Like last year when he won his first stage victory in Dunkirk when he was in his tenth participation, Xavier Macaire again raised his arms when he arrived in Lorient this morning at 8:27 a.m. After three days, fourteen hours and thirty minutes he had just scored a big blow vis-à-vis his opponents.
In the presence of his two young children who came for the first time to see him during an arrival, he could burst the bubbles of the winners and rejoice: “
Four days, four nights, a big stage of the Solitaire du Figaro as we are told. had promised.
In fact, it was a very long loop to go from Saint-Nazaire to Lorient that we could have done more quickly.
It happened when I took the lead between Rochebonne and Spain overnight from Monday to Tuesday.
A great slide where I was comfortable under spinnaker.
Then, I did not stop grabbing the ground.
By giving it my all without looking in the rearview mirror.
With the aim of always going faster.
"
"A game where we will have fun"
If the demonstration was remarkable, the 40-year-old still had some doubts at the crucial moments of the test: "
I had a little scare after the Farallones mark where upwind sailing started and I was a little lower than the pack which was starting to luff. I managed to reframe the shot. When I got to the forbidden zones, I was at a stop and it was not ideal in terms of timing for me with the wind shifts. No-go zones usually annoy me, we can't navigate anywhere! I am more in that mentality. And there, I took it differently mentally. Like a game where we are going to have fun. We are going to be asked tokens for a game that we have to play with. And it was well pinned. I feared at one point that it would tighten. Let everything be restarted. But it ended well. The stage being long,on the descent and ascent of the Bay of Biscay I have always taken care of myself. Between the times when I had to attack and those when I could rest. I also did that well. By always being in tune with my boat. It's really great to have good speed too
. "
Eleventh last year at the end of the three stages, Xavier Macaire knows that mass has not yet been said, far from it: "
I was the boss of this first stage but you have to keep a cool head. because this is only the beginning, a small piece of Solitaire and a lot of things will happen in the next stages.
I will make sure to rest well and check the boat.
It is difficult to say now if I am tired cat I am still in the heat of my race and in the enthusiasm of the finish with the presence of my children.
But it will come soon.
»After a well-deserved snack and the media solicitations, we can bet that he will find a radiant sleep in the arms of Morpheus.