Volvo Ocean Race: Mapfre wins the second leg and is now top favourite

If the historical statistics are correct, then the Spanish team Mapfre will win the Volvo Ocean Race 2017/18; five of the "Cape Town leg winners" of the last six editions of the Volvo Ocean Race have also gone on to win the overall classification of the ocean marathon. The pre-start favourites around Xabí Fernandez, who lead the classification by 14 points after winning the second leg, are aiming for nothing less.

"It's incredible! We are incredibly happy to have reached Cape Town in one piece and before the others. We couldn't wish for more," said Xabí Fernandez in the first Blitz interview after crossing the finish line on Friday afternoon. "That," said the 49er Olympic champion, "is what we will see on the entire course around the world: super-tight racing. Everyone has good speed, so small mistakes are very costly. We made the fewest on this leg. That's the reason why we won." The strong performance is also thanks to the faultless navigator Juan Vila. Over ground, Team Mapfre completed 7886.5 nautical miles at an average speed of 17.3 knots.

In 19 days, 1 hour, 10 minutes and 33 seconds, the red rocket flying the Spanish flag had completed the second longest leg of the race around the world at 7,000 nautical miles and dominated the fleet on the course from Lisbon to Cape Town towards the end. Prior to this, the "Reds" had trailed the leaders from Dongfeng Race Team for a long time. The preliminary decision in favour of the Spaniards was made on day 14, when Mapfre navigator Juan Vila and Xabí Fernandez decided to make a quick manoeuvre towards the southwest. Although the Spaniards were not travelling in invisible "stealth mode", Dongfeng gave up cover and soon had to fall in line behind the Spaniards. As stage winners, Team Mapfre took the overall lead, which the men and women around Xabí Fernandez will not be able to challenge again until the third stage.

Dongfeng skipper Charles Caudrelier and his team were expected to arrive in Cape Town in the early evening. In their wake, the Danish-American team Vestas 11th Hour Racing and Bouwe Bekking's Team Brunel also approached the finish line off Cape Town in a probable third and fourth place. Bekking's team thus once again missed out on a podium place, which it had temporarily held during the stage, and is likely to start the third stage to Melbourne on 10 December hungrier than ever.

Anyone who still has time this Friday evening can follow the live broadcast directly: Click here for live coverage of the finishes, the latest results and the overall standings.