Tour de France à la Voile 2013 - Gruissan to La Seyne-sur-mer Leg

The moment Groupama 34 crossed the finish in La Seyne, the team won the Tour de France à la Voile 2013. Courrier Dunkerque and Bretagne Crédit Mutuel are tied for second place and Sodebo, who finished second today, is still in a threatening position. Cammas won but the fight for second is far from over.

The leg from Gruissan to La Seyne was a tricky one with a lot of wind shifts throughout the 123-mile route, scored by a factor of 3. Groupama 34 claimed their 18th victory over the 30 races sailed since the race started in Dunkirk on June 29. Cammas and his men cannot loose the Tour before the end of the race in Marseille on Saturday. There are six races left (total scoring factor of 7) and they are 98 points ahead tonight.

Their first place overall is symbolised by a blue spinnaker but they are still looking to claim the green (offshore ranking) and red chutes (inshore ranking) as well. And to top it off, Groupama is gunning for a 100-point lead over the second place team.

As of today there are two runners up: Courrier Dunkerque 3 and Bretagne Crédit Mutuel, both tied for points after Bretagne was disqualified for an in-port race in Gruissan. But the second two places on the podium are wide open. Sodebo finished second today, and now Tomas Coville's team is only 12.7 points becond the runners-up.

Nantes St Nazaire E.Leclerc and Iskareen did very well too, taking 5th and 6th. OmanSail finished in 11th place and is now 5th overall, 40.7 points behind Sodebo.

In-port races are scheduled tomorrow off La Seyne, in the Toulon bay. First start at noon.

Interviews

Pierre-Antoine Morvan, Courrier Dunkerque 3 helmsman:
"We are focused on Bretagne and Sodebo but we are trying to take our starts without charging them. Once in the race we are keeping an eye on them though, we usually start thinking about them midway through the first upwind tack. We are not match-racing yet."

Félix Pruvot, Bretagne Crédit Mutuel Elite helmsman:
"Nothing is over. Courrier Dunkerque had a great day as well and we lost ground during the last race. But there is no match-racing yet between Courrier Dunkerque and us. Tomorrow's offshore leg is key because of its scoring factor of 2. In-port races in Marseille will be important too. There are two days left and a total of five scoring factors to race – way enough to play the end well."

Marie Barrue, TPM-Coych tactician:
"We are at home and it's nice to sail in the heat. Our team is an interesting one because we are all coming from different backgrounds. Communication is getting better through the Tour. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's leg to Marseille. It should be nice."

Stéphane Meylan, Ville de Genève Carrefour AddictionS tactician:
"A complex day – we did a great first race but the second one was average and we were slower for race three. We grabbed two points over TPM-Coych today though: overtaking them is not our main goal but we are thinking about it. We are going to work on it over the next days."

Overall ranking after 33 races before jury:

1 GROUPAMA 34, CAMMAS Franck, 1205 pts
2 BRETAGNE CREDIT MUTUEL ELITE, TROUSSEL Nicolas, 1108 pts
3 COURRIER DUNKERQUE 3, SOUBEN Daniel, 1107 pts
4 SODEBO, COVILLE Thomas, 1085.7pts
5 TEAM OMANSAIL, POULIGNY Cédric, 1050 pts
6 TOULON PROVENCE MEDITERRANEE - COYCH, BERNAZ Jean-Baptiste, 961 pts
7 VILLE DE GENEVE - CARREFOUR ADDICTIONS, METTRAUX Elodie-Jane et GROUX Nicolas, 957 pts
8 NANTES - SAINT NAZAIRE - E.LECLERC, DOUGUET Corentin, 938 pts
9 NORMANDIE, CHOQUENET Baptiste, 878 pts
10 MARTINIQUE - BE.BRUSSELS, WOLTERS Delphine et MOURES Matthieu, 838 pts
11 ISKAREEN, DITTMERS Christiane et BRUHNS Sönke, 817 pts
12 BIENNE - VOILE – SRS, PETER Luzius et KUNZ François, 743 pts

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