Vendée Globe: the rankings for this Thursday, January 9 in the evening, with Dalin “keeping an eye” on Richomme

Charles Dalin (Macif Santé Prévoyance) still leads the Vendée Globe fleet, maintaining a comfortable gap with his pursuer Yoann Richomme (Paprec Arkéa), according to the score taken this Thursday at 7 p.m. But Richomme persists in reducing the distance that separates him from the Normandy leader, which he reduced to 172.83 nautical miles Thursday evening, a gain of more than 10 miles for this 61st day of racing.

“I’m keeping an eye on Yoann who, I know, won’t do anything, won’t give up until the end,” says Le Havre, aware of the abilities of his great friend turned rival, less than a week from the finish. of this 10th Everest of the seas. The duo continues to calmly travel up the North Atlantic, off the African coast while approaching an anticyclonic ridge.

Soon stronger wind

“The wind is slightly less strong (7 to 10 knots rather than 15). As soon as they have passed it (Friday), they will start to experience stronger and stronger wind again,” explained Basile Rochut, the weather consultant for the non-stop solo round the world trip. In third place, Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil) is sailing alone and is faced with a tactical dilemma faced with the evolution of the wind in the trade winds, to avoid seeing the gap widen with the leading sailboat, which is student at 775.17 min.