Ireland’s Tom Dolan collected the five minute time bonus for winning Stage 2 of La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec’s Intermediate Sprint when the skipper of Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan passed the Sisargas Islands off the village of Malpica on the rugged NW corner of Spain first of the 36 boat fleet this afternoon.
After a slow start out of Gijón on Sunday afternoon and into the first night of the 515 nautical miles stage across the Bay of Biscay stage to Royan, Dolan delivered on his planned strategy to be among the first to break through a cold front which had been forecast to reach the fleet leaders around 0400hrs local time this morning. He positioned himself slightly more to the north, offshore of his nearest rivals and was rewarded with a small lead which he extended to lead around the rocky islets at 1519hrs this afternoon. Second was Alexis Thomas (Wings of the Ocean) 18 minutes later – gaining a three minutes bonus with Gaston Morvan (Région Bretagne-CMB Performance) third earning one minute off his elapsed time for the stage.
Dolan went into this second stage of three with a deficit of 5 minutes and 31 seconds behind Basile Bourgnon (EDENRED) who was the overall race leader when the stage started from Gijón. Bourgnon was ten miles behind Dolan late this afternoon whilst Lois Berrehar (Skipper MACIF 2022) – who lay second overall – was seventh at seven miles behind Dolan who won the first leg of La Solitaire Paprec 3.
The cold front brought rain and winds to 25 kts and Dolan and his immediate pursuers had a moderately fast passage into the islets under gennaker. He was still staying to the north of Thomas and Morvan – who is one of the podium favourites but who did not have a good first leg.
Early this Monday evening it was very much a speed race on a close reaching course which will see the fleet diverge away from the Spanish coast and the stronger currents. They still have 350 miles to sail to Royan which lies to the north of entry to the Gironde estuary.
Spain’s Pep Costa (VSF Sports) is 11th at nine miles behind the leader whilst Germany’s Sanni Beucke (This Race is Female) is 23rd at 15 miles behind Doland and Thomas whilst Swiss rookie Anaëlle Pattusch (Nemo) is 28th.
Dolan said this morning, “We have around twenty knots of wind, but with a lot of rain. I’m happy to have managed to do what I wanted in terms of positioning. I managed to gain a good place in the west to reach the front. I didn’t think it would come in like that and so quickly. I’m happy with what I did. There are still a lot of things that will happen, the course is long. The wind will gradually ease and lift and we will be able to hoist the spinnaker. I’m taking advantage of this tack to rest a little, the boat is moving forward on its own. I’m in great shape to tackle this day.”