Special envoy to Lorient
Like last year, Xavier Macaire offered himself the timpani.
He won the first stage of the Solitaire du
Figaro
linking Saint-Nazaire to Lorient via La Coruña (Spain).
This time, without striking a blow with a very cozy eiderdown in advance.
His pursuers on the podium, Pierre Quiroga (
Skipper Macif 2019
) and Tom Laperche (
Bretagne CMB Performance
) being relegated to 47 minutes and 1h28 respectively after spending three days at sea to complete a course of 627 nautical miles (1160 kilometers).
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The forty-something therefore had enough to have a smile tattooed in his eyes on the pontoon a few minutes after his brilliant success:
“I'm happy to arrive having done my job well.
With a little overflow of joy.
My minutes in advance are not to be managed.
It is simply a given.
Last year, I also won, but with one minute ahead of my pursuer and fifteen on the twentieth.
Zero consequent advantage if not to have won the stage.
There, it is a rather important gain on those of the podium and the pursuers.
Now I keep a cool head because we are only at the first step.
And I know from experience that anything can change quickly.
I still have to work as well.
With quality navigation. ”
The trap that has often happened to me before is finding myself in front and panicking
Xavier Macaire
If his opponents left feathers there, his mattress was methodically made.
“At the head in the descent of the Bay of Biscay, I tried not to look too much in the rearview mirror, continuing to take care of my speed and my trajectories.
By imagining that I always had competitors in front of me.
The trap that has often happened to me before is finding myself in front and panicking.
Wondering how to control them, watching what each other was doing.
It disrupts the way you navigate.
I think I corrected the shot well on this round by staying focused on my progress.
I held the position of leader calmly.
I hope it will happen like this if the opportunity
presents itself for the future, ”explains one of the great favorites of the 2021 vintage.
"Regular and persevering"
In three days and 18 hours of racing, do we have time to think of something else, to dream as in this bed which was going to welcome him benevolently?
Does a solo sailor inevitably become monomaniac about listening?
Xavier Macaire is not a machine, he confesses:
“It's true that I daydream a bit, but I try to refocus especially when I'm in the lead.
Insidiously, the mind will quickly wander to victory.
So you have to calm down, not get carried away.
Every year I have come for the win.
It has passed close by two or three times, but I am not a diviner.
We will count the points at the end in Saint-Nazaire.
To win, you have to be regular and persevering and the mind plays a lot.
Then there is also the chance.
All boats go fast, that's the point of the one-design, you have to know how to handle them well.
It is not the boat that goes fast, but the skipper and the work he has done upstream and his experience that pay off. ”
There is no question for me to be the follower.
Especially not
Xavier Macaire
Do not count on the native of Rouen to be a sucker for the next round which will start on Sunday in the direction of Fécamp.
Xavier Macaire, second in the general classification in 2013, does not have the soul of a small winner.
As usual, his talent quickly returned to the gallop:
“There is no question for me to be the follower.
Especially not.
I will do as usual, my strategy, my trajectory. "
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To fall asleep on his laurels would be in contradiction with himself.
We have no doubts, he will regain all his fighting spirit for the next three stages still on the program for this 52nd edition.
Relive the start of the 52nd edition of the Solitaire du Figaro - Watch on Figaro Live