The Aarhus to The Hague stage could be the most complicated of all

With 800 nautical miles, Stage 6 could be the shortest of the race, but it is also one of the most complex. From the exit in Aarhus, the fleet will head south to pass through a beacon in Kiel before turning north to return to the eastern part of Denmark. Once on the top coast of the country, the fleet will leave the Baltic and head to the North Sea to put the bow south to the goal in The Hague, where it is scheduled to arrive on Saturday night, 10 June.

With such a wide range of potential situations, planning the exact time of arrival is very difficult. It also seems to be particularly complicated given the prognosis for the first part of the stage, where a light wind from the south is expected to roll to the northwest during the downhill to the south. If we add to this the local effects through the fjord and around the islands, the complexity of the stage for the organizers and crews is evident.

With only one point of separation between the leader, the 11th Hour Racing Team, and Team Holcim-PRB, and Team Malizia only four points back, there are many possibilities of changes in the classification. The fact that the fleet again has five ships with the return of the GUYOT environment - Team Europe opens up even more opportunities to change the hierarchical order.

For the VO65 fleet, the route to The Hague is less complex as they are not heading south for the Kiel beacon. They will seek to win north from the exit, they will leave the Baltic and then they will go south towards The Hague. But even without going to Kiel, it's still a challenging stage.