Italian sailor Ambrogio Beccaria and his staff Allagrande Mapei took first place within the Ocean Race Europe Leg 4, breaking Biotherm’s so-far excellent rating. Leg 4 noticed the fleet dealing with electrical failures, unstable Mediterranean circumstances, and the notorious Bouches de Bonifacio.
Ambrogio Beccaria’s staff Allagrande Mapei Racing made a triumphant end to The Ocean Race Europe Leg 4 as they arrived in Genoa, Italy early Wednesday morning.
Beccaria, who constructed and launched his Class 40 yacht in Genoa in 2022, stated he considers town his second residence, and was overjoyed to have gone from lacking Leg 1 fully resulting from a dramatic collision with Holcim-PRB to profitable this stretch.
The Ocean Race Europe Leg 4 noticed the fleet of IMOCA 60s on a 600 nautical mile leg that began in Good earlier than snaking round Corsica, by the famed Bouches de Bonifacio, and into Genoa, which hosted the Grand Finale of inaugural version of The Ocean Race Europe in 2021.
Already at the beginning of the Ocean Race Europe Leg 4, Beccaria had stated he had just one purpose– to be first throughout the end line in Genoa.
After coming ashore within the night time, having completed the leg at 01:42:14 native time on Wednesday 3 September, he confirmed, “I all the time wish to win each leg. However this one was particular as a result of the end was in Italy.”
Beccaria wasn’t the one Italian sailor trying ahead to a homecoming.
Francesca Clapcich of Group Malizia stated, “I’m actually trying ahead to having lots of Italian individuals coming down in Porto Antico in the midst of town. Now we have an Italian boat additionally on this race with Ambrogio. Hopefully individuals shall be actually excited to come back down, test it out, and spend time collectively.”
Second on the finish of the Ocean Race Europe Leg 4 was Yoan Richomme’s Paprec Arkéa, adopted by general race chief Biotherm in third.
Ocean Race Europe Leg 4 at a look
The fleet leaves Good crusing upwind
Biotherm first by the scoring gate off Monaco
Mild winds off the Western aspect of Corsica
The tempo picks up because the fleet races by the Strait of Bonifacio
Energy outage onboard Allagrande Mapei as they move the Island of Elba
Homecoming victory for Ambrogio Beccaria and staff Allagrande Mapei
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Ocean Race Europle Leg 4 begins in Good
The fleet, Code Zero headsails excessive, headed upwind in 8 knots of wind. Photograph: Jean-Lous Carli / The Ocean Race Europe 2025.
Holcim-PRB, with Nico Lunven changing skipper Rosalin Kuiper for Leg 4, and Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm made the cleanest begin, slipping away from the pack inside the first minutes of the race.
Group Amaala opted for a port begin, heading offshore hoping for stronger winds and hoping to reap the advantages of a radically completely different tactic.
Paul Meilhat of Biotherm, the race’s clear general chief, had commented, ‘It’s higher to be the hunted than the hunter, that’s for certain. I don’t actually care in regards to the stress. It’s not that I prefer it, however it doesn’t have an effect on me lots. Whenever you’re chasing the others, it’s extra stress. You will have an issue to repair, you’re probably not assured.”
True to his phrase, Biotherm was as soon as once more first by the scoring gate at Monaco, snatching the lead from Paprec Arkéa on the final second.
Photograph: Gauthier Lebec / the Ocean Race Europe 2025.
The winds died away in a single day, taking the fleet by patches of calm. Paprec Arkéa held pace extra constantly than the fleet, managing to achieve a one mile lead.
A breath of air round 2am separated leaders Holcim, Paprec, and Biotherm from the remainder of the group.
“Our first night time at sea didn’t actually go in response to plan,” stated Group Malizia’s Cole Brauer of falling behind, which she known as “disappointing.” “They have been blasting away whereas we have been simply sitting geese.”
