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Roland Jourdain won the ninth edition of the Route du Rhum and in so doing achieved a historic second consecutive victory after winning the race four years ago. A well-deserved success for the skipper of Veolia Environnement, who dominated the race practically from start to finish, in spite of a top-class line-up where everyone was of a similar standard. Armel Le Cléac’h and Marc Guillemot took the remaining places on the podium in this race that was often exhausting and complicated.

Roland Jourdain achieved a remarkable win on Sunday when he won the Queen of transatlantic races for the second time after 13 days, 17 hours, 10 minutes and 56 seconds of racing. No sailor had ever before won this race twice aboard a monohull. The title-holder grabbed the lead on the fourth day of the race, and never gave it up. “I managed to keep up with what was going on and everything went smoothly throughout,” declared Bilou at the finish in Pointe-à-Pitre. The calm zone as he approached Guadeloupe promised a tricky, unpredictable final stretch, which is always tiring on the sailors’ nerves, which had already been under a great deal of stress in this tiring race. But Bilou gave nothing away to his rivals and managed to keep his comfortable lead, in spite of the constant pressure from those chasing him, who were ready to pounce if he made the slightest mistake. Unlike the previous edition of the race, he quickly eliminated any risk of a last minute threat. “It’s true that this time I didn’t have a Jean Le Cam behind me (Editor’s note: in 2006, Jean Le Cam managed to narrow the gap in spectacular fashion and worried Roland Jourdain right up to the finish). I can’t say I missed him! Nothing is over until the finishing line is crossed, but the comfortable lead I had acquired over Armel and the others enabled me to enjoy the excitement of the final part of the race. The voyage around the island was slow, but it wasn’t that complicated.”

I thought I would win 
Those who opted to round the Azores high via the north had to face rough and often complicated conditions during the two weeks of racing. In spite of everything, Roland Jourdain kept his cool right up to the end, remaining confident and relaxed. “I had already pulled my hair out and turned grey in previous races, so I knew that there was no point in wasting your energy worrying about these things for no reason,” he explained on Friday. In spite of the high standard of his rivals, the skipper of Veolia Environnement always believed he would pull it off. “In Saint-Malo, I couldn’t say anything, but I thought I was going to win this race, because it was something that I just had to do,” he admitted once he had won the race. Everyone was looking forward to seeing the three new boats launched this year take part in the Route du Rhum (Vincent Riou’s PRB, Jean-Pierre Dick’s Virbac-Paprec 3 and Michel Desjoyeaux’s Foncia). But Bilou did magnificently well with his boat, Sébastien Josse’s former BT, a Farr designed boat from 2007 which he chartered for the event.

Brit Air second

Another one to watch in the race was Armel Le Cléac’h, who took second place. On his arrival at the pontoon in Pointe-à-Pitre, the skipper of Brit Air congratulated his rival on his performance: “Bilou had a perfect race and there was no way to get by him. He was beyond our reach.”  After his win in the Transat AG2R and the Solitaire du Figaro, Armel Le Cléac’h ends this season in fine style  and was obviously pleased with the result: “I’m really pleased about finishing second, particularly as we weren’t really the favourites for this race with a boat from the last generation but one”. Already second in the Artemis Transat in 2008, behind Loïck Peyron, and in the last Vendée Globe, when he finished behind Michel Desjoyeaux, the “Jackal” has shown remarkable regularity at the highest level.

Safran takes the remaining place

Marc Guillemot took third place in this year’s Route du Rhum, after a final stretch of very close racing with Jean-Pierre Dick, who had to make do with fourth place. The two men were neck and neck as they sailed along the coast of Basse-Terre, and only separated out in the final miles. The skipper of Safran was pleased about this outcome: “Even if I was aiming higher, it’s very pleasing to share the podium with two very skilful sailors that I greatly admire.”

Vincent Riou, who was still in with a chance of finishing on the podium 24 hours before the finish, ended up in fifth place. On Monday morning, three IMOCA class skippers are still at sea: Michel Desjoyeaux, Christopher Pratt and Arnaud Boissières.

Rankings at 0650 hrs GMT on 15th November

1 - Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement), Finished at 0512 hrs on 14/11/2010
2 - Armel Le Cléac'h (Brit Air), Finished at 1308hrs on 14/11/2010 
3 - Marc Guillemot (Safran), Finished at 0030 hrs on 15/11/2010
4 - Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac-Paprec 3), Finished at 0316 hrs on 15/11/2010
5 - Vincent Riou (PRB), Finished at 0605 hrs on 15/11/2010
6 - Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia), 187.3 miles from the finish
7 - Christopher Pratt (DCNS 1000), 214.6 miles from the finish
8 - Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas), 219.4 miles from the finish
RET - Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel)