The sun was out on Sunday in Saint-Malo for the departure of the 115 participants in the Route du Rhum, for the 13th edition of the famous solo transatlantic sprint. At the end of the afternoon, it was Tom Laperche (SVR Lazartigue), one of the favorites, who took the lead of the competition, closely followed by Armel Le Cléac'h.

Published on: 01/11/2026 - 06:25 Modified on: 02/11/2026 - 07:59

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The cannon was fired at 1 p.m., Sunday, November 1, to launch the 115 skippers off the Route du Rhum, in favorable conditions: radiant sunshine, almost flat seas and a pleasant temperature.

Some follow the race from their radio, others on their phone, but when the sailboats arrive in front of Cape Town at the end of a first leg from the starting line off the coast of Saint-Malo, the crowd – 11,000 people according to the prefecture – applauds warmly and comments on the first duels.

At the race village, there were almost 200,000 on Friday to come and see the first boats leave the port and anchor outside the town.

As we pass the Fréhel gate, it is Armel Le Cléac'h (Banque Populaire) who has a little lead. But he quickly gave up the lead to Tom Laperche (SVR-Lazartigue), 29 years old, one of the favorites of the competition. The latter is setting off on his first major solo race, after having won all the preparation races for a year.

Armel Le Cléac'h was right behind him at the end of the afternoon, followed by Anthony Marchand (Actual) and Louis Burton (Armand Thiery), almost side by side.

Also read Sailing: new boat and new ambition for Sébastien Simon before the Route du Rhum

"That's it, let's go for the Route du Rhum! Quite a few maneuvers to get to Fréhel. The wind has died down a little but it will pick up in a short time, heading towards the exit of the Channel", declared Le Cléac'h in a video sent from on board.

Six categories of sailboats

"I'm a little stressed, obviously. I don't think you ever really get used to these moments. It's a goal that we've been preparing for a year and a half and everyone has worked very hard to be here," confided Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil), who came third in the last Vendée Globe, before his departure.

Specificity of the race, not all sailboats start equal in terms of performance. The fleet, a mix of professionals and amateurs, is made up of six categories of boats: from small monohulls that took part in the first edition, to the latest generation flying multihulls.

It is the latter, the Ultim, giant trimarans reaching more than 90 km/h on the water, which will be the first to escape towards the open sea. Helmed by the best skippers on the planet, these giants of the seas can hope to complete the crossing in six days, while the slowest sailboats will take almost a month to arrive in Guadeloupe, at Pointe-à-Pitre.

“Discover and progress” during the transatlantic race

After eight years of development, these F1 of the seas can establish a new crossing record, held since 2022 by Charles Caudrelier (6 days and 19 hours), also at the start this year, but lacking benchmarks on a brand new boat (Maxi Edmond de Rothschild).

“We are going to test the reliability, the boat's appendages and its solo management,” explained Caudrelier. “I will continue to discover it and make it progress during the transatlantic race, and this challenge is super interesting.”

Behind the Ultim, 22 sailboats from the Imoca fleet, the monohulls (18 m) of the Vendée Globe, display great ambitions.

Sam Goodchild (Macif), Jérémie Beyou (Charal 2) and Ambrogio Beccaria (Allagrande Mapei), aboard the most efficient boats, can hope to cross the Atlantic in 10 days.

Read also Sailing: great first for Léonard Legrand at the Route du Rhum

The young Basile Bourgnon, 24 years old and favorite in Ocean Fifty (15 meter trimaran) dreams of imitating his father Laurent, winner of the race in 1994 and 1998, but who disappeared at sea in 2015 during a dive.

With AFP

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