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The seven crews of the Volvo Ocean Race 2017/2018 arrived in Alicante during the night of Wednesday to Thursday (12th October) following the Prologue of the Race. This long four-day leg between Lisbon and Alicante was marked by the absence of wind and the victory of MAPFRE. A victory for the honours as this regatta was a training race.
The race was officially launched on Saturday 14th October 2017 with the MAPFRE In-Port Race. For this first In-Port race, the weather was fine - a breeze of around ten knots and plenty of sunshine. MAPFRE, which started first on the right-hand side of the race course, when the other crews chose to start on the left, brilliantly won this first round. Already winners the day before the training run on this same course, they took the lead for the entire race, to finish 1'28 ahead of Dongfeng Race Team, at an average speed of 10.19 knots over the 10 miles actually covered.
With their victory in the Prologue and this first In-Port, Xabi Fernandez's team shows that they are the favourites to win the 2017/2018 edition.
"It wasn't an easy race, but we took a little risk at the start and then everything went well. It couldn't have started better, I'm really happy with the team and the way things went." explained the skipper upon arrival.
It was a close battle for the other two places on the podium. Fourth at the first mark, third at the third, Dongfeng Race Team managed to grab second place at the end of the second of the three laps, even coming back 48 seconds behind MAPFRE at the start of the last leg thanks to a good positioning on the left side of the race course. The crew of Charles Caudrelier Vestas 11th Hour Racing (Charlie Enright) managed to dispossess Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking) of third place in the last leg, 16 seconds separating the two boats on the line.
"There's been a lot of action! MAPFRE was alone in the lead, but behind, we had a great battle for second place. We've shown we're capable, after our disappointing result over the last few days (6 e of the prologue). It's great that we came back and got that second place." commented Charles Caudrelier.
Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag (David Witt), second at the first mark, takes fifth place ahead of Team AkzoNobel (Simeon Tienpont), Turn the Tide on Plastic (Dee Caffari) leads the way.
Results
| Position | Crews | Real Time | Points |
| 1 | MAPFRE | 54:38 | 7 |
| 2 | Dongfeng Race Team | 56:06 | 6 |
| 3 | 11th Hour Racing Jacket | 56:54 | 5 |
| 4 | Team Brunel | 57:13 | 4 |
| 5 | Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag | 58:07 | 3 |
| 6 | akzoNobel team | 58:31 | 2 |
| 7 | Turn the Tide on Plastic | 59:39 | 1 |
