The Volvo Ocean Race announces a new stop in Melbourne and confirms the dates of the 2017-18 route

The Volvo Ocean Race has added a new flagship quote for the 2017-18 edition: the Australian city of Melbourne. With this announcement, the race has already completely closed the dates of the route for the next edition, which will leave October 22, 2017 from Alicante and will end at the end of June in The Hague (Netherlands). This last change on the Volvo Ocean Race tour, announced this Friday in Melbourne, brings a little closer to the historic race to its roots, as Australia has always been one of the reference countries on the route. In fact, the Volvo Ocean Race had had a stop in the ocean country in seven previous editions, although it had not been on Australian territory for over a decade. The previous occasion was precisely in Melbourne, in the 2005-06 edition. Therefore, stage 3 will be to take the fleet from Cape Town to Melbourne, a stage that will score double and that will travel about 6,300 miles. In Melbourne there will be a one-week stop, in which there will be no In-Port race, before leaving for Hong Kong in the fourth stage. The forecasts indicate that the ships will arrive around the Christmas day, which will have a double occasion to celebrate on those dates in the capital of Victoria.

It will be the eighth in Australia: Sidney 1973-74, 1997-98 and 2001-02, Fremantle 1989-90, 1993-94 and 1997-98 and Melbourne 2005-06

Following the latter incorporation, the Volvo Ocean route will consist of 10 stages in 12 countries. The departure will take place in Alicante on October 22 and will pass through Lisbon, Cape Town, Melbourne and Hong Kong, before a non-noticeable move to the Chinese town of Guangzhou. The fleet will then pass through Auckland, Itajai, Newport, Cardiff and Gothenburg before arrival in The Hague. The two stages of the South Ocean (City of the Cabo-Melbourne and Auckland- Itajai) and the North Atlantic crossing (Newport- Cardiff) will score double to reward performance in the large ocean stages. The introduction of the stop in Melbourne allows the race to definitely confirm its key dates for the 2017-18 edition:

Alicante, Spain
Opening Race Village - 11 October 2017
Alicante Regata In-Port - 14October 2017

Lisbon, Portugal
Regata In-Port - 28October 2017
Home Stage 2 - 5November 2017

Cape Town, Australia
Regata In-Port - 8December 2017
Home Stage 3 - 10December 2017

Melbourne, Australia
Home Stage 4 - 2January 2018

Hong Kong, China
Regata In-Port - 27January 2018

Guangzhou, China
Regata In-Port - 4 February 2018
Home Stage 5 - 7February 2018

Auckland (New Zealand)
Regata In-Port - 10March 2018
Home Stage 6 - 18March 2018

Itajaí (Brazil)
Regata In-Port - 20April 2018
Home Stage 7 - 22April 2018

Newport (USA)
Regata In-Port - 19May 2018
Home Stage 8 - 20May 2018

Cardiff (Gales- United Kingdom)
Regata In-Port - 8 June 2018
Home Stage 9 - 10June 2018

Gothenburg, Sweden
Regata In-Port - 17June 2018
Home Stage 10 - 21 June 2018

The Hague, Netherlands
Regata In-Port - 30June 2018