It is time to rest in Royan after a tiring Stage 2. The fleet are in and recovering, preparing for Stage 3, the decisive leg to La Turballe. Here is a selection of the podium and international quotes......
Gaston Morvan (Région Bretagne - CMB Performance), 2nd in the 2nd stage:“A few things happened during the last 24 hours. The last bit without a pilot was pretty tough. I didn’t even know if I was going to be able to make it to the finish line. There were a lot of miles to do on the helm and in the end, I saw that I was managing to keep up with the pace in front, which also motivated me to drive and keep Wings of the Ocean next to me. After that, things went pretty well and in the end, I managed to get the pilot back in the early morning. So I was able to settle down a bit, play the end of the race well and position myself just in front of Alexis Thomas. Tom Dolan was way ahead. He started in the lead and managed his race like a boss from start to finish. There weren’t many crumbs to pick up. But I took everything I could take. The stage seems quite important in terms of the general classification. It’s perhaps the most important, we’ll see at the end. I’m happy to have arrived in 2nd position and to have fought so hard to steer the boat. I’m satisfied, I’m in the game for the general classification.”
Charlotte Yven (Skipper Macif 2023), 3rd in the 2nd stage: “It was great, a great stage that went well from start to finish. I’m so happy. I had the opportunity to hoist my spinnaker this morning before Alexis, I think it was the opportunity to seize. I think he slept a little too long and I jumped at the chance and went ahead. I’ve never experienced such a long finish to a race because you had to keep up the speed and not get caught by the small group of three boats pushing hard behind. We went almost completely straight for 48 hours. We had to make sure that the boat was going fast all the time, at least as fast as the others. It wasn't easy because it was a bit long but I did it well. We had a lot of sea, we have to manage to make the boat move quickly. You have to be pretty good at trimming the sails. I think I barely slept for the first 36 hours but I'm arriving quite rested. I'm going to start by really enjoying this 3rd place. We haven't done the 3rd leg yet but I can already say that I have succeeded on my Solitaire. I'll be happy in any case, the rest will just be a bonus but I'll be keen to confirm all this by havinh a good overall ranking at the end."
Pep Costa, ESP, (VSF Sports), 14th position:“It was a really complicated leg, really frustrating, at one point I was stuck under clouds and I lost everyone who was around me. Going from La Coruña to here on the reach is a bit like the worst punishment that can happen to you, without any options or anything. It was hard, I felt good but I was never able to get back into things, I stayed under the clouds and I couldn't do anything. But hey, that's the game, I fought until the end. In the end, the gap is not as big as this morning when we learned that we were 40 miles behind. It's okay, it's expensive, but that's life. There's one more stage, we're going to have to win it, there's no choice."
Anaëlle Pattusch SUI (NEMO), 33rd position: “I am happy to arrive. It wasn't such an easy stage, but it was great. I had a lot of fun. I made a lot of little mistakes at the beginning that cost a lot, but it was great. And this time I had a functional autopilot unlike the first stage. However, this time, it was me who did not work so well!! But if I learn from this stage, I think that initially I had made a strategy that I did not follow, especially on the windless and buffer zones. For the next one, I think I will stick much more to what I prepared in advance rather than improvise once on I am at sea. Now my program is to go to sleep a little and prepare the boat to be ready for the third and also enjoy Royan a little. It's going to be great. There is a nice racing village, I am looking forward to discovering that.”
Sanni Beucke GER (This Race is Female) 32nd: Of course I would like to have finished a bit further ahead as I was trapped in a little light winds zone in the north of Spain which was pretty big, it stopped me really or four hours. But the race was pretty good otherwise on board, I had some good moments, a good sleep/awake management, there is not so much I am blaming myself for. Of course the result is not what I wanted but if I look at the race from another perspective like from a happiness scale I am way higher. It makes me so happy Tom Dolan won….yay!