Desjoyeaux continues his winning streak

Former Route du Rhum, Vendee Globe, Transat and newly crowned Figaro winner takes Trophée Clairefontaine

By winning three races out of the nine sailed since yesterday, Michel Desjoyeaux has won the 18th Trophée Clairefontaine des Champions de Voile held off the sailing stadium at La Trinité-sur-Mer. This is his fourth Trophée Clairefontaine victory, following those in 2001, 2003 and 2004.

Michel Desjoyeaux and his crewmen, Xavier Revil and Christophe Espagnon, snatched victory from the Swiss Alinghi team helmed by Luc Dubois after a long duel. Only one point separated the two boats at the end of the nine legs. Loïck Peyron took third place on the podium just three points from the winner.

Desjoyeaux gave his opinion of the event: "Everything went well. From Thursday, the racing was animated and we knew that this Trophée Clairefontaine was going to be a difficult one. We started the day well with two victories, which made us feel confident. Then, we got ourselves into a sticky situation. We ended the day better on the two last races, just enough to win them. It was a really close finish! As is often the case, the whole trophy hung on the last race. At the finishing line, we still didn't know whether we had actually won. So it ended well and that's perfect!

Luc Dubois - Alinghi Team, second in the Trophée Clairefontaine said: "Personally, I'm very satisfied. But I don't know what my crewmen think of me (laughs). I set myself the objective of tackling racers such as Peyron, Cammas and Desjoyeaux. It was heated from start to finish. It's a fine formula and a beautiful race!"

Loïck Peyron, who finished third said: "I'm delighted, but one can always do better. We made some silly manoeuvres. But, it was a nice little fight, and once again it all happened in the last few moments."

Groupama skipper Franck Cammas, was fourth overall: "I'm a little disappointed that I ended up at the foot of the podium. The leaders were very close, anyone could have won. The wind was weird this year, which made for heated racing! We missed a few starts through our lack of aggression. All the legs of the Trophy were really good. How would I sum up the Trophée Clairefontaine? Closely fought!"

Yann Eliès, skipper of the Open 60 Generali was fifth: "I'm annoyed about yesterday's racing. There really weren't any positive points for us. Today, I was capable of winning like the others. It was a better day with good starts. The crew is very important. In the end, I'm glad that everything ended well."

After a good day yesterday Figaro sailor Nicolas Troussel ended up sixth: "It was very enjoyable to sail among friends without any pressure. Yesterday was very good, but today I did not get as many good starts."

Vincent Riou, Vendee Globe winner and skipper of the Open 60 was seventh: "It was fun, but heated! There was a real fight and we were closely ranked. Today, I did not win any legs, so it wasn't as much fun as yesterday."

In last place was former Figaro winner Jérémie Beyou, now skipper of the Open 60 Delta Dore: "I wasn't as good as I was last year. It was a lot closer and also more aggressive. You have to find the right balance. Either the manoeuvre works or else it's a penalty. I didn't succeed in sailing faultlessly."

Final overall results after nine races:

1- Michel Desjoyeaux, 50 pts (7,6,3,1,1,1,7,5,6)
2- Luc Dubois - Team Alinghi (Swiss), 49 pts (2,3,1,7,4,6,1,8,5)
3- Loïck Peyron, 47 pts (5,2,5,3,5,3,6,1,7)
4- Franck Cammas, 45 pts (1,7,6,4,3,5,8,3,2)
5- Yann Eliès, 43 pts (8,8,8,5,2,7,2,2,1)
6- Nicolas Troussel, 42 pts (3,5,4,2,8,2,5,4,8)
7- Vincent Riou, 38 pts (6,1,7,6,7,4,3,7,4)
8- Jérémie Beyou, 37 pts (4,4,2,8,6,8,4,6,3)