Local knowledge pays

Three Mediterranean boats win in today's three races off Hyeres in the Tour Voiles

With a steady wind blowing today over Hyères, the Race Committee managed to start three races instead of two in order to catch up the race cancelled earlier on the Atlantic coast. And so, there were three winners: Defi Partage-Marseille, Toulon Provence Mediterranean Coychyères and Alpes-Maritimes Mandelieu Theoule, by coincidence all boats from the Mediterranean .

With four days to go before the last regatta in Menton, all the competitors are getting excited. The name of the overall winner will soon be known, and everything is still up for grabs. In an ESEerly wind of around 15 knots, Defi Partage-Marseille won the first leg after a tough fight with the local team Toulon Provence Mediterranean Coychyères.

“This race was a bit like a rooster fight between Toulon and us," admitted skipper Dimitri Deruelle. "In all modesty, I think we had the best speed. This was a tight victory, but we managed to take the advantage over the other boats. In the two other races, we had an electronic failure, so we couldn’t race 100%”.

In the second leg, Fabien Henry and his men came back into the match to win in front of their home crowd. “We won some more points over Bouygues in the overall ranking, said Tugdual Becquemie. "We are very happy but we have to be careful and keep concentrating until the end”.

With the help of a steady wind, the Race Committee decided to start a third race in the Bay of Hyères. This made another Mediterranean team happy - Alpes Maritimes Mandelieu Theoule today's third winner, Sylvain Chtounder and his crew scoring their first win in this year's Tour de France à la Voile. “When the Race Committee said there would be another race, we were not that keen, because we were a bit tired. But to win now, when we are about to sail to our region, is a very good news. I think the podium is still accessible. Anything can happen.”

Overall Toulon Provence Mediterranean Coychyères is still increasing the gap over their main rival Bouygues Telecom, 74 points now separating the two boats. Behind, Defi Partage-Marseille is now third and is not far off second place. Following their victory today, the team of Alpes-Maritimes Mandelieu Theoule is now fourth ahead of Region Ile de France, who had three good results (9th, 7th, and 2nd).

In the Amateur class, the big surprise of the day came from Ville du Port Bred la Reunion. Despite a retirement on the first leg due to a crash with Brest Randes Ecoles Ensieta Enst-Bretagne, the team from Reunion Island is now leading its class, equal with CSC ESSEC, and only 1.5 points ahead Espoir Ile de France.

In the Student class there is no change with Alfa Laval still leading, but Port de Commerce la Rochelle is making a come back now just 10 points behind.

Tomorrow, the 11th offshore leg will start at 9.00. This 35 mile race, the shortest, will take the Mumm 30 fleet to Sainte-Maxime on the Golfe du St Tropez.

Overall results:

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Tot
1	TOULON PROVENCE MEDITERRANEE COYCHyères	Fabien HENRY	1083
2	BOUYGUES TELECOM	Pierre Loïc BERTHET	1009
3	DEFI PARTAGE – MARSEILLE	Thierry BOUCHARD / Dimitri DERUELLE	979
4	ALPES-MARITIMES MANDELIEU THEOULE	Sylvain CHTOUNDER	954
5	REGION ILE DE FRANCE	Jimmy PAHUN / Nicolas PAUCHET	945
6	DIEPPE SEINE-MARITIME	Romain GIBON	941
7	VILLE DE GENEVE CARREFOUR PREVENTION	Julien DI BIASE/Denis GIRARDET/Bastien CLEMENT	929
8	COURRIER DUNKERQUE	Gery TRENTESAUX	928
9	ESPOIR ILE DE FRANCE	Jean-Pierre NICOL / Victor LANIER	883
10	CSC – ESSEC	Hervé GAUTIER	872
11	VILLE DU PORT BRED LA REUNION	Marc GUESSARD / Gabriel JEAN-ALBERT	853
12	ALFA LAVAL	Yoann RICHOMME	794
13	BELVEDERE – EDC – EBSCO	Tanguy FOURNIER LE RAY	791
14	PERPIGNAN MEDITERRANEE	Paul McKENZIE	781
15	PORT DE COMMERCE LA ROCHELLE	Alexandre MERCIER	777
16	NANTES SAINT-NAZAIRE	Sebastien PETITHUGUENIN / Gaëtan AULNETTE	771
17	BIENNE – VOILE	R. HARTMANN / N. BERGER / C. KNOLL	752
18	COTES D’ARMOR	Michaël AVELINE	695
19	DEFI SCLEROSE EN PLAQUES	Stéphane VENEL	685
20	ESPOIRS AQUITAINS	J.P.ALLILIAIRE/X.CANTEGREL/J.FALXA	673
21	DEFI GRANDES ECOLES TOTAL INSA	Anne Claire LE BERRE	635
22	VAN UDEN TUDELFT	Gert VAN DER HEIJDEN	631
23	EMINENCE – MARSEILLE	Kiny PARADE	625
24	DEFI AMI – AVAYA - X - ENSAM	Olivier HONTANX	603
25	BREST GRANDES ECOLES ENSIETA ENST-BRETAGNE	Gildas MAHE	593
26 27	STAD GENT / VILLE DE GAND	Philippe BERGMANS / Bernard WILMET	581
28	AMEC SPIE	Eric BASSET	538
29	EIGSI – CHARENTE MARITIME	Antoine ALBARET	522
30	T SERVICE INTERIM REGION DE BRUXELLES-CAPITALE	Laurent DECLERCQ / Jean-Marc FOBERT	511
	HEC GAMELIN MECENAT CHIRURGIE CARDIAQUE	Ryan PARKIN	487