38th America's Cup: A title partner, a sporting director, an elite crew… La Roche-Posay Team is born

by K-Challenge 17 Mar 17:55 GMT

La Roche-Posay Racing Team © Martin Kerurozé / La Roche-Posay Racing Team

The French challenger for the 38th America's Cup is today taking a major step forward with a new identity, a new title partner, and renewed momentum.

With the arrival of La Roche-Posay, a brand of the L'Oréal Group and the world's leading dermatological skincare brand, as its title partner, the team, supported by K-Challenge, becomes La Roche-Posay Racing Team and enters a new phase in its development.

The appointment of two-time America's Cup winner Philippe Presti as Sporting Director, and the formation of an elite crew led by Quentin Delapierre, mark a key development in the team's preparation for the 38th America's Cup. The first race of which will be held in Cagliari this May, before its conclusion in Naples in the summer of 2027.

The dermatological laboratory, La Roche-Posay, is the title partner of the French team, which is now known as La Roche-Posay Racing Team.

Since 1851, the America's Cup has been a unique testing ground for innovation where engineering, technology and human performance constantly push their limits. Aboard the AC75s, veritable flying machines capable of reaching spectacular speeds, the sailors compete in a particularly demanding environment. Intense sunlight, wind, salt air, humidity, and prolonged physical exertion combine to put the skin, the body's first line of defense, to the test.

For La Roche-Posay, this constant exposure to the elements transforms competition into a full-scale scientific laboratory. The brand, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, will now be able to innovate in a new way, developing a sports-focused repair range based on highly informative feedback from sailors.

"I am delighted that La Roche-Posay is participating in the America's Cup, a legendary sailing race. We share with the French team values of innovation, collective performance, and the quest for excellence," says Alexandra Reni-Catherine, International General Manager La Roche-Posay. "It's very simple: if La Roche-Posay can protect and repair athletes' skin in extreme conditions, it can protect all skins, everywhere."

"We are very proud and grateful to welcome La Roche-Posay as the title partner of our team" explains Stéphan Kandler, founder and co-CEO of K-Challenge. "It is an iconic brand, driven by scientific rigor and a performance culture that naturally resonates with the spirit of K-Challenge. This commitment follows on from the support of the L'Oréal Group, which has been supporting our projects since 2023. We are delighted to take another step together in building our Challenge for the 38th America's Cup, a new version of the competition, in which we are doubly involved as founding members of the new governance," concludes Kandler.

La Roche-Posay Racing Team - photo © Alexander Champy-McLean / K-Challenge

Appointment of Philippe Presti as Sporting Director: The Experience of Victory

Building on his responsibilities within the K-Challenge structure and to support this new phase of the project, Philippe Presti assumes the role of Sporting Director for all K-Challenge sailing teams, including the La Roche-Posay Racing Team.

A multi-title winner at the world and European levels, with seven America's Cup appearances including two victories in 2010 and 2013, Philippe has participated in the most prestigious campaigns in international sailing. He is rarely seen raising his arms in victory. He is seldom heard after defeat. But his name appears regularly in the major sailing campaigns of the last 30 years.

Philippe Presti, Sporting Director: "I have been fortunate to have many experiences within international teams. Today, I am particularly happy to share this adventure with a French team, and especially with this team with whom I have long maintained strong ties. The America's Cup is the ultimate expression of team sport, bringing together all the talent and expertise of our organisation. Today, we are presenting the sailors. The challenge will be to coordinate and unlock the potential of each individual in order to push our limits and aim for the highest level in Naples in 2027."

A talented crew led by Quentin Delapierre, supported by a dedicated technical team headed by Antoine Carraz

Under the guidance of Philippe Presti and Philippe Mourniac, renowned coaches particularly in the Olympic movement, the team now assembled around Quentin Delapierre boasts a pedigree that speaks volumes about its potential.

At the helm of this team, Quentin Delapierre naturally occupies a central role. As skipper and one of the drivers of the AC75, the Frenchman sets the course. An Olympian and a regular on the high-speed circuits, he has forged solid experience in foiling boats over the past few years, whether in the Nacra 17, the SailGP championship, or the 37th America's Cup. This trajectory has led him to take the reins of an ambitious project in this prestigious and demanding world.

Around him, the team is composed of sailors who, some already familiar with the intensity of the America's Cup. The Franco-New Zealander Jason Saunders, winner of the Youth America's Cup in 2013 and competing in the 37th edition with the French team as well as on the SailGP circuit, brings his expertise as a skilled trimmer.

