Ocean Race Europe: Doldrums thriller in the finale of leg one: opening victory for Austria, Offshore Team Germany in fourth place

The finish lines were crossed every second, the intermediate scores changed like a rollercoaster ride and the tension was constantly rising. The final of the first leg of the Ocean Race Europe had only one flaw in the eyes of its fans: it was not broadcast live. A decision could hardly have been more exciting than it was off Cascais on this Wednesday afternoon.

In Portuguese waters, four days after the start in Lorient last Saturday, the French "Corum L'Épargne" was the first to cross the finish line ahead of the leading VO65 yachts. Skipper Nicolas Troussel, Sébastien Josse, Marie Riou and Benjamin Schwartz thus secured the Imoca class victory with a lead of just one and a half minutes over Charlie Enright's 11th Hour Racing Team. Another one and a half minutes later, Thomas Ruyant's "LinkedOut" crossed the finish line. The French team had come back on the foils shortly before the decision and were thus able to catch the only non-foiler in the field in the battle for the podium places. Skipper Robert Stanjek and his "Einstein" crew finished fourth, just five seconds behind "LinkedOut", ahead of the highly fancied "Bureau Vallée", whose crew had made a big mistake when choosing their course.

Raised fists, happy faces and loud cheers came from the Austrian "Sisi" at the finish line. The team led by skipper Gerwin Jansen had long been in last place in the seven-boat fleet in the VO65 class, before using the flat final for a magnificent final sprint and making the finish area off Cascais their stage. The Austrian Ocean Race Project overtook all its competitors and crossed the line six seconds ahead of "Ambersail 2". "I'm really proud of the whole team, of the performance of each individual, of the joint effort that made this possible. It's incredible to be standing here on the jetty now. I haven't really realised it yet. It's simply marvellous," said a delighted Jansen about the counterattack victory.

Childhood 1" finished 15 seconds behind the Austrians, relegating Bouwe Bekking's "Sailing Poland" to fourth place. The Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team was only the seventh and last VO65 yacht to finish the thrilling opening battle. Just like the Imoca team on "Bureau Vallée", "Mirpuri" skipper Yoann Richomme, his navigator Nicolas Lunven and their team had made the wrong choice of course when they passed a restricted area to the north shortly before the final instead of sailing round it to the south like most of the fleet. For the professional crew on the only VO65 yacht with an impressive new sailing wardrobe, the stage knockout was a bitter blow, as the team sails under the Portuguese flag and was particularly eagerly awaited in Cascais.

Offshore Team Germany finished the leg satisfied despite narrowly missing out on a podium finish. Robert Stanjek, Phillip Kasüske, Annie Lush and Benjamin Dutreux showed that a team on a non-foiler can also create opportunities in this race. Skipper Robert Stanjek said: "I am thrilled. A great, very intense race. In certain conditions we had to realise that the foilers are sailing in a different league. We pushed ourselves to the absolute limit and capitalised on our opportunities as soon as they arose. In the end, it wasn't meant to be with a place on the podium, but the team fought to the maximum."

After a race lasting four days, 50 minutes and 14 seconds, the Berlin was visibly exhausted: "We are well through. It was a very wet race. Our top speed was 32 knots. The finish is a shame. You could see the difference between the foilers and us once again. They come out of the water and go five knots faster. But we are happy!"

Click here for the intermediate results in the Ocean Race Europe after stage one (please click!).