Saint-Malo (France) (AFP) – One day after the start, the Route du Rhum gave its first lessons to several contenders: Charles Caudrelier, defending champion, clings to the big favorites at the helm of his brand new Ultim, but the dreams of victory have vanished for Anthony Marchand and Violette Dorange.

Published on: 02/11/2026 - 11:43

The youngest of the last Vendée Globe arrived in tears in the dead of night in the port of Roscoff (Finistère) to inspect her Imoca Initiatives Coeur, damaged shortly after the start on Sunday during a collision with a competitor.

"I don't know how it happened. The boat accelerated very, very hard (...) I'm really upset, I'm so sad. I flew into the boat and I heard everything cracking in every direction," said the 25-year-old sailor, very moved.

At 3:15 p.m. on Sunday, off the island of Bréhat, the skipper collided with Romain Pilliard's Use it Again trimaran. “My foil hit its hull. I have several breakages,” she explained.

Pilliard also arrived in Roscoff during the night to inspect the damage to his hull, damaged by the impact. The boats were still moored late Monday morning and the technical teams were working to find solutions to be able to leave.

"I think that we both didn't want this to happen. I'm sorry for Romain. For us, I don't know how it's going to happen because there's still a lot of damage," lamented Dorange, who was aiming for a top 10 in Imoca for his first Rhum.

Launched towards the Azores

Launched at full speed towards the Azores in the leading group of the premier Ultim category, Anthony Marchand (Actual) experienced the other big misfortune of these first 24 hours of crossing.

While hot on the heels of leaders Tom Laperche (SVR Lazartigue) and Armel Le Cléac'h (Banque Populaire), the Breton sailor began to tread water around 8:00 a.m. (GMT+1), 400 miles off the coast of Brittany.

"He encountered a major technical problem with his central rudder, forcing him to stop his boat (...) The situation is now under control. Anthony is safe and so is his boat," assured his team in a press release to AFP.

The 41-year-old sailor is investigating the problem on the open sea to see if a repair can be made. But his dreams of victory in the queen of deckchairs now seem compromised as the Ultims are going so quickly on the Atlantic Ocean.

He also took the start of his first Route du Rhum aboard the former Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, an extremely efficient boat and winner of the event in 2022 with Charles Caudrelier at the helm.

A hell of a train

Caudrelier held on all night to the hellish pace set by Laperche, Le Cléac'h and Thomas Coville (Sodebo). He was in 4th position in the fleet late Monday morning.

This is almost a feat for the title holder because he is sailing aboard a sailboat announced as revolutionary but only launched last February. It is not yet completely reliable or tamed by the sailor.

“In 2022, my boat was one step ahead. I had won everything, I had sailed a lot, I was comfortable in my management of the boat whose settings I knew to within 10 centimeters,” he explained shortly before the start.

"This year, it's very different (...) I know Gitana 18 less well. I know that she is efficient, but not yet at 100% of her potential. I'm going to discover things, conditions in which I haven't yet sailed," added Caudrelier.

In pure speed, the sailboat seems to keep pace with the favorites, but without its usual automatisms, Caudrelier is currently losing a little ground with each important maneuver. For how long?

© 2026 AFP

The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.