Souben wins Tour Voile

Former pro-mulithull sailor and his Courrier Dunkerque team are the victors finally

While Elcimaï-Ville de Marseille (Dimitri Deruelle) had got closer and closer since the fleet arrived in Marseille, it wasn’t enough to beat Courrier Dunkerque (Daniel Souben), leader of the 2008 Tour de France a la Voile since Lorient. The winner in the amateur class is Val Thorens (Lucas Millieret / Alexis Littoz), who came an impressive fourth in the overall ranking, while CSC – HEC – Ecole Navale (Hervé Gautier) won the student division.

Elcimaï – Ville de Marseille was only 23 points adrift of Courrier Dunkerque yesterday, and so was still in with a chance of winning the race today! Unfortunately, they didn’t manage to put enough space between them and their adversary during the first two races of the day, and even a victory in the final race didn’t allow them to make up the short fall. “Of course we’re a bit tired of being second of this race… but it has never been the same in front of us, which is a good thing!” said Dimitri Deruelle who finished seven points behind the winner.

So participating for the fourth time, the winners of this year's Spi Ouest France are victorious in the most important race of the French crewed sailing championship! Former maxi-cat and ORMA 60 sailor Danial Souben and his crew looked set to win overall after today's second race, fortunate as they finished 20th in the last race of the Tour de France a la Voile. “We are relieved to win after a nice race," said Souben. "There is no great winner without great adversaries, and for that we have to thank Elcimaï – Ville de Marseille and Nouvelle-Calédonie”.

Nouvelle-Calédonie (Vincent Portugal / Ronan Dreano / Bernard Mallaret) finished third overall. “We are proud of having given a lot of trouble to the very end to the winner. It’s only our third participation, and we are close to many other professionals!”. Nouvelle-Calédonie had held the leader's red Honda Civic Hybrid spinnaker until they arrived in the Atlantic.

Winner of the first race of the day, the defending title holder and local crew Toulon Provence Méditerranée – COYCHyères (Fabien Henry) finished only fifth of this Tour Voile. “We are glad to have won one race today, but we knew since the arrival in Marseille that we wouldn’t be able to win the race anymore!” said Henry.

Bâtisseurs du Morbihan (Nicolas Pauchet / Victor Lanier) is also disappointed. “We wanted to finish first or on the podium at least, and we only came sixth. However, we still managed to have a good time and win a lot of races!” said Victor Lanier, who’s crew won their seventh race today.

Val Thorens : another victory for the highlanders
“We won again in the amateur ranking, which is what we wanted to do. The very good surprise is that we finish fourth in the general ranking!” Lucas Millieret and Alexis Littoz’s crew was only sixth yesterday! Saint-Malo Purflo Team SNBSM (François Lebourdais) ranks ninth in the overall ranking, and the bronze is for Ville du Port – Région Réunion (Gabriel Jean-Albert), thirteenth in the overall ranking.

CSC – HEC – Ecole Navale is back in the lead of the student ranking!
“Our aim at the beginning of the race was to finish first student and in the top ten of the overall ranking… that’s done! Our adversaries were awesome, that was a great regatta”, says skipper Hervé Gautier. Behind them, INSA – Sopra Group (Simon Troel) ranks fourteenth in the overall ranking, one place and more than fifty points ahead of Brest Grandes Ecoles ENSIETA ESC (Loïc Le Garrec).

As part of the tradition, both crews and organisers of the Tour de France Sailing Race finished in the waters of the harbour of Hyères – Toulon Provence Méditerranée… the happy end of a successful event!

Results:

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Total
1	COURRIER DUNKERQUE	D Souben/C Patou	157
2	ELCIMAI VILLE DE MARSEILLE	D Deruelle/ C Ponthieu	164
3	NOUVELLE CALEDONIE	V portugal/R Dreano	180
4	VAL THORENS	A Littoz/ L Millieret	254
5	TOULON PROV.MED. COYCH HYERES	F Henry/T Becquemie	259
6	BATISSEURS DU MORBIHAN	N Pauchet/V Lanier	261
7	VILLE GENEVE CARREFOUR PREVENTION	E David/J Clerc	293
8	MANCHE/BASSE NORMANDIE	B Charon/C Château	314
9	PURFLO VILLE ST MALO/SNBSM	F Lebourdais/P Hingant	337
10	CSC/ HEC/ ECOLE NAVALE	H Gautier/F Pruvot	363
11	ILE DE FRANCE	J Pahun	376
12	COTES D'ARMOR BLEU	M Aveline/S Letertre	402
13	VILLE DU PORT/REGION REUNION	G Jean Albert /B Lenglet	421
14	INSA SOPRA GROUP	S Troel	452
15	BREST GDES ECOLES ENSIETA/ESC	L Le Garrec/ G Bernard	501
16	PERPIGNAN MEDITERRANEE C.A.	P McKenzie/R StJours	507
17	COTES D'ARMOR VERT	C Leroy/J Bossard	508
18	BRED	S Chtounder/Y Riou	530
19	SOLIDARITES NOUVELLES /LOGEMENT	E Brezellec/A Aveline	554
20	BIENNE VOILE	L Muller/T Struder	577
21	NANTES/SAINT-NAZAIRE	E Auburtin / G Mouly	579
22	BATISSEURS DU MORBIHAN ESPOIRS	T Audren/V Fresnais	582
23	VAN UDEN TUDELFT VAN OORD	S Leinders/M Vandermeulen	644
24	BATISSEURS DU MORBIHAN ETUDIANTS	C Nuiaouet/ J Ahrweiller	669
25	T.BRUSSELS - Region de Bruxelles Capitale	L declercq/ C Michel	673
26	DEFI ARTS ET METIERS ICADE contre la sep	S Venel/ B Marie	681
27	EPA CENTRALE NANTES	M Le garrec/F Quenot	775