Transat Jacques Vabre - With the wind come new challenges

One of Britain's most successful sailors and favourite of the Transat Jacques Vabre race, Alex Thomson has been talking to us about who he thinks are the race favourites in his beloved IMOCA class.

Alex: "Clearly Apivia is favourite but I’m pleasantly surprised how well Thomas Ruyant and Morgan Lagraviere are doing on LinkedOut so they’ve obviously made some good improvements particularly downwind. Jérémie Beyou is always in the hunt as far as I’m concerned and it’s great to see Sam (Davies) and Nico (Lunven) sailing really smart on a boat that’s not supposed to be as fast as the other guys. Remember she’s getting a new boat so we’re going to see a very dangerous Sam Davies coming up.

This race has been a bit marred by the two dismastings which are very surprising. I’ll be very interested to know why these masts have come down."

We will bring you the full interview with Alex very soon - so keep an eye on our news section!   

Ultime : the battle of the 4

Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, skippered by Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier continue to lead the Ultimes south. The other three stretch out across 100 miles behind the leaders. Closest are François Gabart and Tom Laperche on their new boat SVR-Lazartigue.

Ocean Fifty: lead change

Take a look at today's tracker and watch class leader Koesio, co-skippered by Erwan Le Roux and Xavier Macaire, travel through the inside of the Canary Islands, to the east of Tenerife. It was a gamble that didn't pay off. To the west of La Palma, Primonial took a more direct route and with it the lead. 

IMOCA: the battle for second

LinkedOut has held on to the lead it snatched from Apivia this morning. Behind Thomas Ruyant and Morgan Lagravière, Apivia is playing cat and mouse with Charal. The old rivals are bow to bow about 20 miles behind the leader. Briton Sam Davies lies fourth but only ten miles behind.

Class 40: Project Rescue Ocean has stopped for repairs

The front of the Class40 fleet is taking advantage of twenty knots of wind to head south of the Portuguese coast. Project Rescue Ocean, one of the serious contenders, made a 4 hour stop in Cascais this afternoon to repair her damaged rudder. La Manche #EvidenceNautique is still leading the race. 

Leaderboard at 18.00 (CET)

Ultime
1. Maxi Edmond de Rothschild (Franck Cammas - Charles Caudrelier)
2. SVR - Lazartigue (François Gabart - Tom Laperche)
3. Banque Populaire XI (Armel Le Cléac'h - Kevin Escoffier)

Ocean Fifty
1. Primonial (Sébastien Rogues - Matthieu Souben)
2. Koesio (Erwan Le Roux - Xavier Macaire)
3. Solidaires en peloton - Arsep (Thibaut Vauchel-Camus - Frédéric Duthil)

Imoca
1. LinkedOut (Thomas Ruyant - Morgan Lagravière)
2. Apivia (Charlie Dalin - Paul Meilhat)
3. Charal (Jérémie Beyou - Christopher Pratt)

Class40
1. La Manche #EvidenceNautique (Nicolas Jossier - Alexis Loison)
2. Edenred (Pierre Quiroga - Emmanuel Le Roch)
3. Banque du Léman (Simon Koster - Valentin Gautier)

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