New leader

Bidegorry and Gavignet just ahead in Transat AG2R

Positions at 0200GMT

Pos	Boat	Crew	Lat	Long	DTF
1	BANQUE POPULAIRE	Pascal BIDEGORRY Sidney GAVIGNET	23 39 N	043 14 W	1145
2	GROUPE SCE - LE TELEGRAMME	Armel LE CLEAC\'H Nicolas TROUSSEL	22 27 N	042 55 W	1146
3	CERCLE VERT	Gildas MORVAN Dominic VITTET	26 18 N	044 07 W	1149
4	BOSTIK FINDLEY	Charles CAUDRELIER Antoine KOCH	25 21 N	043 39 W	1153
5	Trophée BPE Saint-Nazaire - Cuba	Jeanne GREGOIRE Samantha DAVIES	25 14 N	043 32 W	1155
6	PORT TREBEURDEN	Romain ATTANASIO Nicolas BERENGER	24 06 N	043 10 W	1156
7	DELTA DORE	Jérémie BEYOU Christophe de PAVANT	26 10 N	043 54 W	1157
8	GEDIMAT	Armel TRIPON Damien GRIMONT	27 32 N	044 00 W	1184
9	PETITS PETONS	Christophe ARTAUD Laurent PELLECUER	25 48 N	043 10 W	1187
10	GUYADER L'ESPRIT DE LA MER	Philippe MASSU Patrice CARPENTIER	24 04 N	042 29 W	1192
11	GROUPE COUPECHOUX	Jean-Marc SPARFEL Benoit LEQUIN	23 58 N	042 19 W	1199
12	THALES	Erwan TABARLY Jean Luc NELIAS	24 14 N	042 19 W	1202
13	MAISONS PIERRE	Marc LEPESQUEUX Bertrand LECHARPENTIER	25 36 N	042 41 W	1206
14	SKIPPER AG2R	Rodolphe JACQ Bertrand de BROC	24 35 N	042 18 W	1208
15	TRISKEL-BROKERLINE	Marc THIERCELIN Eric DROUGLAZET	22 58 N	041 51 W	1211
16	CHARENTE-MARITIME SCUTUM	Gérald VENIARD Yannick BESTAVEN	24 42 N	042 02 W	1227
17	ENTREPRENDRE AU PAYS DE LORIENT	Yannig LIVORY Tangi CARON	25 22 N	041 58 W	1239
18	MARSEILLE ENTREPRISES	Jean-Paul MOUREN Alexandre TOULORGE	25 26 N	041 57 W	1242
19	D'AUCY	Bruno JOURDREN Jean-Christophe MOURNIAC	23 57 N	041 24 W	1248
20	DEFI SANTE VOILE	Benoit PETIT Thierry CHABAGNY	24 16 N	041 28 W	1251
21	MONACO MARINE GROUP	Alberto SPINA Olivier de ROFFIGNAC	26 00 N	041 42 W	1266
22	RAYNAL ET ROQUELAURE	Christian BOS Pierre-Yves MOREAU	23 57 N	040 42 W	1285
23	CONNIVENCE	Jacques EINHORN Eric PERON	25 03 N	040 56 W	1288
24	BEZIERS MEDITERRANEE	Yannick CANO Arnaud BOISSIERES	24 39 N	040 48 W	1289
25	FTH-THIRARD / CAEN LA MER	Jean-Baptiste DEJEANTY Barnabé CHIVOT	24 00 N	040 37 W	1290
26	EGERIA	Sander BAKKER Ian MUNSLOW	25 29 N	040 57 W	1294
27	L'ESPRIT D'EQUIPE	Lionel PEAN Florence ARTHAUD	26 31 N	040 28 W	1338
28	SPACETIME	Jan HAMESTER Jens HULSEBUSCH	25 43 N	039 25 W	1386
29	SOR TMC	Christophe BOUVET Arnaud GUILLOUET	26 39 N	039 32 W	1396
30	AURELIA FINANCE	Hervé FAVRE Guillaume NEU PIETRI	25 26 N	038 57 W	1401
31	LITTLE BLACK SHARK	Antonio Pedro DA CRUZ Olivier DE LA MOTTE	23 40 N	034 45 W	1614

This morning's position report shows Gildas Morvan and Dominic Vittet, the leaders since the boats rounded Madeira, having dropped to third place, while Jeanne Gregoire and Sam Davies have risen to fifth, just ten miles astern of the new leaders - Pascal Bidegorry and Sidney Gavignet.

The leaders continue to fan out across the race track with former Mini Transat winner Armel Tripon furthest north and last year's Solitaire du Figaro winner Armel le Cleac'h taking the most extreme course. With the new leaders and le Cleac'h and Nicolas Troussel moving up to second, the south appears to have paid over the last 24 hours.

Tactically this maybe prove irrelevant over the next couple of days as the latest forecast shows a low pressure system developing to the northwest which is certain to rearrangement the leaderboard. Competitors are already seeing the wind veer from the northeast to east and over the next 48 hours it will continue to veer to the south and build. On Saturday there appears to be as much as 15 knots more breeze on the north side of the course as the south, so Armel Tripon can expect a lively and wholly unexpected port tack fetch into 30-35 knots...