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The 3rd step for Fred Duthil
Three legs of the Solitaire du Figaro 2020, three winners différents?! At the end of this third 492-mile race between Dunkirk and Saint-Nazaire, Fred Duthil (Sailing Technician/Cabinet Bourhis Generali), the oldest member of the fleet, emporte?! And yet, it was a battle to the finish, as the outcome of the leg was so uncertain.
In total, no less than 45 leaders have succeeded one another at the head of the fleet, constantly calling into question Armel le Cléac'h (Banque Populaire)'s first place in the general ranking.
It has to be said that the high pressure which hit the 33 Figaro racers to the north of Belle-Île gave the skippers a hard time. All the more so as these small and large zones of low pressure hadn't been anticipated by any weather file.
It was Adrien Hardy (Ocean Attitude) who first decided to try his luck in the West of Belle-Île, followed by Marc Mallaret (CER Occitanie) and Fred Duthil. While the former finally got caught in the softness, the latter two took advantage of the NE'ly wind to finally cross the line in second and first position.
"I never would have bet on that victoire?! Everything was complicated this afternoon, the whole stage. The beginning of the race was difficult, full of uncertainties, softness and changes. The night in North Brittany was horrible, with these omnipresent algae. After Ushant, I was very tired and dozed off for an hour. But I thought to myself dit?; "You never know, there'll be hits at jouer?!" As soon as Penmarc'h, being behind, I told myself that I had to go under Belle-Île. I was very afraid of the island's winds at dawn. We had talked about it with Christian Dumard. I did well on écouter?! If I'd ever been in front of it, I wouldn't have done it. But this time, it was worth a try. I believed in this option. I scanned the horizon with binoculars and I realized I was ahead. Then I went soft for a while and I was afraid it would come back from behind, but it's at tenu?! This victory is unexpected. I had only sailed 4 days before the start on this boat loaned by Charles Caudrelier. I came a little on a whim. I did two nice first stages and I saw that I was not off topic. I'm not thinking about the general, I'm happy with this success" explains Fred Duthil.
Armel le Cléac'h keeps the general's podium
The skipper of Banque Populaire retains his lead in the general standings, with a slight lead of 10 minutes over Frédéric Duthil, winner of this 3rd leg. The 4th leg will therefore be decisive, as Armel explains:
"I'm only ten minutes ahead of Frederic Duthil. It's not much, but it's still good at prendre?! We have a small mattress ahead of the other competitors and it's possible that the fourth stage will turn into a mano a mano between Fred and me. The race scenario will depend a lot on the weather. In the meantime, we're going to have to recuperate to be clear-sighted on this final stage, which will be a decisive sprint."
