Third place in the Vendée Globe is particularly coveted by the skippers approaching Cape Horn.
Eight of them stand in a pocket square behind Yannick Bestaven and his first pursuer Charlie Dalin.
Damien Seguin is currently completing the podium despite difficult weather, as he explained to Europe 1.
The battle rages on in the Vendée Globe.
The gaps are narrowing at the head of the fleet, still led by Yannick Bestaven as they approach Cape Horn.
Charlie Dalin is behind him, even though their distance is only growing.
But it is above all behind them that the seats are expensive and change regularly.
Thomas Rouillard has just lost his third position to Damien Seguin.
The latter must fight against particularly difficult weather conditions, as he explains at the microphone of Europe 1.
"It's amazing to be so close to each other"
"It sends a little bit of the pâté, for a little over two days almost, it is not idle. It is breaking everywhere: there are hollows, waves in all directions", explains Damien Seguin, while the leading skippers have to face a depression.
"It's difficult to gain a lot of speed with the boat. What is needed is to try to have the best possible average speed. For now, I manage not to worry too much about it. go out ", confirms the one who temporarily occupies the last step of the podium.
"Everything is going well and we continue our little man on our way to Cape Horn that we will reach on Sunday. It's cool," concludes Damien Seguin.
Less than a week before the passage of the cape, "it's amazing to be so close to each other", considers Jean Le Cam, who is currently in fifth position.
In fact, behind the second, it is the traffic jam: a peloton of eight skippers is standing in less than 125 nautical miles.
Harsh weather conditions
Charlie Dalin, for his part, was left behind by the current leader because of a "small setback: a problem with my low foil wedge that I repaired and I spent a little time tinkering with everything that ", as the skipper of Apivia told it early in the morning.
Tuesday noon, the gap was at 159.8 nautical miles (296 kilometers) in favor of Yannick Bestaven.
Behind this leading pack, mistrust is set vis-à-vis the harshness of the Pacific and the smoldering bad weather.
Alan Roura, fifteenth, hampered by keel problems since December 26, "left at 100% of the boat's potential".
Alexia Barrier also suffered damage in twenty-fifth position.
Stéphane Le Diraison (19th) has managed to repair his mainsail and tries to catch up with Jérémie Beyou (Charal), whose "only objective" is now "to preserve the boat, to pass Cape Horn with a boat in good condition. ", as he explained on Tuesday morning.
No one seems ready to let go.