Vincent Riou has pulled away overnight from his nearest rivals – Jean Le Cam and Mike Golding.

Riou, sailing PRB, picked up the new breeze yesterday and has managed stretch his lead over Le Cam by 134.5 miles. Le Cam and Golding have been forced to gybe away from a light zone, slip in behind and follow in Riou’s wake.

However, there are approximately seven days to the finish and although Riou still has the upper hand, the stage looks set for an extremely tense finale to this, the fifth edition of the Vendee Globe.

The current situation from the course shows Riou tracking along on the edge of the Azores high 4 kts faster than Le Cam, while Golding, now 216.0 miles behind the leader, is doing 12.1kts.

Nick Moloney who was under tow yesterday following the loss of his keel on Tuesday finally arrived in Rio de Janeiro last night . The Brazilian patrol vessel dropped the tow lines from Skandia at 2130 local time allowing Nick to motor the final stretch to Marina da Gloria where he met his shore crew.

Further back in the fleet Anne Liardet (Roxy) has had a rather frustrating transition into the South Atlantic since rounding Cape Horn yesterday. South of the island of Los Estados, Anne has encountered light winds which are forcing her to gybe round Tierra del Fuego.

Behind Anne, Raphaël Dinelli (Akena Vérandas) has finally seen the wind return on his approach to the Cape Horn. Dinelli has covered just 89 miles over the past 24 hours and is set to pass the rock tomorrow.

Rankings as of Thursday, January 27, 2005 – 04h00 GMT (05:00 AM FR)

1 PRB Vincent Riou 33 19.44′ N 30 10.12′ W, 1483.7 miles to finish, 14.1 kts boatspeed

2 Bonduelle Jean Le Cam 30 06.16′ N 29 28.48′ W, 1618.2 miles to finish, 134.5 miles to leader, 11.7 kts boatspeed

3 Ecover Mike Golding 29 19.24′ N 30 47.24′ W, 1699.7 miles to finish, 216.0 miles to leader, 12.1 kts boatspeed

4 Temenos Dominique Wavre 12 10.20′ N 30 57.44′ W, 2552.3 miles to finish, 1068.6 miles to leader, 10.6 kts boatspeed

5 VMI Sébastien Josse 11 24.84′ N 30 07.20′ W, 2571.4 miles to finish, 1087.7 miles to leader, 10.4 kts boatspeed

6 Virbac-Paprec Jean-Pierre Dick 14 35.20′ S 30 11.04′ W, 4029.8 miles to finish, 2546.1 miles to leader, 9.9 kts boatspeed

7 Skandia Nick Moloney 22 55.20′ S 43 10.20′ W, 4764.8 miles to finish, 3281.1 miles to leader, 0.1 kts boatspeed

8 Arcelor Dunkerque Joé Seeten 26 29.60′ S 37 46.24′ W, 4847.7 miles to finish, 3364.0 miles to leader, 8.0 kts boatspeed

9 Hellomoto Conrad Humphreys 29 49.16′ S 37 58.84′ W, 5038.2 miles to finish, 3554.5 miles to leader, 10.8 kts boatspeed

10 Ocean Planet Bruce Schwab 35 13.08′ S 43 19.32′ W, 5440.4 miles to finish, 3956.7 miles to leader, 10.6 kts boatspeed

11 Max Havelaar / Best Western Benoît Parnaudeau 39 16.02′ S 49 06.30′ W, 5767.8 miles to finish, 4284.1 miles to leader, 8.1 kts boatspeed

12 ROXY Anne Liardet 55 09.76′ S 65 20.56′ W, 6933.3 miles to finish, 5449.6 miles to leader, 8.5 kts boatspeed

13 AKENA Vérandas Raphaël Dinelli 55 37.76′ S 76 23.88′ W, 7326.6 miles to finish, 5842.9 miles to leader, 10.1 kts boatspeed

14 Benefic Karen Leibovici 53 35.48′ S 88 52.60′ W, 7776.1 miles to finish, 6292.4 miles to leader, 9.9 kts boatspeed