Nicolas Luven will have taken less than 24 hours to complete the 150-mile express course (theoretical) from Concarneau to Concarneau, known as the 24 Hours of Cornwall. Arriving this Friday, June 16 at 10:54:55 a.m., it took him 20 hours and 54 minutes and 55 seconds to win this 3rd leg. This is his second stage victory, after taking first place on the podium on stage 1. Overall, this stage consolidates the overall classification of the 48th edition, and widens some gaps, much more than the long crossing from Gijon to Concarneau.
Nicolas Lunven was ahead of the forecast timing due to the sustained wind all evening. This was in spite of the uncertain wind at the end of the race, in spite of the repeated attacks by Gildas Mahé (Agir Contre la faim) and Adrien Hardy (Agir Recouvrement), who completed the podium, and in spite of the accumulated fatigue of the first ten days of racing. Always in a good position, he took the lead of the stage at the end of the day yesterday, at the end of a joyous spinnaker tack towards Sud Guérande where his middle option between belle-îles and land proved to be a good one, and he didn't leave it.
" A lot of things work for me. I'm going rather fast, I'm relatively well inspired, I feel at ease on the boat, on the navigation... It's like a dream! I don't know what's going on in my head, but if I look at the start of the season, I've done some great things. Maybe there's a trigger, something inexplicable, which will remain unexplained. It's possible that Jérémie (Beyou) and Yann (Eliès) are blaming the blow after the Vendée Globe, with less preparation on top of that. What pays off aboard Generali is a lot of work. I didn't take a break between 2016 and 2017, I worked like crazy, maybe it finally paid off."
Let's do the math: first, third, first, in other words the skipper of Generali doesn't leave much to his rivals on this 48th Solitaire URGO Le Figaro. Rather on the usual reserve, he feels strong, liberated and declares him to have a bottle of champagne in his hands :
"It's more like a dream, this Solitaire, even if it's not over. There may indeed have been a small trigger, something inexplicable and which will remain unexplained! You'd have to plug electrodes into my brain to see what's going on up there!"
Adrien Hardy saluted the performance when he disembarked at the pontoon and noted that "we'll have to be perfect to beat Nicolas on the last leg". Second in the provisional general standings, the skipper of Agir Recouvrement is now 24 minutes behind the leader, who has an hour's lead over third-placed Charlie Dalin (Skipper Macif 2015), 8th in a leg which didn't go down well for him. He is trailing in the general standings behind Sébastien Simon (Bretagne Crédit Mutuel Performance), less than 3 minutes behind the leader...
We knew that the stage would be fast, but not necessarily that it would generate more gaps than the previous one, which was three days long. In 21 hours of racing, the fleet remained tightly grouped until nightfall, when the top ten were within a mile of each other. However, the climb back up into the Bay of Quiberon and above all the whipping around in front of Groix at daybreak dashed some hopes. Yann Eliès [Queguiner Leukaemia Hope] finished 18th for example, 38 minutes behind the leader, Benjamin Dutreux lost ten places in an hour towards the end and Julien Pulvé [Team Vendée Formation] crossed the line in 27th position... The newcomers, let's talk about it!
It was Tanguy Le Turquais [Nibelis], well inspired to go and stick to the tip of Trevignon at the end of the course, who won and carried out the best operation in the ranking. He significantly reduces his gap on Julien Pulvé who loses four places in the general standings. These two brilliant rookies are now separated by a quarter of an hour. As much to say that nothing is done between now and Dieppe..
In any case, everyone will be able to redo their accounts and above all to store up as much rest as possible with three consecutive nights to come to Concarneau, which has not happened since Gijon. It's a good thing, as after the sprint, the final stage, which starts on Monday towards Dieppe, will be a long distance race; on the programme, little wind, current, and 525 miles to keep the suspense going all the way to the end.
