38th America’s Cup
The La Roche-Posay Racing Team is born, with its main sponsor, sports director, and sailing team.
A new identity, a new main sponsor, and renewed momentum for the French team competing in the 38th America’s Cup, which today reaches a significant milestone in its development. With the arrival of La Roche-Posay, a L’Oréal Group brand and world leader in dermatological skincare, as its main sponsor, the K-Challenge-supported team becomes the La Roche-Posay Racing Team and enters a new phase of its project. The appointment of two-time America’s Cup winner Philippe Presti as sporting director and the formation of a sailing team led by Quentin Delapierre mark a key step in this growth and in its preparation for the 38th America’s Cup, whose first race will be held in Cagliari this May, before its culmination in Naples in the summer of 2027.
La Roche-Posay, the main sponsor of the French team, is transforming the America’s Cup into a laboratory for dermatological innovation.
As a world-leading dermatological skincare brand, La Roche-Posay becomes the main sponsor of the French team competing in the 38th America’s Cup, thus reaffirming the L’Oréal Group’s commitment to the world’s oldest sporting competition, which began in 1995. Since 1851, the America’s Cup has been a unique testing ground for innovation, where engineering, technology, and human performance are constantly pushed to their limits. Thanks to the experts at La Roche-Posay, the America’s Cup will also serve as a laboratory for dermatological innovation.
For the brand, this collaboration represents an opportunity to have an open-air laboratory that will allow it to test and demonstrate the effectiveness of its dermatological expertise under extreme conditions. Exposed to the combination of UV rays, salt, and wind, the team members will enable La Roche-Posay to develop and evaluate, under real-world conditions, innovative protocols for sun protection and skin repair. These tests will drive the brand’s technological innovation to guarantee the effectiveness of its products even in the most demanding environments.
“I am delighted that La Roche-Posay is participating in the legendary America’s Cup regatta, supporting the French team. We share with the crew the values of innovation, personal achievement, and, of course, the pursuit of excellence,” says Alexandra Reni-Catherine, International General Manager of La Roche-Posay. “As a leading global brand recommended by dermatologists, we understand the impact that exercise has on the skin.” The challenge is simple: if La Roche-Posay protects and repairs athletes’ skin under these conditions, it protects all skin, everywhere.
Stephan Kandler, founder and co-CEO of K-Challenge, adds: “We are very proud and grateful to welcome La Roche-Posay as the title sponsor of our team. It is an iconic brand, driven by scientific rigor and a performance culture that perfectly aligns with the K-Challenge spirit.” This commitment follows the support of the L’Oréal Group, which has backed our projects since 2023. We are pleased to take another step together in building our Challenge for the 38th America’s Cup, a new version in which we are actively involved as founding members of the new governance structure.
Appointment of Philippe Presti as Sports Director.
Following his responsibilities within the K-Challenge structure and to support this new phase of the project, Philippe Presti has assumed the role of Sports Director for all K-Challenge sailing teams, including the La Roche-Posay Racing Team. Winner of multiple world and European titles, with seven America’s Cup appearances, including two victories in 2010 and 2013, Philippe has participated in the most prestigious campaigns in international sailing. He is rarely seen celebrating victory. He is rarely heard speaking after defeat. But when we review the major sailing campaigns of the last thirty years, his name appears frequently, where performance has been built over time.
Philippe Presti, Sports Director: “I have been fortunate to have many experiences with international teams. Today, I am especially pleased to share this adventure with a French team, and particularly with this team with whom I have maintained strong ties for a long time. The America’s Cup is the ultimate expression of team sport, bringing together all the talent and experience of our organization. Today we present the sailors. The challenge will be to coordinate and develop the potential of each individual to push our limits and aspire to the highest level in Naples in 2027.
A sailing team led by Quentin Delap
The team is supported by a technical team headed by Antoine Carraz.
Under the direction of Philippe Presti and Philippe Mourniac, a renowned coach, especially within the Olympic movement, the assembled crew boasts an impressive pedigree.
At the helm of this team, Quentin Delapierre naturally occupies a central position. As skipper and one of the helmsmen of the AC75, the Frenchman sets the course. An Olympian and a regular on the fastest circuits of the moment, he has forged solid experience in foiling boats in recent years, whether in the Nacra 17, the SailGP championship, or the 37th America’s Cup. This track record has led him to take the reins of an ambitious project in this prestigious and demanding world.
Around him, the team includes sailors who, in some cases, are already familiar with the particular intensity of the America’s Cup. Franco-New Zealander Jason Saunders, winner of the 2013 Junior America’s Cup and participant in the 37th edition with the French team, as well as in the SailGP circuit, brings his expertise as a skilled trimmer.
