Final run home

Southerly route is still paying for the leaders in the Transat AG2R

Positions at 0300GMT

Pos	Boat	Crew	Lat	Long	DTF
1	BANQUE POPULAIRE	Pascal BIDEGORRY Sidney GAVIGNET	18 24 N	056 42 W	352
2	GROUPE SCE - LE TELEGRAMME	Armel LE CLEAC'H Nicolas TROUSSEL	19 05 N	056 44 W	355
3	PORT TREBEURDEN	Romain ATTANASIO Nicolas BERENGER	18 49 N	056 09 W	386
4	BOSTIK FINDLEY	Charles CAUDRELIER Antoine KOCH	17 40 N	055 47 W	404
5	Trophée BPE Saint-Nazaire - Cuba	Jeanne GREGOIRE Samantha DAVIES	20 16 N	056 08 W	407
6	DELTA DORE	Jérémie BEYOU Christophe de PAVANT	20 28 N	055 55 W	423
7	CERCLE VERT	Gildas MORVAN Dominic VITTET	21 55 N	056 19 W	440
8	TRISKEL-BROKERLINE	Marc THIERCELIN Eric DROUGLAZET	18 08 N	054 57 W	451
9	PETITS PETONS	Christophe ARTAUD Laurent PELLECUER	18 26 N	054 54 W	454
10	GEDIMAT	Armel TRIPON Damien GRIMONT	21 37 N	055 35 W	467
11	GUYADER L'ESPRIT DE LA MER	Philippe MASSU Patrice CARPENTIER	17 56 N	054 40 W	468
12	GROUPE COUPECHOUX	Jean-Marc SPARFEL Benoit LEQUIN	19 06 N	054 39 W	473
13	MAISONS PIERRE	Marc LEPESQUEUX Bertrand LECHARPENTIER	20 29 N	054 54 W	477
14	THALES	Erwan TABARLY Jean Luc NELIAS	16 44 N	054 28 W	485
15	CHARENTE-MARITIME SCUTUM	Gérald VENIARD Yannick BESTAVEN	17 26 N	054 02 W	505
16	DEFI SANTE VOILE	Benoit PETIT Thierry CHABAGNY	17 40 N	053 53 W	512
17	D'AUCY	Bruno JOURDREN Jean-Christophe MOURNIAC	18 15 N	053 51 W	514
18	MARSEILLE ENTREPRISES	Jean-Paul MOUREN Alexandre TOULORGE	19 47 N	054 00 W	515
19	MONACO MARINE GROUP	Alberto SPINA Olivier de ROFFIGNAC	21 07 N	053 47 W	548
20	BEZIERS MEDITERRANEE	Yannick CANO Arnaud BOISSIERES	19 50 N	053 17 W	556
21	ENTREPRENDRE AU PAYS DE LORIENT	Yannig LIVORY Tangi CARON	21 12 N	053 39 W	557
22	RAYNAL ET ROQUELAURE	Christian BOS Pierre-Yves MOREAU	17 54 N	052 43 W	573
23	FTH-THIRARD / CAEN LA MER	Jean-Baptiste DEJEANTY Barnabé CHIVOT	20 23 N	052 59 W	577
24	EGERIA	Sander BAKKER Ian MUNSLOW	20 35 N	052 40 W	599
25	CONNIVENCE	Jacques EINHORN Eric PERON	22 37 N	053 04 W	619
26	L'ESPRIT D'EQUIPE	Lionel PEAN Florence ARTHAUD	22 39 N	053 00 W	624
27	SPACETIME	Jan HAMESTER Jens HULSEBUSCH	21 19 N	051 19 W	683
28	SOR TMC	Christophe BOUVET Arnaud GUILLOUET	20 08 N	050 42 W	696
29	AURELIA FINANCE	Hervé FAVRE Guillaume NEU PIETRI	18 57 N	050 33 W	697
30	LITTLE BLACK SHARK	Antonio Pedro DA CRUZ Olivier DE LA MOTTE	20 10 N	048 01 W	845

The windless area in the middle of the course has taken its toll on the Transat AG2R fleet over the weekend. The conditions have paid for boats that took the southerly option and Pascal Bidegorry/Sidney Gavignet and Armel le Cleac'h/Nicolas Troussel have stolen a march on the rest of the fleet with a 30 mile lead over third placed Romain Attanasio/Nicolas Berenger and 50 miles over Charles Caudrelier/Antoine Koch. Jeanne Gregoire and Sam Davies are hanging on to fifth place still fairly north on the race track.

The leaders have around 350 miles or roughly two days sailing before they reach the finish. Over this time the wind looks set to remain in the northwest and again this will favour the boats to the south - this is a different scenario to what normally happens in this race where the wind is more southwesterly at the finish, putting those to the north on a hotter angle into the finish.

The unknown quantity at present are Erwan Tabarly and Jean Luc Nelias on Thales, currently lying 14th who are the furthest south and clearly lining up for a blistering run into the finish.