6 days, 2 hours, 8 minutes, 45 seconds - that is the winning time of Charlie Enright's American-Danish team Vestas 11th Hour Racing for the first leg. It is a good omen for the "blues", as history is now on their side: the winners of the first leg of the race around the world had already won the overall classification in 2014/15 (Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing), 2008/09 (Ericsson 4), 2005/06 (ABN Amro 1), 2001/02 (Illbruck Challenge) and 1997/98 ("EF Language").
For the Vestas 11th Hour team, the stage win not only marks a surprisingly strong start from an expert's point of view, in which the top favourites on the Spanish "Mapfre" and "Dongfeng" were kept in check. With this victory, the Enright crew also seamlessly followed on from the last Volvo Ocean Race, in which "Vestas" spectacularly ran aground on a reef and was forced to retire for several legs before making a comeback and winning the final leg.
The biggest negative surprise of this first stage was the poor performance of Bouwe Bekking's Team Brunel, which had been counted among the favourites before the start. A slip-up or a serious speed problem? The team wants to thoroughly analyse its stage performance and make some adjustments before the start of the second stage on 5 November. Bekking said after the finish in Lisbon: "The synergy in the team is good, but the result is very frustrating. We really didn't have enough speed, especially in the second half of this first leg. At the moment we still don't know what the problem is. But the race is still long and the team is good. We are now focussing on getting the boat into shape."
International press reviews
The Italian daily newspaperLa Stampa writes:
"Volvo Ocean Race: Winner Vestas and the dream of Charlie and Mark. The boat flying the American and Danish flags conquers the first leg."
In the French sports newspaperL'Équipe stands:
"Vestas wins the first stage ahead of the two favourites."
The Spanish online magazineMarca quotedCharlie Enright:
"The team did an incredible job, the stage was a real challenge."
The intelligence serviceReuters writes:
"Charlie Enright, the 33-year-old from Rhode Island, is only the third American skipper to win the first leg of the race around the world, which has been held every three years since 1973."
The SpanishMundo Deportivo quotes the runner-up, the skipper of the "Mapfre"Xabi Fernandez, as follows:
"We have managed to defend second place. I hope that we can continue like this in the next stage. This second place is very important for our team because it was a challenging stage."
The Breton daily newspaperOuest France gives a statement fromCharles CaudrelierThe team Dongfeng Racing was third after initial problems:
"When we win a football match in France without playing well, we say it's important to get the three points. In that respect, our result is fine."
The intermediate standings after stage 1
1st Vestas 11th Hour Racing (USA/DEN, skipper: Charlie Enright), 8 points
2nd Mapfre (ESP, skipper: Xabi Fernandez), 6 points
3rd Dongfeng Race Team (CHN, skipper: Charles Caudrelier), 5 points
4th team AkzoNobel (NED, skipper: Simeon Tienpont), 4 points
5th team Sun Hung Scallywag (HKG, skipper: David Witt), 3 points
6th Team Brunel (NED, skipper: Bouwe Bekking), 2 points
7th Turn the Tide on Plastic (United Nations, skipper: Dee Caffari), 1 point
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
