A worthy winner

Full results from the conclusion of this year's Solitaire du Figaro

And so endeth another impressive episode in the Solitaire du Figaro's 32 year history with the conclusion of the final leg of this year's race and a new solo sailing champion in 40 year old Kito de Pavant (above).

As always consistency was the key to success and de Pavant never seemed to be out of the running over the course of the 1,691 mile four leg month long race around the English Channel, the Irish Sea and the Bay of Biscay, De Pavant never won a leg - this was left to Antoine de Koch on leg one into Ireland, Sebastien Audigane on leg two into Les Sables d'Olonne and Chalres Caudrelier on the penultimate leg into Gijon - but he was always up there - second on leg one, fifth on leg two, fourth on leg three and finally fifth into the finish.

Emotional and at the point of exhaustion having given his to prevent from victory slip through his fingers he let the tears of joy and relief flow freely on finishing. "It was hard, very hard. There's a lot of emotion," said the hero of this Solo race. "We're tired so our nerves are pretty worn - it feels so good when it all stops. We've contended four very difficult legs with a lot of nervous tension. It was very close the whole time. In the Raz Blanchard, everyone came back into it, it was impossible to know who was going to win the Figaro. And then it fell to me - I can't believe it yet! I haven't won a leg but I win the Figaro and that's even more fabulous!"

The coveted prize for the first first timer (or bizuth) in the Solitaire du Figaro went to 24 year olf Gwénaël Riou on Espoir Credit Agricole. Riou has gone through the conventional sailing school program - Optimists, 420 and 470s. He was second in the 470 Nationals in 1997 and 1998 and 13th in the Worlds, before moving into the Figaro class.

This race also is the last in which the present generation of Beneteau 30 footers is to be used. Next year a brand spanking new Marc Lombard design, again built by Beneteau, is to be introduced.

Leg 4 results

Pos	Skipper	Boat	Time
1	ELIES Yann	Groupe Générali Assurances	arrived at 10h43'28'' in 92h05'28''
2	GUERIN Ronan	Saint-Nazaire / Escal'Atlantic	+ 6'47''
3	DROUGLAZET Eric	David Olivier	+ 6'48''
4	ATTANASIO Romain	Port Trebeurden	+ 10'43''
5	DE PAVANT Christophe	Malice	+ 11'44''
6	CHIORRI Gilles	32 01 de Météo Consult	+ 18'43''
7	RIOU Vincent	PRB Produits de Revêtement du Bâtiment	+ 20'04''
8	BEYOU Jérémie	Delta Dore	+ 27'30''
9	LE CLEAC'H Armel	Créaline	+ 28'21''
10	CAUDRELIER Charles	Bostik Findley	+ 29'12''
11	PETIT Benoit	Top'Océan	+ 29'42''
12	VICARIOT Philippe	Thales	+ 31'07''
13	TOULORGE Alexandre	Cherbourg - Crédit Mutuel	+ 31'33''
14	PELLECUER Laurent	Languedoc Mutualité Hippocratus.com	+ 32'03''
15	KOCH Antoine	Saunier Duval	+ 32'07''
16	JOSSE Sébastien	Créaline	+ 32'35''
17	TABARLY Erwan	Thales - Armor Lux	+ 33'10''
18	MORVAN Gildas	Cercle Vert	+ 37'24''
19	CHABAGNY Thierry	Petit Navire Le Bon Goût du Large	+ 37'48''
20	MOUREN Jean-Paul	M@rseille Entreprises	+ 39'46''
21	BOISSIERES Arnaud	Delta Dore & Partenaires	+ 46'39''
22	AUDIGANE Sébastien	Sport Sans Frontières	+ 49'08''
23	RIOU Gwénaël	Espoir Crédit Agricole	+ 49'33''
24	TINCELIN Dominique	Dragonfly	+ 57'24''
25	GREGOIRE Jeanne	Département de l'Aisne	+ 1h01'11''
26	TROUSSEL Nicolas	Galinette	+ 1h10'17''
27	FEREC Alain	Hotel Vauban - Camaret sur Mer	+ 1h19'58''
28	COATNOAN Christophe	Groupe Partouche	+ 1h21'05''
29	MARSSET Bertrand	Passion	+ 1h28'28''
NC	MARTINAGE Yvan	Société Générale - CAB - Boulogne/mer	HC