The Vendée Globe is so hard that there is no favorite”

This is undoubtedly the smartest sentence ever uttered about the Vendée Globe. “It’s such a long race, so complicated with so many unforeseen events, that for me there can be no favorite.” And since it comes from a specialist, who is none other than the winner of the last edition of the world tour, it takes on a certain weight, even a certain weight. Met on Tuesday during a dinner in Paris, the day before the “environmental” press conference for the Vendée Globe organized at UNESCO, Yannick Bestaven appeared in good shape and motivated after a “horrible” year 2023 marked by his abandonment during the Transat Jacques-Vabre but not only that.

“I’m doing well, I can do all the sports I did before my accident and preparation for the Vendée Globe is going well,” he explained to us. “The accident” is this missed turn on the bike, this terrible plunge into a ravine last April in a natural park around Cascais in Portugal. “I wasn't afraid, I didn't have time, but I crashed head first into a rock. I got up right away to see if I could walk. I felt immense pain. » The fractured collarbone will not be operated on on the advice of his doctor friends at Stade Rochelais, and it is clearly visible today. And the 12 ribs affected are now nothing more than a bad memory after endless weeks spent lying down and immobilized. “It was hell but I had one goal, to be on the water for the Fastnet race at the end of July. I am sure that it helped me recover more quickly,” soberly summarizes the sailor of the monohull Maître CoQ, actually on board three months after his dramatic accident.

The 51-year-old from Rochelais is clearly not superstitious. Because he has already planned to return to Cascais to continue preparations for his Vendée Globe as soon as his boat is relaunched in March, after three months of winter work. “It’s always a great moment for the whole team. We live together for almost a month in a nice place. It tightens the bonds. We work a lot with many navigations but we can also enjoy the environment. » The recipe was a winner before the start of the 2020 edition of the world tour. And will continue with two crossings of the Atlantic in races in the spring, the Transat CIC (formerly English transatlantic, departure on April 18 from Lorient to New York) then the return New York-Vendée les Sables d'Olonne (departure on April 28 May) to complete qualification (starting one of these two races is enough). And above all, ramp up a few months before the big departure (November 10) of his second world tour. Which will undoubtedly be one of the last solo races from Rochelais, now wanting to pass on his experience to a young person. “My first Mini-Transat dates back to 1999. So I’ve been doing this for 25 years, which is a long time. I still love it but they are very heavy projects when you have to do everything,” he tells us. A little side note from the story: his new press officer, Stéphanie André, who also takes care of François Gabart, has already recently experienced the handover, in this case the helm of an Ultim trimaran, between the latter and the young Tom Laperche. “That's why I work with Julien Pulvé, he's a very good one,” explains the sailor, determined to do everything to defend his crown in the Vendée Globe, without putting crazy pressure on himself.

“There are so many good sailors and good boats that there will be disappointed people. I certainly don't have the fastest Imoca but the Vendée Globe is an endurance race, he concludes. For me the first victory is already to finish, and to do a beautiful world tour. I had never sailed in the southern seas before 2020, I have memories of incredible colors, waves, brightness, albatross... It's part of my motivations to go back there, I really want to live again all that. »