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Solitaire du Figaro

Yann Eliès is crowned king of Gijon

mercredi 27 juin 2012Information Solitaire du Figaro

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At 15:59:07 this afternoon Yann Eliès, on Groupe Queguiner-Le Journal des Entreprises, crossed the line in first place to win the opening leg of the La Solitaire du Figaro Solitaire du Figaro #LaSolitaire - Eric Bompard Cachemire. The French skipper took 3 days, 3 hours, 9 minutes and 7 seconds of extreme concentration to cover the 451 miles from Paimpol to Gijon, Spain. Fewer than nine minutes later it was the turn of young Morgan Lagravière on Vendée to clinch second place, while Fabien Delahaye on Skipper Macif 2012 in third completed the podium.

Quotes from the finish :

Yann Eliès (Groupe Queguiner - LeJournal des Entreprises), 1st leg winner :

"If somebody had taken it from me on the final miles, it would have been tough ! It was part of the possible scenario, I did not know where Thierry Chabagny was, the wind shifted completely when I crossed the finish line. You had to have a bit of luck to win this leg, but it also required some hard work, and a good speed. The three together allowed me to win. However, at the start, it was a disaster, I wondered what had happened to me, I made lots of mistakes, nothing was right, and then I got a bit upset, I told myself : you have to go and get it I had an opportunity in front of Perros Guirec and I grabbed it right away. About racing in a tight trio : "Yes, it helps to be at full speed all the time. But one must continue to think twice, to make sure you’re going in the right direction, to do the right analysis and not to rely only on the two guys around you. We must try to avoid wasting effort. It could have been a leg with gaps in the finish times, but in fact proved not to be. It’s one of my problems : I always win legs where there are no gaps. " About his sixth leg victory : “The most important thing is the way you win it. Taking the lead four hours after the start and never let it go, not one centimetre. I’m happy with myself for that, I really gave a lot to stay in the lead all the time. It was not clear because the two young guys behind, Morgan and Fabien, they are really good competitors. They will be hard to beat.”

Morgan Lagravière (Vendée), 2nd place (8 minutes and 57 seconds behind the leader) :

“With the different transitions we faced, I was hoping that some errors would be made by Yann or Fabien but Yann was unbeatable... he really sailed well. He is very experienced and continues to show his skills. The conditions were very random with transitions and anything can happen in those kind of conditions. “I was very focused on my race. I’m happy but this is the logical continuation of my progression and consistency in the results of my pre-season races. I will continue on this trend. The hardest part on the leg was to manage the windless pockets. You have to be strong – the work pays ! The first 10 of the leg are almost the top 10 apart from one or two... I finish second but there were times when I could have ended up stuck in light winds.”

Fabien Delahaye (Skipper Macif 2012), 3rd (20 minutes and 19 seconds behind the leader) :

"We’ve had a nice trio throughout the race ! I am tired even though I managed to get some sleep during the leg, but I would be happy to be in my bed ! I knew we would get strong winds in the end, so I slept a lot at the beginning of the night which allowed me to hold out until the finish. But they managed to drop me at the end ! It was nice to sail between the three of us since the beginning. Each of us had our moments and we sailed pretty well. Morgan and Yann were very good this morning in the strong breeze. The key factor for winning the leg for me was to sleep well, but you’d better ask Yann !”



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