Tom Dolan of Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan has made a commendable climb up the leaderboard in the latest update from the 2023 La Solitaire du Figaro, positioning himself in sixth place. He was 4.5 miles behind the leader, Benoît Tuduri of CAPSO en Cavale. Dolan was going well upwind, positioned slightly offshore of the boats around him, which could benefit him by sailing a shorter distance to the last marks of the course.
With just over 70 nautical miles to sail at 1800hrs this (Wednesday) evening, the battle for the overall title hangs in the balance. Basile Bourgnon (Edenred) trails two miles directly behind second-placed Corentin Horeau (Banque Populaire) as they beat back up the Vendée coast between Les Sables d’Olonne and Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie after starting the third and final 470 miles stage from Roscoff to Priac-sur-Mer with a lead of 8 minutes and 55 seconds over Horeau.
The theoretical time difference between Horeau and Bourgnon is around 20-25 minutes, giving the advantage to Horeau by a matter of ten or 11 minutes. It is increasingly looking like Horeau, the older, more experienced sailor, finally has the most coveted solo one design offshore title within his grasp on his seventh attempt. The breeze is likely to ease over the duration of the evening and night, and will head them to ensure the last dozen miles will be directly upwind. But most forecasts do not predict a shutdown.
Loïs Berrehar, who was in third going into the final stage, is 32 minutes and 42 seconds behind Bourgnon and 23 minutes and 47 seconds behind Horeau. He is in seventh place but only a few hundred metres ahead of Horeau. It's worth noting that the strategy for the podium is being in front of the other two.
The race is expected to end tonight, and all eyes are on the top contenders, namely Horeau, Bourgnon, and Tuduri.
ETA on the finish line is between 0300 and 0600hrs local time Thursday