Yesterday morning in Paimpol, the Tour de France à la Voile 2005
fleet raced the 8th Olympic leg of the event – a leg that is now changing the overall ranking. Toulon Provence Méditerranée Coychyères is still first but lost 35 points over second-placed, Bouygues Telecom, after a disqualification on the second start.

Fabien Henry – skipper of Toulon Provence Méditerranée Coychyères was one of the five boats black-flagged and disqualified. Commenting Henry said: “Getting a black flag now is not a very good thing. We could have been more careful. I know we will be able to drop it, but we still have to build a new advantage.” On the Tour de France à la Voile, it’s possible to drop the worse leg off the overall results.

One man’s poison is another man’s meat. In the overall ranking, Bouygues Telecom, which won yesterday’s race, is now 25 points behind the overall leader, Provence Méditerranée Coychyères, instead of 60 points yesterday. But for Pierre-Loïc Berthet, the advantage is more psychological. “This puts some more pressure on Toulon’s shoulders. They have already used their Joker card, now they won’t be able to take any more risks.”

With the disqualification of Dieffe – Seine Maritime and their third place today, the Swiss team of Ville de Geneve Carrefour Prevention is now third in the overall ranking.

The happiest crew now is probably Cotes d’Armor. The Amateur team finished second of the Olympic race in front of its audience in Paimpol, in their own county. In this ranking, Mickaël Aveline and his crew are now 6th, 0,5 points from fifth-placed Bienne Voile.

The fleet of Mumm 30s has now set sail again for the fifth offshore leg, between Paimpol and Douarnenez (south-west of Brittany) on the second longest leg of this 28th Tour de France à la Voile (127 miles).