Simon wins La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro Stage 2 to lead overall, Roberts seventh
by La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro 5 Sep 2018 07:40 BST
5 September 2018
Driven in part by his disappointment at his fourth place finish on Stage 1 Sébastien Simon, 28 years old skipper of Bretagne CMB Performance, won the second stage of the 49th La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro when he crossed the finish line off Portosin on Galicia's Ria de Muros Noia at 04:05.55' this Wednesday morning.
Winning the 515 nautical miles stage from Saint Brieuc by 19 minutes and 57 seconds, securing the second leg win of his career after his Stage 2 triumph in 2015 from La Coruna to Concarneau, Simon takes the overall lead of the four stage race which finishes in Saint-Gilles-Croix-De-Ville on Friday 14th September.
His elapsed time for the second stage of the four which comprise this edition of the famous annual solo multi stage is 2 days 14hrs 05mins 55 secs.
When four of his nearest rivals caught up from more than five nautical miles behind to challenge less than half mile astern, during a sticky transition zone of calm winds just seven miles from the finish, Simon held his nerve through a long final late afternoon and evening of the 520 nautical miles stage from Saint Brieuc across the Bay of Biscay.
After leading several time on the first stage from Le Havre to Saint Brieuc, Simon finished disappointed in fourth, some four minutes and 25 seconds behind winner Anthony Marchand (Groupe Royer-Secours Populaire).
"I was disappointed finishing into Saint Quai because I had the impression of leading most of the race, in my mind at least, and in the end to finish fourth was disappointing. It felt like a lot of energy and stress for nothing, no win, no podium, nothing. But it gave me the energy to give everything on this leg." smiled Simon on the dock in Portosin this morning.
Key to Simon's victory this morning was his speed on the fast downwind on the Bay of Biscay and a precision gybe to the east around three o'clock on Tuesday morning, whilst still some 200 miles from Cape Finisterre. Accompanied by Eric Peron, who followed the same stratgey at less than 0.2 or 0.3 of a mile away but who lost out through the transition zone and finished third, the duo reaped the almost immediate reward of a more direct angle towards Cape Finisterre and the breakaway duo lead from the early morning ranking.
"I was faster on the Bay of Biscay. There is not much else to it. As soon as we are under spinnaker I feel good and the boat does its stuff. And then this morning I was first to gybe. It was ambitious at 200 miles out but I gained right away, taking the shift and suddenly I was away and ahead. And I got loads of rest on the second night and I think a lot of the others were on the helm. I did well in the stormy stuff and when we got to the North Galician coast I knew what I had to do to keep my lead." he explained.
Britain's Alan Roberts (Seacat Services) this morning added an excellent seventh place to the fifth on Stage 1 to lie seventh overall on the leaderboard after two stages, 49 mins and 13 seconds behind leader Simon. The 28 year old Roberts whose career best overall finish in La Solitaire is ninth in 2015, was up to third earlier on the Bay of Biscay and spent most of the final day oscillating between fourth and sixth.
But the top British solo skipper lost out on the final hours, knocked over momentarily in the inky darkness and 30kts under spinnaker close to Cape Finisterre. Latterly he was passed by Charlie Dalin (Skipper Macif 2015) and Thierry Chabagny (Gedimat) who took fifth and sixth. Pleased to have composed two good back to back finishes on successive legs which have both required excellent downwind boat speed in strong breeze as well as light winds technical strategy, Roberts admitted the late losses pained him, "I'll get over my disppointments but right now I'm not happy with the last bit. Coming into the end and Cape Finsiterre was tough. And around the corner there we had 30kts and then nothing. The broach cost me a bit, I had to open the spinnaker halyard and gybe the pole, it was lumpy and very black (off Finisterre) and so you had no reference points to guage yourself. Otherwise I felt I had good speed and was mostly moving well through the fleet. All in all it is a positive leg and I am still in contention."
Overall La Solitaire URGO Figaro leaders Seb Simon grew up in Les Sables d'Olonne, home of the Vendée Globe the legendary solo race round for which he has a new IMOCA 60 in build, secured his second stage win of his career as he held off friend and rival Xavier Macaire (Groupe SNEF) who took second and Eric Péron who finished third. Simon finished fourth overall on the 2017 Le Solitaire URGO Figaro, taking top three finishes on two of the four stages, proved he was on potentially title winning form when he won the last Figaro event before this race, the Le Havre All Mer Cup and earlier finished second in the Solo Maitre Coq. In 2014 he made the transition from the 420 dinghy, in which he had finished third in the 2013 world championships, into the Figaro, selected to the Bretagne Credit Mutuel training programme. A graduate engineer, the same as Vendée Globe winners Armel Le Cléac'h and François Gabart, Simon's IMOCA 60 project is managed by 2004 Vendée Globe winner Vincent Riou.
Britain's Hugh Brayshaw finished in 22nd on KEMAT, unable to match his seventh on Stage 1. Brayshaw, like several top contenders such as Gildas Mahé (Breizh Cola), Erwan Tabarly (Armor Lux) and Alexis Loison (Custo Pol) made the wrong decision coming in to Ushant, staying high and west. "There was not much I could do from there. You could see the others to the east were sailing ten degrees lower and two knots faster. I cocked up there and after that there were no real opportunities to get back into it. I don't think I have been tireder at the end of a Solitaire stage. There was just no option to sleep. I had a Chinese Gybe and a couple of broaches in 30kts when I was trying to sleep."
