The Tour de France à la voile concluded this Sunday in Nice, the 9th stage city of the route. Despite the attack that occurred on July 14th last year, José Cobos, a municipal council member of the city, in agreement with the president of Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the group promoting the event, decided to keep the event on. However, the festive aspect was removed, “out of respect for all the people of Nice,” José Cobos stated on Friday.
The new format of the Tour de France à la voile offers a points-based ranking. This allowed Team Lorina Limonade – Golfe du Morbihan, leading since the first stage in Dunkirk, to secure the overall ranking even before this final race in Nice.
The crew, consisting of Quentin Delapierre and Matthieu Salomon, “has enormous potential, they are still youngsters, they have incredible talent and work very well together. I think that within about ten years, they will achieve great things in this sport,” testified Jean-Christophe Mourniac, the skipper of Grandeur Nature Veranda, who finished second overall, 64 points behind Lorina.
Saturday hosted the Gold, Silver, and Bronze finals. The top 6 competed in the Gold category, then from 7th to 15th place for Silver, and finally from 16th to 24th place for Bronze. The wind was very weak compared to the previous day, Friday, when the trimarans were constantly on the quarters.
It was Team Coved, composed of Aurélien Ducroz, Laurent Voiron, and Olivier Backes, that won this stage in the Bay of Angels. The 50 points awarded allowed them to climb to the foot of the podium, to fourth place.
The podium, therefore, consists of Team Lorina in 1st place, Grandeur Nature Véranda in 2nd, and Crédit Mutuel Bretagne, skippered by Nicolas Troussel, who, by finishing 6th in the Gold race facing the Promenade des Anglais, was edged out of second place at the last moment.
Thibault Bourru