Uncertainty within the Mediterranean
Within the Mediterranean, “No person is aware of what’s going to occur,” stated Biotherm’s Benjamin Ferré. “We research the Meteo and attempt to perceive what is going to occur, however in the long run it’s completely completely different. So we simply need to adapt, hold shifting, hold targeted, and attempt to go as quick as doable in the proper route.”
Pip Hare, who sailed the final leg of The Ocean Race Europe 2021, stated, “My expertise is there may be not lots of wind, with waterspouts and thunderstorms – it throws all of it at you.”
Photograph: The Ocean Race Europe, Powered by PredictWind.
As in Leg 3, Italian sailor Ambrogio Beccaria of Allagrande Mapei remained unfazed by the unpredictable circumstances in his residence waters.
“I like Mediterranean crusing,” he commented. “I used to be born right here and it’s what made me love the ocean. I hope she loves me too, however typically it’s a troublesome relationship and it’s onerous to grasp what she desires.”
Dash by the Bouches of Bonifacio
Group Hoclim-PRB pulled forward because the fleet approached Bonifacio, with Biotherm and Paprec Arkéa shut behind. They have been recent off a protracted night time of sunshine air crusing, throughout which the fleet stayed compact.
“There’s going to be a lot of manoeuvres now, a lot of tacking, a transition. We are going to most likely go into the strait upwind and are available out of it downwind. It’s going to be a busy few hours,” stated Alan Roberts aboard Group Holcim-PRB.
Because the fleet got here into the Strait of Bonifacio and the wind elevated from 5 knots to just about thirty, the sailors needed to change their monumental Code Zero headsails for smaller J3s.
Photograph: Julie Champolion / The Ocean Race Europe 2025.
“Racing round Corsica is all the time very difficult as a result of the mountains on the island are huge and their wind shadows are big,” says Paprec Arkéa’s Yoann Richomme.
Holcim – PRB skipper Lunven defined how the Venturi impact impacted circumstances, “Within the Bonifacio Strait the wind elevated due to the funnelling impact between Corsica on our port aspect and Sardinia on our starboard aspect. These islands are very excessive – particularly Corsica – between 2,000 and a couple of,500 metres. It’s a slender passage between the 2, so the wind accelerates lots.’
Nonetheless, he commented, ‘30 knots for Bonifacio is a simple day – it might have been approach worse!”
Allagrande pulls forward off the Island of Elba
Photograph: Pierre Bouras / The Ocean Race Europe 2025.
At the same time as they handled an onboard energy concern that left them with out crusing devices for an hour, Ambrogio Beccaria’s staff Allagrande Mapei managed to tug forward of the fleet whereas passing the island of Elba.
“At one level we tried to cost our battery and the engine didn’t begin. So we needed to shut down the entire boat, steer the boat with nothing – at night time. Morgan succeeded in repairing the alternator and we have been in a position to go on with the race. However that second might have been the tip for us,” stated Beccaria.
Allagrande’s triumphant arrival in Genoa
Photograph: Lloyd Photos / The Ocean Race 2025.
Beccaria’s Allagrande Mapei held on to their lead and made probably the most of an incoming breeze from a Mediterranean low stress system. They sprinted in the direction of Genoa, hitting 25 knots of downwind foiling pace and rising their benefit to twenty nautical miles over chasers Paprec Arkéa.
Undaunted, Paprec Arkéa managed to shrink the hole to only eight miles, however it in the end wasn’t sufficient to overhaul Beccaria’s homecoming staff, which pulled away once more due to an offshore drainage breeze.
When is the Ocean Race Europe Leg 5?
After having fun with celebrations and a few much-needed relaxation in Genoa, the fleet will set off for Ocean Race Europe Leg 5, the race’s final, on 7 August. The 1,000 nautical mile sprint to Montenegro will take them by a scoring gate at Santo Stefano, within the Arcipelago della Maddalena, earlier than the race’s grand finale in Boka Bay.
When you loved this recap of the Ocean Race Europe Leg 4….
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