Armel le Cléac'h (Banque Populaire VIII) has just dropped below the 2,000 mile mark to reach Les Sables-d'Olonne in a week's time. And he has managed to regain the lead over his direct pursuer Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss), even though the latter has once again grabbed a few miles by taking advantage of the leader's slowdown. The latter hasn't given up and is giving everything he has so he has nothing to regret... Because in the end, in a week, everything can still be decided, even if we now know that the winner and runner-up spots will be decided between these two.
"But the wind will weaken for me and I will slow down, as Armel before me did." says the Briton. "We'll have two days in light conditions. Then the wind will pick up and we'll accelerate, before a new ridge of high pressure and then the final stretch to the finish." Thomson still believes in his chances of victory. " I remain pragmatic and optimistic, and I should be able to narrow the gap. My current routing tells me I'll arrive 5 hours after Armel. But over the next two days, if I don't manage to reduce the gap to less than 50 miles, my chances of winning will be pretty slim. I'm trying to do my job. There are too many miles left to think about the finish."
These next two days will therefore be decisive for the skipper of Hugo Boss! In any case the weather conditions are still unstable at the head of the race. The low which has disturbed the whole of the North Atlantic is now moving further westwards and the two skippers should return to a more usual situation for the season... The weather patterns are very unstable and the situation is unusual for a month of January. The conditions are stormy, with unstable winds. So there are still some knocks to play for Alex Thomson, especially as the routing is announcing a complicated end to the course for the leaders, who are expected in Les Sables d'Olonne in eight days time on Thursday 19th January.
