A total of 118 skippers will set off from Saint-Malo on 1 November, bound for Guadeloupe, for the most iconic solo transatlantic race. With six classes and just as many podiums to be claimed, predicting the winners is as challenging as it is exciting.
Words ) François Trégouët
With the same 3,542-mile course for everyone, there is only one certainty: the first boat to tie up in Pointe-à-Pitre will be an Ultim trimaran. Seven giants will line up at the start in Saint-Malo, making for an equation with four known quantities and three unknowns. Tom Laperche, Thomas Coville, Anthony Marchand and Armel Le Cléac’h will be competing aboard perfectly developed, finely tuned trimarans that they know inside out. Which of them will succeed Charles Caudrelier, winner in 2022, or even improve on his record of 6 days, 19 hours, 47 minutes and 25 seconds? Unless the skipper of the brand-new Gitana 18 manages it himself? The highly innovative new navy-blue boat certainly has the potential, but will it already be reliable enough? Louis Burton, a newcomer to the class, is one of the outsiders aboard the former Macif (later Actual), which he has only recently taken over. Finally, while Alexia Barrier’s presence is excellent news, it is difficult to see her 2006-built Idec Sport – CIC competing with the newer trimarans, unless conditions become truly extreme.
The Ocean Fifty class is more evenly matched than ever, with almost as many potential winners as there are skippers on the entry list! However, following the trauma of the last Transat Café L’Or, when three double-handed trimarans capsized on the very first night, the sailors will have to keep their boats firmly under control. The exit from the English Channel and the crossing of the Bay of Biscay in the middle of autumn will therefore be crucial aboard these lively boats. Maintaining high speeds in the trade winds is also a risky exercise. Just ask Stève Ravussin, who was on course for victory in 2002 before capsizing 734 miles from the finish. If experience proves decisive, the class veteran Erwan Leroux, Guadeloupe resident Thibault Vauchel-Camus and the winner of the last Route du Café, Baptiste Hulin, all have what it takes to win. But if youthful energy and talent prevail, Basile Bourgnon will be a favourite after his impressive performance in the 24H Ultim, although he will need to watch out for newcomers Erwan Le Draoulec, Léonard Legrand and Matthieu Perraut.
Between scarcity and abundance, the same uncertainty
The IMOCA fleet will number just 23 boats, compared with 38 four years ago. Two next-generation boats will be on the starting line, those of Boris Herrmann and Sébastien Simon. They could make a big impact, but their skippers will have had little time to get to grips with them and ensure their reliability. The first to reach the Caribbean could therefore come from a formidable quintet comprising Sam Goodchild, Jérémie Beyou, Ambrogio Beccaria, Corentin Horeau and Élodie Bonafous. Violette Dorange and Maxime Sorel should also be in the mix.
Although the Class40 fleet will be the largest at the start, with 49 skippers, it is not necessarily the class in which the outcome is hardest to predict. Recent races have been dominated either by Guillaume Pirouelle or Corentin Douguet. The list of outsiders, however, is much longer. Newcomer Alexis Loison, who enjoyed a remarkable run of success in 2025; young Pep Costa; the hugely experienced Vincent Riou; determined Axel Tréhin; Globe 40 winner Ian Lipinski; talented Fabien Delahaye; and Italy’s Luca Rosetti will all be racing aboard top-level scow designs.
A hall of fame on the water
Finally, the diversity of the Vintage Mono and Multi fleets makes any attempt at predicting the outcome particularly difficult. Yet the variety of profiles and the presence of legendary boats make these classes all the more compelling. They are something of a hall of fame of offshore racing, featuring the likes of Jean Le Cam, Halvard Mabire, Roland Jourdain, Marc Guillemot and Francis Joyon. Like Joyon, Gilles Lamiré, Damien Seguin and Éric Péron will be at the helm of former ORMA trimarans, creating a race within the race that promises plenty of excitement.
Kieran Le Borgne, Hugo Lefort and Antoine Brunet will be sailing refurbished former IMOCA stars (PRB 2, Geodis and Le Cigare Rouge), while Christophe Bachmann will skipper the large Adrien, which Jean-Luc Van Den Heede once sailed around the world against the wind and currents.
There will be suspense in every class. But whoever the winners may be in Pointe-à-Pitre – and that is the magic of the Route du Rhum – every story will be a great one. From 1 November until 3 December, when the finish line closes, we will all be somewhere out in the Atlantic in our thoughts, sailing alone.