Loison in 18th, Mahé 19th and Loison 20th, all paid a similar high tariff for their wrong stratgic choice. Retired with a broken rudder from Stage 1 Nick Cherry (Redshift) finished 21st, "I will need to go back and look at what I did wrong. I felt like I was quick enough downwind and did OK against my bubble, the good guys around me, but I was not good away from the start." Cherry said.
Finish order Stage 2 La Solitaire URGO-Le Figaro:
1 Sébastien Simon (Bretagne CMB Performance), finished at 4h05'55
2 Xavier Macaire (Groupe SNEF) at 19'57 after first
3 Eric Péron (Finistère Mer Vent) at 20'06
4 Anthony Marchand (Groupe Royer – Secours Populaire) at 35'16
5 Thierry Chabagny (Gedimat) at 35'42
6 Charlie Dalin (Skipper Macif 2015) at 36'56
7 Alan Roberts GBR (Seacat Services) at 47'25
8 Benjamin Dutreux (SATECO-Team Vendée Formation), at 48'20
9 Thomas Cardrin (Team Vendée Formation), at 49'55 (*)
10 Corentin Douguet (NF Habitat) at 52'55
11 Loïs Berrehar (Bretagne CMB Espoir), at (*) 54'03
12 Martin Le Pape (Skipper Macif 2017), at 56'50
13 Pierre Leboucher (Guyot Environnement), at 1h02'53
14 Justine Mettraux (Teamwork), at 1h03'35
15 Pierre Quiroga (Skipper Espoir CEM), at 1h05'07
16 Ronan Treussart (Les perles de Saint-Barth) at 1h26'09
17 Frédéric Duthil (Technique Voile) at 1h27'50
18 Alexis Loison (Custo Pol) at 1h44'45
19 Gildas Mahé (Breizh Cola) at 1h52'23
20 Erwan Tabarly (Armor Lux) at 2h05'03
21 Nicholas Cherry GBR (Redshift) at 2h14'38
22 Hugh Brayshaw GBR (Kamat) at 2h26'11
Standings after 2 Stages:
1 Sébastien Simon (Bretagne CMB Performance) 6 d 0 hrs 4 minutes and 48 seconds total elapsed time
2 Xavier Macaire (Groupe SNEF) at 26'31 behind leader
3 Anthony Marchand (Groupe Royer – Secours Populaire) at 30'51
4 Thierry Chabagny (Gedimat) at 34'23
5 Charlie Dalin (Skipper Macif 2015) at 36'09
6 Eric Péron (Finistère Mer Vent) at 48'09
7 Alan Roberts (Seacat Services) at 49'13
8 Benjamin Dutreux (SATECO-Team Vendée Formation) at 1h00'28
9 Corentin Douguet (NF Habitat) at 1h02
10 Thomas Cardrin (Team Vendée Formation) at 1h02'35 (*)
11 Martin Le Pape (Skipper Macif 2017) at 1h05'19
12 Pierre Leboucher (Guyot Environnement) at 1h09'36
13 Loïs Berrehar (Bretagne cMB Espoir) at 1h10'58
14 Pierre Quiroga (Skipper Espoir CEM-CS) at 1h18'46
15 Justine Mettraux (TeamWork) at 1h21'48
16 Ronan Treussart (Les perles de Saint-Barth) at 1h37'41
17 Alexis Loison (Custo Pol) at 1h50'10
18 Erwan Tabarly (Armor Lux) at 2h08'11
19 Hugh Brayshaw (Kamat) at 2h30'08
Winner Sébastien Simon:
"It was a very hard stage. I was looking for some revenge after the first stage and I think I had some luck on my side this time. The first night was complicated. I was ahead after the coastal course but after that it was complicated and I thought I was never going to get back into it. I had seaweed everywhere I had to back up. But finally there was wind and I got stuck in to to it and took places one by one. Towards the end there it was tough with the compression when we came out of the stormy stuff, but here I am and there is already 16 minutes gone by and the second place is not yet across the line. That has to be good." " I was disappointed finishing into Saint Quai because I had the impression of leading most of the race in my mind at least and in the end to finish fourth was disappointing. It felt like a lot of energy and stress for nothing, no win, no podium, nothing. But it gave me the energy to give everything on this leg." " I have even take the triple I think, moving into the lead of the French Elite Offshore Championship as well becuse Alexis Loison is quite far back. But the race is not over, this is a mechanical sport, anything can happen. Charlie Dalin loves it when it is close and tight and so you have to stay focused all the way to the final finish line in Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie".
"I came into the race looking to win overall and will do all I can to try and do that. I am very happy with this second stage and to win is proof to me that I was OK on the first leg and can do the same on the next leg."
"I have been quite conservative. I have a solid spinnaker which is designed to last the whole race. I was very careful and there were times when I did not want to push too hard, I even took a reef to rest a bit because we had 35kts. I felt like I was risking too much for not much extra gain."
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