It was once again the perfect race for Sam Goodchild. After taking the lead from the start in the Groix channel, Macif Santé Prévoyance rounded both marks of the race’s 560-mile grand triangle course in first place. The race was sailed in anticyclonic conditions that constantly favored the leader’s position. Sam Goodchild gave his race the intensity needed to hold that place from Lorient onward. He fended off the attacks of his toughest challenger, Ambrogio Beccaria (Allagrande Mapei), on the first reaching leg toward the BXA buoy, then put on a show of upwind speed to break away from the fleet before crossing the ridge, never looking back again. This combination of a skipper’s mastery and the versatility of an IMOCA that the MACIF team continued to develop last winter stands as an example six weeks before the start of the Route du Rhum.