For the moment, it is Dongfeng Race Team that has taken the lead in the fleet. Until a few hours ago, the leader was Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing before it gave up its place to MAPFRE. Only the girls from Team SCA are slightly behind by less than 11 miles, but that is not much when you consider that there are still 1600 miles to go.
At the start, in the Gulf Stream, some managed to get away, like Team Brunel, which had a 20-mile lead over its rivals, but was finally caught by the rest of the fleet. Others were not making any progress and thought the race was lost, like Dongfeng Race with its 35 mile deficit on the leader. Today, they are all sailing closely together, towards Portugal. They think they are in an In-Port rather than in one of the stages of the Volvo.
On this 7 e stage, the crews are surrounded in the North and in the South. In the 1st er in this case, it is an exclusion zone delimited by the race committee, to avoid icebergs, and which goes down to the latitude of Lisbon. To the south, the Azores high is made up of light winds and the boats risk getting stuck in the calms. The boats will therefore have to find the most appropriate way to reach Portugal. The boats located further north will go faster, but will have more road, while those in the south will take the turn to the rope with the risk of stopping in the gravel.
According to the latest estimates, the fleet is expected to arrive in Lisbon next Wednesday.
Provisional ranking of May 22
| Distance to leader | ||
| 1 | Dongfeng Race Team | 0.0 min |
| 2 | MAPFRE | 1,6 mn |
| 3 | Team Brunel | 3,9 mn |
| 4 | Team Alvimedica | 4.1 mn |
| 5 | Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing | 6,7 mn |
| 6 | Team SCA | 10.6 minutes |