Briton Leigh McMillan also boasts extensive experience at the world and Olympic levels in the Tornado class, as well as in SailGP and the America's Cup, having participated in several campaigns with the British challenge team, winners of the last Louis Vuitton Cup and finalists in the 37th America's Cup. [S-W: McMillan is sidelined for a substantial period after undergoing shoulder surgery following the French/Black Foils collision in the ITM NZ SailGP regatta in New Zealand in February.]

This core group, already well-versed in the demands of the Cup, also includes Timothé Lapauw, who was among the young sailors competing in the Youth America's Cup in Bermuda in 2017 and was a member of the challenger team during the French campaign in 2024.

The Franco-Spanish duo Diego Botín [S-W:Botin has a French mother, and is listed as a part French National] and Florian Trittel, Olympic champions in the 49er class at the Paris 2024 Games, bring a culture and tactical precision honed at the highest Olympic level.

The new generation is equally impressive. A product of the K-Challenge Academy, Enzo Balanger distinguished himself as skipper of the Youth team in 2024 before recently winning the Moth foiling world championship, becoming the first Frenchman to triumph in this particularly demanding class.

The strength of the team is also evident in the background of Bruno Mourniac - SB20 world champion and two-time winner of the Tour de France à la Voile, a veteran of the professional multihull circuit - and in the versatility of Amélie Grassi, whose multi-platform experience provides the flexibility and pragmatism necessary for sailing the AC75.

This crew will be reinforced by another woman from the ranks of the K-Challenge Academy. "In France, we have a pool of female talent," explains Philippe Presti. "We have just completed the final phase of recruitment for the 2026-2027 K-Challenge Academy class. The nine selected women will train on simulators and AC40s in preparation for the 2027 Women's America's Cup. Over the coming months and training sessions, we will determine which one will join the existing team on the AC75, based on each woman's performance."

This group brings together a promising combination of Olympic excellence, experience on the professional circuit, and America's Cup experience. However, in an environment where every detail counts, talent will have to be transformed, through hard work and collective consistency, into sustainable performance. This is the challenge that now awaits the French team.

Quentin Delapierre, skipper and driver of La Roche-Posay Racing Team: "When you look at this crew, you immediately see the richness and diversity of their backgrounds. It's quite rare to have so many different sailing cultures within the same group. Each member brings their own expertise: the tactical precision of Olympic classes, mastery of foiling boats, management of extreme situations, or long-distance sailing.

When you put all that together, it creates a very stimulating environment where everyone raises the bar. For me, the real strength of this team is its combination of experience, youth, and complementary skills. We've brought together sailors capable of performing at very high speeds while maintaining a collective vision of the race. Our team will have to work incredibly hard to always be at our peak and keep pace with the fierce competition."

The sailors will be able to count on the support and expertise of a technical team of over 60 people led by Antoine Carraz, who is surrounded by loyal colleagues such as David Gautier, head of the electronics and mechatronics department, Benjamin Vernières, head of the appendage design department, and Owen David in hydraulic design.

In addition, there are also new recruits like Lucas Delcourt, head of performance, and Mickey Ickert, a world-renowned sail designer and three-time America's Cup winner.

Bruno Dubois, co-CEO of K-Challenge: "Today, Stephan and I are exactly where we wanted to be according to our five-year vision: K-Challenge is a sustainable organisation that didn't stop after the 37th America's Cup. We were able to retain our core team and attract others to join us.

As I am specifically in charge of the sporting side of things, I am very happy to see this group of highly complementary sailors together, and I am certain that under the guidance of the two Philippes, they will work in an environment conducive to progress."

The 2026-2027 programme: from Lorient to Naples

Before the Louis Vuitton Cup qualifying rounds in Spring 2027 and the Final Match of the 38th America's Cup, which begins in Naples on July 10, 2027, the teams will compete in fleet races during preliminary regattas aboard AC40s. The first of these will be held in Cagliari, Sardinia, from May 21 to 24 this year.

To prepare for these events Quentin Delapierre's French team will follow an intensive training program in Lorient, K-Challenge's home port, until August before moving to Naples, the competition venue, in September: "We are starting our first training session today on simulators and on the AC40 in preparation for the Cagliari event. A second session will take place after SailGP Rio in late April and early May," explains Philippe Presti.

"After Cagliari, we'll move on to sailing off Lorient aboard our AC75 prototype which is currently being optimised. We'll spend the summer in Brittany in conditions similar to what we might experience in the Bay of Naples in the spring of 2027. The plan is then to base the team in Italy from this September until July 2027."

Sixteen months before the Naples regatta, La Roche-Posay Racing Team continues its upward trajectory, driven by the ambition to compete with the best teams in the world and by the pride of representing France in the most prestigious sailing competition. It's a campaign where every day counts in the quest to transform ambition into performance.

The La Roche-Posay Racing Team's sailing crew: