Atalanta II and Proteus top Loro Piana Giraglia maxi classes
by International Maxi Association 20 Jun 17:31 BST
13-19 June 2026
IMA President Maurits van Oranje's Sud (right) passes the Giraglia rock chased by Stefano Brunello's canting Frers 60 Moonshine © Loro Piana / Studio Borlenghi
With the magnificent 71ft Sangermani ketch Eugenia V finishing at 04:59:10 this morning, all the classics bringing up the rear of the maxi fleet in the Loro Piana Giraglia's offshore race have finally arrived in Genoa.
This marks the conclusion of the 73rd Loro Piana Giraglia, organised by the Yacht Club Italiano in collaboration with the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez, its offshore race being the fifth event in the International Maxi Association's 2025-26 Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge.
The maxi results from the four days of inshore/coastal races, that took place from Saint-Tropez last week over 13-16 June and the offshore race have now been combined. Coming out on top is Yacht Club Italiano member Carlo A Puri Negri and his Atalanta II. His much-travelled 70ft Farr/Felci design had a superb series: set-up by her tremendous five bullets (from five races) in the smaller maxi class in Saint-Tropez, she then sealed the deal by finishing a worthy second overall in the offshore race among the 19 entries in the IRC 0 maxi class.
Looking at the season overall, Atalanta II is now the clear leader the IMA's 2025-26 Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge on 198 points. She lies ahead of Pascale Decaux's Wallycento Tilakkhana II, maxi winner of April's La Larga on 160 points and Louis Balcaen's Maxi 72 Balthasar, outright winner of last October's Rolex Middle Sea Race on 145.
The maxi class, IRC 0 in the Loro Piana Giraglia offshore race was won by Guido Paolo Gamucci's Cippa Lippa X. The canting keel Mylius 60 also secured sixth place in the full fleet of 65 in the IRC class (won by the TP52 Arkas Blue Moon). Cippa Lippa X finished in an elapsed time of 30 hours 23 minutes 51 seconds (five hours 19 minutes behind the line honours winner Furio Benussi's ARCA SGR). Under IRC corrected time, Cippa Lippa X was the clear maxi winner in the offshore race, her time correcting out to 43 hours 20 minutes compared to second-placed Atalanta II's 44 hours 5 minutes.
For Gamucci this ticks another significant box having won the inshore/coastal races of Loro Piana Giraglia last year, when Cippa Lippa X also won the 151 Miglia-Trofeo Cetilar outright. Gamucci's 2026 season has been going well, beginning with being crowned IMA Maxi 3 European Champion last month in Sorrento, before his latest accolade this week.
"It was actually better than expected," said a delighted Gamucci of the offshore race. "We were nine miles ahead of Atalanta, then it reduced to 4.5 and then it got back up to 5.5 miles again. It all depended upon where you were, because we had shifts of 30-40° very suddenly. So we lost a lot of time - it was tough."
Gabriele Bruni, Cippa Lippa X's navigator added: "It was a nice race because there was a little bit more wind than what we expected. We had a very good start and we decided to go on the right in a bit more pressure and then we hoisted the Code 0 before the others and managed to stay in front of them. From there we decided to cover the others."
On the outbound leg to the Giraglia rock, the lead five maxis had broken away, leaving Cippa Lippa X at the front of the second wave. They sailed a slightly shorter course than the leaders, sticking closer to the rhumb line. In this group was Atalanta II, the Fincantieri works team on their Volvo Open 60 Fincantieri-Doers on Board (ex-Amer Sport 2) and Philip Rann's Carbon Ocean 82 Aegir.
Approaching the Giraglia rock from north of the rhumb line Cippa Lippa X rounded just after 0300 on Thursday but soon after stalled (unlike the front runners) and was forced to spear off east in search of pressure. Fincantieri-Doers on Board followed them around an hour later closely followed by Aegir and then Atalanta II.
On the leg NNW to Genoa, the VO60 had managed to cling on to Cippa Lippa X as Atalanta II did well close to the rhumb line, overtaking Aegir, which had chosen a path out to the east.
"We did everything well but after Giraglia we decided to stay low of the rhumb line," Bruni continued. "There we gained four or five miles and then managed to consolidate our gain. We've won in our class so we are very happy. The boat was very good, the sails were okay and the crew was fantastic so I am very happy."
At the prize-giving today at the Yacht Club Italiano Carlo Puri Negri was presented with the prize for the Best Placed IMA member overall. In the combined results for the Loro Piana Giraglia inshore/coastal and offshore races, his Atalanta II was first in the class of smaller maxis competing, with Cippa Lippa X and Benoît de Froidmont's Wally 60 Wallyño completing the podium. Meanwhile in the larger maxi class George Sakellaris' Maxi 72 Proteus prevailed in the combined results ahead of event sponsor Pier Luigi Loro Piana's 80ft My Song and Alessandro Del Bono's Capricorno.
The IMA's 2025/26 Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge continues with the Aegean 600 starting on 5 July.
For more on the International Maxi Association visit www.internationalmaxiassociation.com