Saint-Malo (France) (AFP) – The youngest of the last Vendée Globe, Violette Dorange, will make a stopover in Roscoff (Finistère) after a collision with a competitor a few hours after the start of the Route du Rhum on Sunday, her team announced.

Published on: 01/11/2026 - 21:13

At the helm of the Imoca Initiatives Coeur, the 25-year-old sailor damaged her starboard foil by colliding with Romain Pilliard's Use it Again trimaran, off the island of Bréhat.

“The two skippers are well, but the two boats require repairs. They are currently heading towards Roscoff, where the Initiatives-Cœur team is waiting for them,” said Dorange’s entourage in a press release sent to AFP.

Romain Pilliard's multihull and Violette Dorange's monohull collided around 3:15 p.m., two hours after the gun was fired in mild conditions off the coast of Saint-Malo.

“I had been sailing alongside her for a while (...) we had a fairly similar speed for a good while,” Pilliard told AFP, in a voice message sent early in the evening.

While he was reducing his sail, and the wind had just strengthened, Violette Dorange's Imoca hit him. “She didn’t see me, I think that’s really it (…) I hope she’s okay,” Pilliard said.

His team told AFP that he had not filed a complaint with race management at this stage. In accordance with the notice of race for the Route du Rhum, technical stopovers are authorized unlimitedly within the first 150 miles after the start.

Furthermore, boats can stay in port as long as they wish to repair before leaving. But with this damage, Violette Dorange sees her ambition of top 10 on the queen of translantic ships being seriously compromised.

At 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, the Imoca fleet was led by Sam Goodchild (Macif) ahead of Ambrogio Beccaria (Allagrande Mapei) and Elodie Bonafous (Petits Princes - Quéguiner).

© 2026 AFP

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