Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm (FRA) has won the third leg of The Ocean Race Europe in Nice after holding off Rosalin Kuiper’s Holcim – PRB (SUI) over a stormy final 24 hours at sea.
Holcim – PRB took second place, finishing 27 minutes after Biotherm after staging a prolonged attack on the leaders overnight.
With winds up around 20 knots the foiling IMOCAs were averaging over 20 knots of boatspeed as they tore through the dark towards the Nice finish line.
Biotherm made a dawn arrival into Nice Friday morning, crossing the finish line at 05:12:14 UTC to complete the passage from Cartagena, Spain in two days, 16 hours, 12 minutes.
The leg win earns the French team seven points and extends their perfect score in the European race so far, having collected maximum points on all three legs and all three scoring gates.
Closing out the podium positions on Leg 3 was Ambrogio Beccaria’s Italian entry Allagrande Mapei who finished 53 minutes after Holcim – PRB. For Beccaria and his new team competing in their first major event it was a hard-fought but satisfying result.
Fourth into Nice was Yoann Richomme’s Team Paprec Arkéa (FRA) – skippered on this leg by Corentin Horeau (FRA) – who trailed the Italian boat by 49 minutes.
Provisional Leaderboard after Leg 3:
1st Biotherm — 34 points
2nd Team Holcim PRB – 23 points
3rd Team Paprec Arkéa – 23 points
4th Team Malizia – 16 points
5th Allagrande Mapei Racing – 12 points
6th Be Water Positive – 10 points
7th Team Amaala – 6 points
