Another wonderful second place in Nice for Holcim-PRB

Scond place for Holcim-PRB in The Ocean Race Europe Leg 3 in Nice, France © Yann Riou / polaRYSE

Holcim-PRB finished second on the leg between Cartagena and Nice. It's yet another remarkable achievement for the Swiss IMOCA (already 2nd in Cartagena) after an exceptional duel with Biotherm right up to the final miles in the Baie des Anges.

Rosalin Kuiper and her crew (Carolijn Brouwer, Franck Cammas, Nicolas Lunven and Adrien Nivet (OBR)) were expecting an intense third leg in the Mediterranean, and that's exactly what they got. They arrived this morning at 7:39 am (French time) after two days and 16 hours of thrilling racing, just 27 minutes behind the winner Biotherm.

Setting off in light winds along the Spanish coast, the men and women of Holcim-PRB quickly positioned themselves at the front of the fleet with Biotherm. Very soon, the battle between the two boats intensified as the weather conditions became completely unpredictable: "In the moment, when you opened the files, sometimes there was a 180 degrees difference in wind angle. You can't do weather routing with that - you play cards or chess maybe, but you don't do weather. There was always something happening in this mano a mano with Biotherm. Off Mallorca, we were ahead of them but then got stuck in a patch of no wind. At that point, they pulled slightly ahead and we were never able to get back in front. They always kept that edge," explained Nicolas Lunven, before adding with a smile: "We like this crew but it's starting to be enough (laughs). They've built quite a comfortable lead overall, but as long as we haven't reached Montenegro, anything can still happen," said the sailor, surrounded by his teammates.

On the dock, Rosalin Kuiper, Carolijn Brouwer, Franck Cammas and Nicolas Lunven were greeted by Paul Meilhat and his crew, who warmly congratulated their rivals and thanked them for the impressive level of commitment shown in this race. Skipper Rosalin Kuiper arrived visibly tired from lack of sleep due to the constant shifts in weather and endless maneuvers. But for her, this second place was an incredible satisfaction given how tough these 700 miles had been. Above all, she praised the excellent work of the whole crew and their performance-driven mindset: "We really pushed hard in this battle with Biotherm. We were in sight of each other all the time - we could almost smell them. It was a fantastic race. Congratulations to them, they are really strong competitors. This second place is a great success. We keep progressing and we're excited to start the next leg. The conditions were constantly changing, impossible to anticipate. That's probably what I'll remember most about the difficulty of this stage. It was very demanding, but that's also what our sport is about, and that's what makes it motivating. The team worked extremely well, and we're in a really good mindset,"said the Dutch skipper.

With this second place in Nice, and the jury's decision in Cartagena following the Kiel incident, Holcim-PRB now moves up to second place in the overall standings, tied on 23 points with Arkéa Paprec. Biotherm, meanwhile, is firmly established as the leader with 34 points. For Holcim-PRB, this role of hunter is a promising one, with still two legs to go: first to Genoa, Italy, and finally the ultimate stage towards Boka Bay in Montenegro.