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60ft trimaran's IB Group Challenge concludes in Nice

Following their win of the IB Group Challenge Pascal Bidégorry and the crew of Banque Populaire were followed into Nice more than six hours later by Michel Desjoyeaux's crew on board Geant, while just 20 seconds separated Frederic le Peutrec and his team on Gitana 11 and Armel le Cléac'h's Foncia for the third place on the podium after nine days from sea... Thierry Duprey on Gitana X crossed the finish line less than nine hours after the winner.

This first running of the IB Group Challenge was a tense affair with the leaders regularly changing throughout the 2510 mile course. Groupama-2, Geant, Foncia, Gitana 11and Banque Populaire each had their moment of glory at the from of the fleet and even Gitana X, always remained in contact with the leaders.

The outcome wasn't finally decided until the last day when Banque Populaire was the first to pick up the shirt to the northeast as Gitana II was becalmed her crew spotting three sails on the horizon, one, Michel Desjoyeaux's Geant overtaking them. Geant managed to maintain 10 knots to Nice, while the trio astern struggled.

In typical Mediterranean fashion as they approached the finish line the wind increased to 25 knots and Foncia and Gitana II were able to match race in at 25 knots under full mainsail and genniker, with former Tornado Olympic sailor le Peutric pipping former Figaro winner Armel le Cléac'h at the post.

"There were many unknown factors," said winner Pascal Bidegorry looking back at the race. "Our boat is very new and required much investment and work, so to have this win so soon, is of much satisfaction. Our project is one of the team, the people at the bank who wanted to make our project how it should be, and of qualified sailors. It is the first time that I have had to lead a project in a rugby match rather than a boxing match!

"I have spent more time at the chart table than on the helm. Jérémie Beyou made a good job throughout the race. 30 miles from the arrival, he saw some established wind. We put up the gennaker and flew, but through prudence, rolled it to finish under solent. The boat is astonishing and my very qualified crew are super sailors. It was a great pleasure to sail with them."

Michel Desjoyeaux - Geant: "This finished very well in the end. This morning, while passing Corsica with less than 100 miles to the arrival, we had three boats in sight. Then we picked up the new northeast breeze and we were off. I don't know if the other found it.

"During the race, we had two hard moments. The first was north of Tunisia when we were sailing in 20-25 knots of wind and a steep sea. The boat was leaping off the waves and we had to throttle back. Then, there was sailing down towards Malta. But overall, we can't complain because generally the conditions were lenient."


Results:

1- Banque Populaire (Pascal Bidégorry) finished Tuesday 17 May at 7:36:17 in 8 days 16 hours 36 minutes and 17 seconds
2- Géant (Michel Desjoyeaux) finished 17 May at 13:55:16 in 8 days 22 hours 55 minutes and 16 seconds (6h 18m 09s after the first boat)
3- Gitana 11 (Frédéric Le Peutrec) finished 17 May at 14:40:55 in 8 days 23 hours 40 minutes 55 seconds (7h 04m 38s after the first boat)
4- Foncia (Armel Le Cléac’h) finished 17 May at 14:41:15 in 8 days 23 hours 41 minutes and 15 secondes (7h 04m 58s from the first boat)
5- Gitana X (Thierry Duprey du Vorsent) finished 17 May at 16:35:42 in 9 days 01 hour 35 minutes 42 secondes
Abandon- Groupama-2 (Franck Cammas)