Col victorious

After Paolo Cian makes last minute come back in Marseille International Match Race

COnditions were again ideal for the final day of the Marseille International Match Race with the sun shiningbrightly and the breeze a steady 10 to 15 knots from the east southeast, allowing racing to get underway before midday.

The semis - best of three matches - were very closely fought with both going to a third and final 'winner takes it all' match. In the first semi, Philippe Presti beat Paolo Cian only to be beaten subsequently by the Italian former America's Cup helm. In the second semi, Peter Holmberg was the first to win, only for Sébastien Col to draw level in the second match. In both semis the final match was very extremely tough, with Paolo Cian and Sébastien Col managing to impose themselves in the end.

The 5th place play-off was also really close, with Dimitri Deruelle only beating Eugeny Neugodnikov after three flights.

In the final itself it took Sebastien Col only two extremely close matches to clinch the regatta. In the first match, Cian received two penalties preventing him from getting in front of the French crew.

But in the second match it was Col's turn to get a penalty. However, with a brilliant piece of sailing, he managed to recover while rounding the leeward mark for the first time, forcing Cian to follow him.



All in all it was a very physically and tactically demanding final, with sailsmanship at its very best.

Sébastien Col (above) is the first Frenchman to win the Marseille International Match Race (the previous winners were the American Ed Baird in 2005 and the Pole Karol Jablonski in 2004 and 2003).

It is also the first Grade 1 victory for this team, consisting of Sébastien Col, Téva Plichart, Gilles Favenec and Christophe André. It is also a great win for the K-Challenge America's Cup team they represent.

Alinghi helmsman Peter Holmberg won his third place after beating Philippe Presti from Luna Rossa by two matches.

Final results:

Pos	Skipper	Nat
1	Sébastien Col (K-challenge)	FRA
2	Paolo Cian (team Viano Mercedes Benz)	ITA
3	Peter Holmberg (Alinghi)	US VI
4	Philippe Presti (Luna Rossa)	FRA
5	Dimitri Deruelle	FRA
6	Eugeny Neugodnikov	RUS
7	Mathieu Richard	FRA
8	Jes Gram-Hansen (Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team)	DEN
9	Matteo Simoncelli	ITA
10	Staffan Lindberg	FIN