Giancarlo Pedote teams up with Anthony Marchand for the Tour de Bretagne à la Voile
Certain that experience is the best teacher, Giancarlo Pedote — committed to his first Vendée Globe campaign together with his historical sponsor Prysmian Group and the NGO Electriciens Sans Frontières — will be taking part as co-skipper with Anthony Marchand in an important race in the Figaro circuit: the Tour de Bretagne à la Voile.
This is an excellent opportunity for the two skippers to continue to build on their successful collaboration, in view of their participation in the double-handed races on Prysmian Group’s IMOCA calendar throughout 2019. After an intense start to the year focused on the 60-feet vessel entrusted to him in early March, and after taking third place on the podium in the Bermudes 1000 Race and completing a packed schedule of training, races and visits to shipyards to ensure he knows as much as possible about his boat, Giancarlo Pedote is racing for the first time in a Figaro 3 vessel, striking out on the 12th Tour de Bretagne à la Voile alongside Anthony Marchand, his co-skipper for the upcoming edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre race.
“Anthony asked me to sail with him on the Groupe Royer – Secours Populaire, and I accepted straight away. It will be the perfect opportunity to further strengthen the close bond between us in view of the upcoming ocean crossing,” commented Giancarlo Pedote, who is in Saint-Quay-Portrieux today for the race prologue leg, before the first stage of the Tour, set to begin tomorrow (Saturday) at 10:30 AM.
A common goal
Anthony Marchand shares the goal of continuing to improve their preparation as a duo, based on mutual communication, operating approach and manoeuvre coordination: “It is a wonderful event in which constancy is typically rewarded and crews brave the currents and reefs shoulder to shoulder," explained the Brittany-native skipper, who is intimately familiar with the Tour de Bretagne à la Voile, having participated in it five times, placing second in 2011.
“This year, I chose Giancarlo as my co-skipper in pursuit of continuity in preparation for the Transat Jacques Vabre. This week-long race will be the perfect opportunity to continue to get to know each other and work together. Giancarlo was also quite pleased to have the opportunity to get to know the Figaro 3," explained the skipper of the Groupe Royer – Secours Populaire. “I had been interested in sailing this new foiling boat for a long time,” commented Pedote, “and I am truly pleased to have the opportunity to team up with Anthony, who is certainly one of the most skilled skippers on the Figaro circuit. It will be a chance to get to know the boat, but also to spend more time with Anthony and continue to improve our teamwork," explained the Italian sailor, who first participated in this class in the days of the Figaro 2, in 2010 and 2011, when he took part in the Cap Istanbul and the Solo Concarneau - Guy Cotten Trophy.
Eyes on the Transat Jacques Vabre
"My experience in the Figaro circuit was only a transitional project: I had neither the time nor the opportunity to become more familiar with this world. I am pleased to be participating in the Tour de Bretagne à la Voile and I would like to thank Prysmian Group for allowing me to accept Anthony’s invitation. I am strongly focused on my IMOCA project and it will be good for me to sail a different boat for a while and switch to an approach to sailing based on shorter-term reactions," stated Giancarlo Pedote who, while competitive, is not focused so much on the result of this test as on the experience. This is also confirmed by Anthony: "We will be facing duos who have sailed together for the entire Figaro season and who have many hours of training together to their names. We know that it is not going to be easy for us, but the goal today is the Transat Jacques Vabre, and from this perspective the coming week will be interesting for us. It would be fantastic if we could break into the top ten. To achieve this goal, we will need to manoeuvre well, since there are going to be a lot of manoeuvres to execute, but also to avoid making mistakes, since the routes are quite short and there is no time to recover,” Anthony Marchand concluded.
The Tour de Bretagne à la Voile — the fifth and final event valid for the French Elite Offshore Racing 2019 Championship — is a 350/500-mile-stage race held over a route along the coast of Brittany skirting six cities: Saint-Quay-Portrieux, St. Malo, Brest, Concarneau, Larmor-Plage, and La Trinité-sur-Mer.