The Ocean Race Europe Leg 5 Day 7: Meilhat's Biotherm leads the way on the Road to Boka Bay
by The Ocean Race 13 Sep 2025 15:44 BST
13 September 2025
Paul Meilhat's Biotherm (FRA), the overall leader of The Ocean Race Europe, has now taken the lead on the sixth day of the race's fifth leg from Genova, Italy to Boka Bay in Montenegro.
The leading group of five IMOCA yachts are now heading north and on the 'Road to Boka Bay' after rounding the final waypoint of the 1,600-nautical mile course Saturday morning.
Yesterday, Biotherm had tacked around the penultimate virtual waypoint shortly after 2030 CEST with a 10 nm lead over Ambrogio Beccaria's second-placed Italian-flagged Allagrande Mapei Racing, after the French team's windward positioning had paid dividends with more breeze on the approach to the turn.
Rounding in quick succession in third and fourth were Boris Herrmann's Team Malizia (GER) and Yoann Richomme's Paprec Arkéa, with Rosalin Kuiper's Team Holcim - PRB next around in fifth.
"We just passed the 'India' waypoint - closest to Greece - in a podium position," said Herrmann. "So we are happy about that. We lost a little bit on Biotherm, who are 10 miles ahead, and we can see a couple of boat lengths behind us is Paprec Arkéa, so the distance to them is the same as it was four minutes after the start."
The teams had enjoyed smooth and fast reaching conditions on the approach to the waypoint before one last turn back to Italy and then the final push towards the finish line off Boka Bay and Ocean Live Park in Tivat, Montenegro.
Onboard Team Holcim - PRB, Carolijn Brouwer (NED) said the crew - who staged a remarkable comeback yesterday to reconnect with the leading pack - were working flat out to eke out every bit of speed they could to stay in the hunt.
"These are very difficult conditions because the wind is up and down and it is still quite shifty left and right," Brouwer said. "So it's hard to get in the groove and keep it in the groove mainly. We are trying to be as consistent and high average [speed] as possible.
"We are back in the pack again so every little detail really counts and we have to work the boat really hard to keep up and get in front of the pack. We worked so hard to get here and now it feels like we have to work even harder to stay here."
Since the turn the fleet has been sailing north in upwind conditions, beating against a medium northerly breeze on a smoothish sea.
"These are good Biotherm conditions - flat water, medium wind - it's perfect," commented a content-looking Meilhat. "And upwind... and we have a lot of upwind now as we head to the north."
Contrastingly, aboard Allegrande Mapei, Italian skipper Beccaria said he was hoping for the opposite conditions to the ones that were forecasted - "Downwind, downwind!," he chanted - as well as an opportunity to pass close to the 'heel' of Italy's 'kicking boot' as the fleet entered the Adriatic Sea
"I would really like to pass close to Apulia," he said. "We could pass near Lecce, also maybe Brindisi. All that is maybe possible, but after that it's upwind."
The top four crews have been tacking in synch to make the most of the shifting breeze, with only fifth-placed Allagrande Mapei breaking away to the west in search of an advantageous windshift or extra pressure.
At 1300 CEST today Biotherm had a little under 240 nm to race to Boka Bay and held a 10 nm lead over Team Holcim - PRB in second, with Paprec Arkéa and Team Malizia bow-to-bow for third and fourth.
Although there is still plenty of uncertainty in the routing for the final section of Leg 5 the ETA window for the leading boat is currently between 0500 and 1300 local time (CEST) on Monday September 15. With just 21 nm separating first to fifth, this final leg looks set to go down to the wire, with a thrilling conclusion on the cards as the leaders in the fleet close in on Boka Bay.
Meanwhile, it's been tough going for Canada Ocean Racing - Be Water Positive and Team Amaala as they see the leading pack extend further ahead. In order to facilitate the stopover activities in Boka Bay, the Race Committee has offered an alternative Waypoint India at position 37 degrees 35.000 N, 18 degrees 00.000 E, which reduces their distance to finish and effectively shortens the course for the sixth and seventh placed teams. The Race Committee has specified that any boats that use this alternative waypoint and sail the shorter course will be ranked behind the boats that sailed around the original position of Waypoint India and finish the Leg.
In effect, a shorter course option has been offered to Canada and Amaala, but if they choose to take it, they will finish no higher than sixth place on the leg. This slightly shorter course option should see them arrive in Boka Bay on Tuesday.