Familiar faces on the podium at the Transat Café L'OR

As the IMOCA fleet finish their race to Martinique, some familiar faces are on the podium at the Transat Café L'OR.

The winning duo on Charal of Jérémie Beyou and Morgan Lagravière are well-known to fans of The Ocean Race, with Beyou in particular a key memeber of the Dongfeng Race Team who won the race in 2017-18.

The second place finishers - Francesca Clapcich and Will Harris - are fresh off competing in The Ocean Race Europe this summer and the event marks the debut of Clapcich's 11th Hour Racing IMOCA campaign and sets the bar high!

They are the first non-French duo to claim the podium in this event in nearly 15 years and both displayed the same openness and enthusiam to share their adventure that fans have come to expect from following them in The Ocean Race.

“I think we did a pretty good job wanting to tell stories for people that are at home and following us and supporting us,” Clapcich said. “It’s also a really important part of why I’m sailing, and it’s really sharing with a lot of our friends and families what we’re doing on board."

“We’ve come here with a great result – way ahead of what we expected,” Harris said. “We did it having so much fun at the same time. And I think that’s what Frankie really brings to it, making sure that we’re really enjoying everything we’re doing as we’re going around.”

Completing the podium - Sam Goodchild and Lois Berrehar on MACIF Santé Prévoyance.

The super-competitive Goodchild, fresh off a win with Biotherm and Paul Meilhat in The Ocean Race Europe this summer, said he had mixed feelings about the result - his aim was clearly to be atop the podium.

“I’ll admit, two days ago I was a bit disappointed,” he said. “Then I thought, it’s still an incredible achievement to finish third…unfortunately we set the bar high before leaving, so that’s why there’s a bit of disappointment. But the two teams ahead of us are very strong, really impressive.”

More IMOCA teams are on the way, with pleanty of sailors from The Ocean Race getting good results. Follow the event here - https://www.transatcafelor.org/en