Change around

After Tour Voile race leader suffers a black flag DSQ off Paimpol

Sunday morning off Paimpol, saw the Mumm 30 fleet race their 8th Olympic course of this Tour de France à la Voile. This race was signicant as it changing the overall ranking. Toulon Provence Méditerranée Coychyères is still first but lost 35 points of their lead over second placed Bouygues Telecom, after a disqualification during the second start.

"I think everyone was pretty excited this morning," admitted Fabien Henry when he returned on the pontoon. The skipper of Toulon Provence Méditerranée Coychyères was one of six teams that started prematurely. After a first start at 9.59, followed by a general recall, the Committee boat hoisted the black flag. At the second start at 10.07, the Committee announced another general recall. Then Eminence-Marseille, T Service Interim Region de Bruxelles-Capitale, Dieppe Seine Maritime, Belvedere-EDC-EBSCO, Toulon Provence Méditerranée Coychyères and Espoirs Aquitains were disqualified.

"Getting a black flag now is not a very good thing," continued Henry. "We could have been more careful. I know we will be able to drop it, but we still have to build a new lead”. On the Tour de France à la Voile, there is just one discard.

But one man’s poison is another man’s meat. In the overall ranking, Bouygues Telecom who won today’s race, has now closed to within 25 points of the leader, instead of 60 points yesterday. But for skipper Pierre-Loïc Berthet, the advantage is more psychological. “This puts some more pressure on Toulon’s shoulders. They have already used their Joker card, now they won’t be able to take any more risks” With the disqualification of Dieppe Seine Maritime and their third place today, the Swiss team of Ville de Gene Carrefour Prevention is now third in the overall ranking.

The happiest crew today is probably Cotes d'Armor. The Amateur team finished second in today's race off Paimpol, performing well in front of their home crowd. In the Amateur division Mickaël Aveline and his crew are now sixth, 0,5 points from Bienne Voile while in first place is Espoir Ile de France, who have increased their lead after some very good results including a 4th yesterday and a 5th today.

In the overall Student results Alfa Laval finished 8th today and is now 5.5 points from the leaders, Port de Commerce La Rochelle.

Tonight at 21h45, the Mumm 30s will start the fifth offshore leg, between Paimpol and Douarnenez (south-west of Brittany) in the second longest leg of this 28th Tour de France à la Voile (127 miles).

Results:

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Tot
1	TOULON PROVENCE MEDITERRANEE COYCHyères	Fabien HENRY	482
2	BOUYGUES TELECOM	Pierre Loïc BERTHET	457
3	VILLE DE GENEVE CARREFOUR PREVENTION	Julien DI BIASE	410
4	DIEPPE SEINE-MARITIME	Romain GIBON	404
5	DEFI PARTAGE – MARSEILLE	Thierry BOUCHARD / Dimitri DERUELLE	391
6	ESPOIR ILE DE FRANCE	Jean-pierre NICOL / Victor LANIER	390
7	COURRIER DUNKERQUE	Gery TRENTESAUX	387
8	ALPES-MARITIMES MANDELIEU THEOULE	Sylvain CHTOUNDER	374
9	REGION ILE DE FRANCE	Jimmy PAHUN / Nicolas PAUCHET	348
10	CSC - ESSEC	Hervé GAUTIER	339
11	PORT DE COMMERCE LA ROCHELLE	Alexandre MERCIER	318
12	NANTES SAINT-NAZAIRE	Sebastien PETITHUGUENIN / Gaëtan AUNETTE	314
13	VILLE DU PORT BRED LA REUNION	Marc GUESSARD / Gabriel JEAN-ALBERT	311
14	ALFA LAVAL	Yoann RICHOMME	305
15	ESPOIRS AQUITAINS	J.P.ALLILIAIRE/X.CANTEGREL/P.DENTRAYGUES/J.FALXA	299
16	BELVEDERE – EDC – EBSCO	Tanguy FOURNIER LE RAY	290
17	PERPIGNAN MEDITERRANEE	Paul McKENZIE	288
18	BIENNE – VOILE	R. HARTMANN / N. BERGER / C. KNOLL	283
19	COTES D’ARMOR	Michaël AVELINE	280
20	EMINENCE – MARSEILLE	Parade KINY	253
21	DEFI SCLEROSE EN PLAQUES	Stéphane VENEL	241
22	STAD GENT / VILLE DE GAND	Philippe BERGMANS / Bernard WILMET	230
23	DEFI GRANDES ECOLES TOTAL INSA	Anne Claire LE BERRE	222
24	BREST GRANDES ECOLES ENSIETA ENST-BRETAGNE	Gwenaël Riou	216
25	DEFI AMI – AVAYA - X - ENSAM	Olivier HONTANX	210
26	T SERVICE INTERIM REGION DE BRUXELLES-CAPITALE	Laurent DECLERCQ / Jean-Marc FOBERT	201
27	EIGSI – CHARENTE MARITIME	Antoine ALBARET	190
27	VAN UDEN TUDELFT	Gert VAN DER HEIJDEN / Berend-Jan EDENS	190
29	AMEC SPIE	Eric BASSET	186
30	HEC GAMELIN MECENAT CHIRURGIE CARDIAQUE	Ryan PARKIN	153