Italian skipper Ambrogio Beccaria produced a remarkable comeback to win the 2026 Vendée Arctique – Les Sables d'Olonne. The skipper of Allagrande Mapei crossed the finish line at 03:07 local time on Tuesday, 16 June, after 8 days, 14 hours, 5 minutes and 50 seconds of racing.
Beccaria completed the 3,190-nautical-mile course at an average speed of 15.5 knots. His victory followed an extraordinary recovery after a difficult opening phase of the race. "At no point did I think I could win," Beccaria said after finishing. "After 24 hours, I was almost thinking of stopping. I didn't trust myself to go north without an autopilot."
The Italian said he gradually overcame a series of technical and personal challenges during the race. "Little by little, I managed to overcome all the problems. I gained confidence in the boat and in myself," he said.
The comeback became increasingly unlikely as the race unfolded. "I would never have imagined being able to make up 200 miles," he said. "But in sailing, there is always a small element of fortune." Beccaria described the final stages as a reward for persistence. "When the opportunity is there, you forget the pain and the suffering and just do what you love: fight."
The race took competitors deep into northern waters, where conditions proved both challenging and surreal. "We sailed very far north and at one point it felt like we were approaching the end of the world," Beccaria said. "There was a strange atmosphere. We could hardly see anything and didn't really know where we were."
He also recalled the intense cold and large seas encountered along the route. "We had waves of more than 3.5 metres on two occasions during the race," he said. The experience, he added, strengthened his confidence in the boat. "It gave me a lot of confidence in this yacht."
Beccaria's victory caps one of the most dramatic finishes in the history of the Vendée Arctique and underlines his growing reputation among offshore sailing's leading competitors.
