Brest (AFP)

The duo of favorites Jeremie Beyou and Christopher Pratt (Charal), who has been leading the Imoca class since the Transat Jacques Vabre (TJV), is making progress on Monday with his pursuers Charlie Dalin and Yann Eliès (Apivia).

At 9:00 GMT in this category of 18-meter boats, the legendary race around the world, the duo is 1,911.2 nautical miles from the finish, the Brazilian port of Salvador de Bahia.

Behind them, at 56.4 nm, Charlie Dalin and Yann Eliès are struggling to keep up.

Charlie Enright and Pascal Bidegorry (11th Hour Racing) go up and are now only 77.1 nm from Charal against 95.23 nm the previous day at 15:00 GMT, from fifth to third position.

British skippers Alex Thomson and Neal McDonald (Hugo Boss), who were 18th among Imoca on Sunday morning, were forced to retire Sunday after hitting an object at sea.

At the head of this 14th edition of the Transat, part of Le Havre on October 27, one of only three multihulls entered, that of the duo Gilles Lamiré and Antoine Carpentier (GCA Group - Mille et une smiles) at 1.559.8 nm from the 'arrival. He is preparing to reach the end of the evening the Doldrums, a dreaded area of ​​skippers who suffer the vagaries of the wind.

The other two Multi50s, Thibaut Vauchel Camus and Frédéric Duthil (Solidaires En Peloton ARSEP) and Sébastien Rogues and Matthieu Souben (Primonial), are respectively at 153.9 nm and 387 nm respectively. Primonial, penalized the day before by a technical stop in Cape Verde, is thus placed behind the monohull Charal.

"They have very good timing in the scales and they go fast!" recognizes Monday morning Thibaut Vauchel Camus about the leaders. "It feels like fighting behind and it's a bit frustrating," he continues.

In Class40, the tandem Ian Lipinski and Adrien Hardy (Crédit Mutuel) keep the first place, followed closely by Sam Goodchild and Fabien Delahaye (Leyton) and by the tandem Aymeric Chappellier and Pierre Leboucher (Aina Childhood and Future) .

Standings Monday at 09:00 GMT:

. Multi50 (50ft / 15m multihull) - 3 engaged

1. Gilles Lamiré / Antoine Carpentier (GCA Group - A thousand and one smiles) at 1.559.8 nm from the finish

2. Thibaut Vauchel-Camus / Frédéric Duthil (ARSEP Solidarity Pack) at 153.9 nm

3. Sébastien Rogues / Matthieu Souben (Primal) at 387 nm from the 1st

. Imoca (60-foot / 18-m monohull) - 29 hired

1. Jérémie Beyou / Christopher Pratt (Charal) at 1.911,2 nm from the finish

2. Charlie Dalin / Yann Eliès (Apivia) at 56.4 nm from the 1st

3. Charlie Enright / Pascal Bidegorry (11th Hour Racing) at 77.1 nm

4. Clarisse Cremer / Armel le Cleac'h (Banque Populaire) at 94 nm from 1st

5. Kevin Escoffier / Nicolas Lunven (PRB) at 104.8 nm

6. Sébastien Simon / Vincent Riou (Arkea-Paprec) at 146.4 nm

7. Sam Davies / Paul Meilhat (Heart Initiatives) at 150.7 nm

8. Nicolas Troussel / Jean Le Cam (Corum L'Epargne) at 155.7 nm

9. Damien Seguin / Yoann Richomme (Apicil Group) at 161.9 nm

10. Fabrice Amedeo / Eric Péron (Newrest-Arts & Windows) at 193.7 nm

...

. Class40 (40ft / 12m monohull) - 27 engaged

1. Ian Lipinski / Adrien Hardy (Credit Mutuel) at 2,642.8 nm from the finish

2. Sam Goodchild / Fabien Delahaye (Leyton) at 25.5 nm from the first

3. Aymeric Chappellier / Pierre Leboucher (Aina Childhood and Future) 32.1 nm from the first

© 2019 AFP