The final three-way battle for victory in the 13th Volvo Ocean Race has begun. Punctually at 2 p.m. the fleet started its last leg from Gothenburg to The Hague. Contrary to the original information from the organizers, the stage is almost 1000 nautical miles long and leads the crews along several additional markings.
Four seconds before the start there is a scramble: Dongfeng has evaded a possible three-way battle, between Brunel and Mapfre it's straight to the point …
At the start, no team has reached the line. Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag is the closest
The clear loser is the Spanish team Mapfre seconds after the start, the winner initially Simeon Tienpont's team AkzoNobel, which is overtaken by Dongfeng a little later
Bouwe Bekking's team Brunel had already set the first aggressive tone before the go-ahead. In the duel with Mapfre, the Dutch had pushed the Spaniards so badly that they couldn't cross the starting line correctly, but had to start again. For Xabí Fernandez and his team, there was an uncomfortable small gap to the rivals who were rushing away. As a result, Team Brunel could not take advantage of the starting advantage and fell back to penultimate place, while Dongfeng had taken command at the head of the fleet a good two hours after the start. At the time, the seven boats were still not a nautical mile apart.
How Brunel put Mapfre in trouble and how Dongfeng hurried away: This is how it got down to business at the start of the final!
Just an hour after the start, Brunel's on-board reporter Sam Greenfield had written: "Keep your fingers crossed that our finish will be better than our start. Because it was bad! We had to pinch and make a speed compromise, we were fifth in the Fleet lined up. With Dongfeng in front of us and Mapfre behind us, we left Gothenburg in second place overall. Before us is a very branched track on which anything can happen. The team has three days to overtake Dongfeng. We are currently sailing south of Norway with a boat speed of 11.1 knots in 16 knots of wind. " Brunel's helmsman, America's Cup winner and Olympic champion Peter Burling, said: "We're close to everyone. Next stop: Norway."
Bouwe Bekking's team Brunel had imagined the start differently. Now the fight for the overall victory means: nothing like afterwards …
Incidentally, AkzoNobel won the start itself. The second Dutch team in the race cannot get worse or improve on fourth place overall in the 13th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, but would like to win the final stage in the home port of The Hague. In addition, AkzoNobel could definitely play a role in the three-way battle in the final sprint if Simeon Tienpont's team slips between the leaders engaged in the three-way battle for victory. It remains extremely exciting on course The Hague, where the boats are expected to be expected by hundreds of thousands of fans at the weekend.
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Raised like pearls on a chain: the fleet on course The Hague