At the top of its game, Alinghi takes the lead in the rankings in Nice, with only one day remaining. As always in the Extreme Sailing Series, the last race will count double to keep the suspense alive until the end.
And this will be truer than ever here in Nice. Mathematically, each of the eleven teams in the running can finish on the podium!
The third day of racing on the Côte d’Azur may remain as the most decisive of the 2014 Extreme 40 season. The rankings have never been so open. There has been a lot of movement on the leaderboard today, but the most important is that of Alinghi, which started the Nice event with just one point lead in the overall Series rankings over its main rival The Wave, Muscat.
On the eve of the Act 7 conclusion, Alinghi thus extends its lead, and The Wave, Muscat must now do everything to limit the damage.
For the Omanis, current titleholders, it was a day to quickly forget. The Wave, Muscat took a serious hit to their morale, but they are not finished yet.
Realteam, which had dominated the event from the first day, has managed to maintain its place on the podium. The Swiss are currently second, 10 points behind Alinghi, and three points ahead of Emirates Team New Zealand.
Seven races were held this Saturday, and the stakes are such at this stage of the competition that crews did not hesitate in light winds to take risks to stand out from the rest of the fleet.
But in this game, the slightest mistake can be costly. A simple false start on the starting line and it is impossible to come back. The big winners of the day are therefore the teams that managed to limit their errors.
Such as Oman Air, which won two races and climbed from eighth to fourth place in the rankings.
Behind, J.P Morgan BAR, on the other hand, did not shine with consistency. Like the majority of the fleet today. The British are fifth, just one point ahead of the sixth, GAC Pindar.
Gazprom Team Russia, which had a good start to the regatta, lost a few places in the rankings. They are seventh in a tie with Red Bull Sailing Team. As for the French, no big changes. Groupama sailing team is ninth tonight, but there may still be opportunities to play tomorrow.
As always in the Extreme Sailing Series, the last race will count double to keep the suspense alive until the end. And this will be truer than ever here in Nice. Mathematically, each of the eleven teams in the running can finish on the podium!