British sailor Leigh McMillan also boasts extensive world and Olympic experience in Tornado, as well as in SailGP and the America’s Cup, with several campaigns as part of the British challenge, winner of the last Louis Vuitton Cup, and a finalist in the 37th America’s Cup. This core group, already familiar with the demands of the Cup, also includes Timothé Lapauw, who was among the young sailors who competed in the Junior America’s Cup in Bermuda in 2017 and was a member of the challenger team during the French campaign in 2024. The Franco-Spanish duo Diego Botín and Florian Trittel, Olympic champions in the 49er class at the Paris 2024 Games, bring a culture and tactical precision honed to the highest Olympic level.
The new generation is equally impressive. A product of the K-Challenge Academy, Enzo Balanger distinguished himself as skipper of the junior team in 2024 before recently winning the Moth foiling world championship, becoming the first Frenchman to triumph in this particularly demanding class. The team’s strength is also evident in the track record of Bruno Mourniac – SB20 World Champion and two-time Tour de France à la Voile winner, a veteran of the professional multihull circuit – and in the versatility of Amélie Grassi, whose multi-platform experience brings the flexibility and pragmatism needed to sail the AC75.
This crew will be further strengthened by another woman from the K-Challenge Academy. “In France, we have a wealth of female talent. We have just completed the final recruitment phase for the 2026-2027 class of the K-Challenge Academy. The nine selected women will train on simulators and AC40s in preparation for the 2027 Women’s America’s Cup. Over the months and through the training sessions, we will see who can join the current team in the AC75, depending on each woman’s performance,” explains Philippe Presti.
This team brings together a promising combination of Olympic excellence, professional circuit experience, and America’s Cup experience. However, in an environment where every detail counts, talent must be transformed, through hard work and collective consistency, into sustainable performance. This is the crux of the challenge now facing the French team.
Quentin Delapierre, skipper and helmsman of the La Roche-Posay Racing Team: “When you see this crew, you immediately realize the richness and diversity of their backgrounds. It’s quite rare to find so many different sailing cultures in one group. Each member brings their own experience: the tactical precision of Olympic classes, mastery of foiling boats, handling extreme situations, or long-distance sailing. When all of that comes together, it creates a very stimulating environment where everyone pushes themselves to the limit. For me, the true strength of this team lies in its combination of experience, youth, and complementary skills. We have brought together sailors capable of performing at very high speeds while maintaining a collective vision of the race. Our team will have to work incredibly hard to always be in top form and keep pace with such demanding competition.” The
sailors will have the support and expertise of a technical team of over 60 people, led by Antoine Carraz, and supported by loyal colleagues such as David Gautier, head of the electronics and mechatronics department, Benjamin Vernières, head of the appendage design department, and Owen David for hydraulic design.
New members have also joined, including Lucas Delcourt, head of performance, and Mickey Ickert, a world-renowned sail design specialist and three-time America’s Cup winner.
Bruno Dubois, co-CEO of K-Challenge: “Today, with Stephan, we are…”
We are exactly where we wanted to be according to our 5-year vision: K-Challenge is a sustainable structure that didn’t stop after the 37th America’s Cup; we were able to retain our core team and attract others to join us. As the person directly responsible for the sporting aspect, I am extremely pleased to see this group of such complementary sailors together, and I am confident that, under the leadership of the two Philippes, they will work in an environment conducive to progress.
The 2026-2027 program: from Lorient to Naples.
Before the Louis Vuitton Cup qualifying rounds and the final of the 38th America’s Cup, which begins on July 10, 2027, in Naples, the teams will compete in fleet races during the preliminaries aboard AC40s. The first of these will take place in Cagliari, Sardinia, from May 21 to 24.
To prepare for these events, Quentin Delapierre’s team will follow an intensive training program in Lorient, the K-Challenge’s home port, until August 2026 before moving to Naples, the competition’s venue: “Today we began our first training session in simulators and on the AC40 in preparation for the Cagliari event. A second session will take place at the end of April and beginning of May,” explains Philippe Presti. “After Cagliari, it will be time to sail, still off Lorient, aboard the AC75, our prototype currently undergoing optimization. A Breton summer in conditions similar to those we might experience in the Bay of Naples in the spring of 2027. The plan is for the team to be based in Italy from September until July 2027.”
Sixteen months before the Naples event, the La Roche-Posay Racing Team continues its rise, driven by the ambition to compete with the best teams in the world and the pride of representing France in the most prestigious sailing competition.
The La Roche-Posay Racing Team crew:
Quentin Delapierre (FRA) — Skipper/Driver
Diego Botín (ESP/FRA) — Driver
Enzo Balanger (FRA) — Driver
Jason Saunders (FRA/NZL) — Trimmer
Florian Trittel (ESP) — Trimmer
Leigh McMillan (GBR) — Trimmer
Bruno Mourniac (FRA) — Trimmer
Tim Lapauw (FRA) — Trimmer
Amélie Grassi (FRA) — Trimmer
