Sea, Sail & Surf news
Tour de Bretagne à la voile
Droug & Pellecuer double up victories in Brest
Luisina’s tandem leads race around Britany before long offshore race 6
jeudi 10 septembre 2009 –
Toutes les versions de cet article : [English] [français]
The racing day in Brest Brest #brest Road held the promise for high level competition. For stressing even further the tension on stages 4 and 5 of the Tour de Bretagne à la voile, a strong north-north-easterly wind coming from the siege of the Crédit Mutuel de Bretagne invited itself on the water. Tandem Drouglazet-Pellecuer managed to impose their style on the other competitors on two windward-leeward courses, on which the yachts had to go forth and back in the wind stream, set between the Ile Ronde and the commercial harbor.
« We took some good start, we are quite fast. When the boat is in the pack, we blast them with our speed. » In a few words, « Droug » presents the reasons for his double victory. « There are championship where everything goes fine and others where everything goes wrong. Here, everything goes great !! » Luisina’s skipper is now in the lead of the general ranking. Only two points have added up to his score since the fleet left Saint Malo. In the meantime, the other competitors have only managed to perform places among the first five at the best.
So, we have Drouglazet, the Breton originally from the Pays Basque and Laurent Pellecuer from Montpellier in good position prior to the start of the 6th stage, which will be the longest for the Tour between Brest Brest #brest and Piriac-Sur-Mer in Loire-Atlantique. The start signal will be given by 9.30AM this Thursday. « We know we can win the next stage », adds the confident Mediterranean. « We are quite confident in our potential. We need to remain within the first ten in each stage... »
Second, 12 points from the leaders now, Bretons Fred Duthil and François Lebourdais (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), like Ronan Treussart and Thibault Vauchel-Camus (Renault Arcadie) sailed well this Wednesday. Always around the 5th place, both crews progress in the ranking. « We are third overall ? Now, that’s good ! » learns Ronan Treussart reaching the pontoon. Good news that hide a bitter one, since Renault Arcadie’s skipper hurt his shoulder on a maneuver. « We are quite good on starts, and we do some quite fine reaching legs. What we need now is keep up with the rhythm when before the wind » stresses Thibaut Vauchel-Camus.
A rythm the first two of the temporary ranking have managed to keep over the two courses. They are now the main adversaries for the men from Luisina. « We still have two more legs. Everything is possible » warns Fred Duthil. « We can win a place, just as we can loose one on the general ranking » supplements François Lebourdais. « But Eric Drouglazet is not on for sailing bad ! » finishes the one who is familiar with the podiums of the One-handed-Figaro races.
« When we see how the distribution went, and how fast on ecan loose seven points on a start, anything can still happen »adds Sébastien Josse, crewing with Thomas Rouxel on Défi Mousquetaire. Both men, having been penalized between Perros Guirec and Brest, are now fourth in the ranking, one point from the podium, and another point ahead from Nicolas Lunven and Jean Le Cam (CGPI).
On the rookies’ side, Fabien Delahaye and Paul Meilhat, 11th and 15th on both races of the day maintain a fair advance.. Port de Caen Ouistreham is 9th overall, four seats away from Joseph Brault and Antoine Koch (Samsung Mobile).
There are two more stages before the final arrival, this Saturday, in La Trinité sur mer. Start for the penultimate will be given at 9.30AM in Brest Roads. To make sure that the arrival will take place in Piriac-sur-Mer on Friday morning, the course was lengthened a bit. Competitors will discover a one hundred and seventeen nautical miles course. The new course includes a chorts by pass off the shores of Saint Nazaire. « It’s going to be 46 miles with the spinnaker, and 96 with the genoa » indicates Fred Rivet, crewman of Jean-Pierre Nicole on Gavottes. « But it’s still going to go pretty fast ! »
Ch.Guigueno
Info presse Kaori / www.tourdebretagnealavoile.com
Voir en ligne : Photos Benoît Stichelbaut / www.stichelbaut.com
Classement général provisoire avant jury
1 Luisina Eric Drouglazet, Laurent Pellecuer 13,00
2 Bbox Bouygues Telecom Frédéric Duthil, François Lebourdais 25,00
3 Renault Arcadie Ronan Treussart, Thibault Vauchel 35,00
4 Defi Mousquetaires Thomas Rouxel, Sébastien Josse 36,00
5 Cgpi Nicolas Lunven, Jean Le Cam 37,00
6 Suzuki Automobiles Thierry Chabagny, Alexis Littoz 41,00
7 Skipper Macif Eric Péron, Gérald Veniard 42,00
8 Banque Populaire Gildas Mahé, Vincent Biarnès 48,00
9* Port De Caen Ouistreham Fabien Delahaye, Paul Meilhat 49,00
10 Senoble Arnaud Godart-Philippe, Yannick Le Clech 50,00
Dans la même rubrique
Tour de Bretagne à la voile : Thierry Chabagny and Alexis Littoz win leg 3 in Brest
Solitaire du Figaro : Antoine Koch wins leg 4 in Dieppe
Solitaire du Figaro : Jérémie Beyou victorious again after a night of suspense
Solitaire du Figaro : Back in the game, strategy pays for Beyou
