Ocean Race Europe: Malizia puts the pressure on - position changes every minute
Tatjana Pokorny
· 27.08.2025
After the spectacular start in Cartagena, the Imoca fleet remains close together and under pressure on leg three of the Ocean Race Europe. Even after the first night at sea, the "Ocean's Seven" were only separated by around nine nautical miles on Wednesday morning with constant changes in position.
Boris Herrmann had set the motto for his team Malizia before the start of the stage in Cartagena: "This race seems to be difficult, so we have to keep a good mood, stay in the flow and fight to the end. It's not over until it's over. And there could be surprises at the finish."
"Biotherm" in front, Team Malizia struggles
Team Malizia put up a good fight overnight. While the leader "Biotherm" and her first pursuer "Holcim-PRB" were separated by less than a nautical mile in the morning, "Malizia - Seaexplorer" had initially moved up to third place with a final gap of around eight nautical miles to "Biotherm", before falling back to fifth place. Boris Herrmann, Cole Brauer, Francesca Clapcich and Loïs Berrhar kept up the pressure and had visual contact with the competition. This was shown by some snapshots that Boris Herrmann sent from See in the morning.
Having already passed Ibiza, the crews' attention turned to an approaching area of low pressure moving from Algeria towards the Balearic Islands in the middle of the week. The approaching change in the weather could have a major impact on the leg. With a view to the potential stress ahead, "Biotherm" skipper Paul Meilhat also recalled the well managed stress at the start of this third leg, which leads from Cartagena to Nice.
Paul Meilhat said: "It was a stressful start. There was a spectator zone right next to the start line, which forced us to turn immediately." "Holcim PRB" driver Franck Cammas also described the start of the race as relentless: "We had a lot of manoeuvres, a lot of turns, a lot of transition passages. It was very active - but it was also very beautiful with the coast as a backdrop." The pictures taken by the photographers and on-board reporters showed the Imocas well against the imposing Spanish rocky backdrop.
Bow to bow in the Ocean Race Europe
As the fleet then sailed north past Alicante and Cape Nao, the field initially remained very close together. When the Imocas then turned east towards the Balearic Islands in the early hours of the morning, "Biotherm" and "Holcim-PRB" had built up their small but valuable lead and passed Ibiza in the west on Wednesday morning. However, all seven Imoca crews were still within striking distance.
The upcoming weather scenario is now difficult to predict. What happens next in the area off the Costa de Azahar and the Costa Daurada in the triangle between Valencia, Barcelona and Mallorca depends heavily on the weather in the Mediterranean, which is difficult to forecast. "We are entering a transitional phase with very changeable winds," explained Franck Cammas. "The aim is to position ourselves well for Porquerolles." The French archipelago lies off Hyères and will herald the final spurt on leg three.
We are aiming for the centre of a low, but we don't know how it will develop." Franck Cammas
For Meilhat, it's clear what's at stake: "It's going to be a crucial day. The low-pressure system forms off Algeria and moves towards the Balearic Islands. After that, there are so many possible scenarios: It could pass in front of us, we could pass, we could end up in the west or the east..." Which makes the battle for the lead even more important, says Meilhat: "The further ahead you are, the more options you have when choosing your route."
Constant changes of position characterise stage three
How close the battles for position between Ibiza and Mallorca continue on Wednesday morning, shows the live tracker relentless: the positions continue to change by the minute. Just before 10 a.m., Team Canada Ocean Racing - Be Water Positive had even managed to move into third position, while Team Malizia - like Team Paprec Arkéa - added a stroke towards the Spanish coast to its course. It will therefore remain an exciting sailing spectacle on this halfway stage of the Ocean Race Europe.
