Wily French silver fox, Fred Duthil (Le Journal Des Enterprises), has clinched Stage 1 of 53rd La Solitaire du Figaro by only 1 minute, 1 second.
At the conclusion of a thrilling match race to the finish line in the bay of Port La Forêt, Brittany, after nearly 560 nautical miles of solo racing, the 48-year-old French veteran narrowly won Stage 1, which started last Sunday afternoon local time from Saint Michel Chef, at the mouth of the Loire.
Clinching his fifth stage win of a La Solitaire career, which stretches back to 2004, Duthil crossed the finish line at 10:04:59hrs CEST/France, just one minute and one second before 37-year-old rookie, Davy Beaudart (Nautymor), who had held a tiny lead going into the final hour of the course.
A small navigation error by the rookie let Duthil through. Philip Hartz (Marine National Fondation de la Mer) took a close third at 10:09:05hrs.
After Duthil broke ahead of his rival at around three miles from the finish line, when Beaudart headed for the wrong buoy, he was then able stifle Beaudart, covering his each and every tack on a winner-takes-all upwind sprint in flat water and 10-12kts of wind.
Stage 1 results provisional:
1 Fred Duthil (Le Journal de Enterprises) finished 10:04:59hrs in 3 days 18hrs 24mins 59secs
2 Davy Beaudart (Nauty’mor) 10:06:00hrs 3d 18h 26m 00s + 1min 1 sec
3 Philippe Hartz (Marine National Fondation de la Mer) 10:09:05hrs 3d 18h 29m 5 s + 4mins 6 secs
4 Jorg Riechers (Ger, Alva Yachts) 11:10:36hrs 3d 19h 30m 36s +1 hr 5 min
All rankings at: https://lasolitaire.com/rankings
