Results from the last offshore race of the Tour de France à la Voile from Hyères to Nice have left top rankings unaltered.

Marseille, skippered by Dimitri Deruelle, came home in first after a 40-mile race sailed in winds that started light and increased throughout the day except for patchy conditions near the end.

“We had a good start at the pin end which was the favoured side,” commented Dimitri Deruelle. “Then we went further offshore which paid after a while when the wind shifted. We had a hard time staying in front of Région Ile de France which was faster than us downwind. But we managed to control her.”

Jimmy Pahun’s Région Ile de France finished in second position and further cut the defecit to the TFV leader, Nantes-St-Nazaire, which came in fourth.

“The race was decided at the beginning,” reflected Nantes-St-Nazaire’s skipper Pierre Loïc Berthet. “We decided to sail towards the shore in order to get the land breeze, which allowed us to come in front, but later on we had some speed problems while tight reaching.”

Third boat overall, Ville de Genève Carrefour Prévention, skippered by Etienne David, lost some ground to the top two by finishing 10th but Pierre Loïc Berthet is taking nothing for granted: “The next three races will be most intense as the top three boats will definitely start a war. It’s true that the Swiss have lost a few points but I wouldn’t bury them as they will fight back and in Nice’s conditions anything can happen. We’ll have to try and managed our lead as best as possible.”

Rob Greenhalgh’s Panther Team GBR scored a seventh position which leaves them in fourth place overall. “We started a beat then the sea breeze came in and shifted to the right the whole day. So we had two tacks and a long run. We were in fifth but lost two places entering the bay,” Greenhalgh explained.

Student leading boat Force EDC, skippered by Australia’s Simon Sutherland finished in 17th. Sam Stephens, the British navigator onboard Force EDC commented this morning on his expectations for this race: “It’s probably not a day to try and win but to make sure to not get stuck out in a limb. It’s an easy day to do well and then still come last.” Such prudence has left the team eighth overall.

Amateur British boat Royal Thames skippered by Owen Modral came home in 29th, leaving her 17th overall.

The fleet will sail two inshore races tomorrow with the event concluding in Nice on Monday.

Overall standings
1Nantes-St-Nazaire, Pierre Loïc Berthet, 1717.5pts
2Région Ile de France, Jimmy Pahun, 1711pts
3Ville de Genève Carrefour Prévention, Etienne David, 1694.25pts
4Panther Team GBR, Rob Greenhalgh, 1577pts
5Défi Partagé, Thierry Bouchard, 1559.25pts
6Marseille, Dimitri Deruelle, 1517pts
7Ville D’Antibes-NEC, Marc Bouvet and Marc Audineau, 1513pts
8Force EDC, Simon Sutherland, 1479.5pts
9Dieppe Seine Maritime, Gildas Philippe, 1470.5pts
10Cotes d’Armor Toutes Voiles Dehors, Vincent Biarnes, 1465.5pts