The names were quick to leak.
After the announcement at the start of the week by two media, Le Télégramme and L'Equipe, of a suspicion of cheating in the Vendée Globe 2020-202 concerning two sailors, one at sea and one on land, the names by Clarisse Crémer and Tanguy Le Turquais are now in the public eye.
Companions in life and parents of a little girl, they must now answer to an accusation of cheating for having exchanged information concerning the weather, which is formally prohibited by the regulations of the solo, non-stop round the world trip but also without assistance.
The screenshots of the WhattsApp application sent to the French sailing federation by an anonymous email hardly seem to leave any doubt about these totally prohibited routing exchanges.
And the federation was quick to react, by deciding to compose an international jury, of a priori 5 members, which according to our information, has already been designated and should meet within ten or fifteen days to study the facts and hear the sailors.
The federation's disciplinary committee should then meet to decide whether or not to impose sanctions after the jury's opinion.
The couple denies any cheating
The two parties were quick to react.
And to respond this Thursday on social networks.
“
We never cheated, nor ever had any desire to break a rule during this 87-day world tour.
During our discussions, which essentially concern the intimacy of a couple, Tanguy never gives me the slightest information that I do not already have
,” assures Clarisse Crémer.
No conversation with him contributed to me changing course or making a strategic choice that would have had an impact on my race.
I have always made all my performance choices alone and without assistance, in accordance with the rules.
Three years after the end of the Vendée Globe, we can only wonder about the motivations and timing of this anonymous disclosure and we reserve the right to file a complaint if necessary
.”
At the end of last year, two sailors in the Solitaire du Figaro Paprec, Benoît Tuduri, were sanctioned for having downloaded weather files during the race with their phone (which is prohibited on the Solitaire but not on the Vendée Globe).
The first was excluded from the race classification and the second disqualified from the second and third stages, before the federation suspended them from any competition even before their appearance before the disciplinary commission.
A risk of exclusion
For Clarisse Crémer and Tanguy Le Turquais, the sky is turning into a storm, even a storm.
Because if the facts are proven, the first risks exclusion from the last Vendée Globe and therefore the loss of her 12th place and “first woman”.
And for the two sailors, the risk is certain that they will not be able to participate in the next edition, which is due to start from Les Sables d'Olonne on November 10.
The young Ile-de-France woman had already been at the heart of the turmoil just a year ago after being dropped from the Vendée Globe project by her partner, Banque Populaire, who feared that following her maternity, she would not be able to qualify for the 2024-2025 edition.
His ouster was widely criticized, even by the Minister of Sports.
And she managed to bounce back by finding a new sponsor, L'Occitane, and a boat that she is currently preparing in England with former round-the-world sailor Alex Thomson.