The regatists agree: it has been the most intense stage so far in The Ocean Race Europe

Biotherm has awarded the third stage of The Ocean Race Europe in Nice, on the French Blue Coast, after resisting the pressure of Holcim-PRB in a last 24 hours of temporary in the Mediterranean. The winds reached over 70 knots on the Cartagena to Nice route. Biotherm crossed the line of arrival in Nice on Thursday morning, at 05: 12: 14 UTC (07: 12: 14 CEST), completing the tour from Cartagena in two days, 16 hours, 12 minutes and 14 seconds. The victory gives him seven points and keeps the French team full of triumphs, having awarded the three stages and the three intermediate points at stake so far.

Holcim-PRB ended in second position, 27 minutes after Biotherm, after a constant siege during the night. Less than three miles separated both ships as they surrounded the last beacon of the route - a virtual waypoint located 20 miles north-west of the island of La Giraglia (on the north end of Corsica) - with 20 knots winds that allowed IMOCA to reach averages of more than 20 knots towards the goal in Nice.

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2025-08-28: The Ocean Race Etapa3: after the night's calm the wind rises to France

Biotherm (FRA) was able to make the most of a transition area during the night to open an 11-mile drive over Holcim-PRB, after a tight pulse along northern Mallorca (Photo Adrian Cordier)

After a long, slow night of suffocating heat, with little wind and closed-aft navigation next to the north coast of the island, the seven IMOCA of The Ocean Race Europe today enjoy cooler and faster conditions, moving in open-ended fences towards a waypoint off the French coast.

Paul Meilhat's Biotherm (FRA) remains in the lead, but only after resisting a constant attack during the night of the Holcim-PRB (SUI) of Rosalin Kuiper. Both ships were set in a very closed duel, moving stuck to the spectacular Mallorcan coast.

On the back, the five-boat pursuit group has stretched, with a little more than 50 miles apart between the Allagrande Mapei Racing (ITA) of Ambrogio Beccaria, third, and the Team AMALA (SUI) of Alan Roura, seventh.

The suffocating conditions in the Mediterranean are making life harder on board for some regatists who have barely been able to rest since they sailed on Tuesday from Cartagena to Nice. The little wind of the night did not reduce the workload at all: constant adjustments, strategic navigation decisions, repeated changes of bow candles to optimize performance in an unstable breeze.

ETAPA 3 IN DIRECT
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2025-08-27: The Ocean Race Etapa3: Biotherm and Holcim-PRB stand out to the north of the Balearic Islands

French and Swiss teams have been in a fierce battle for leadership during the first night at sea at Stage 3 from Cartagena to Nice in France

The Ocean Race Etapa3: Biotherm and Holcim-PRB stand out to the north of the Balearic Islands

Biotherm (FRA) and Holcim - PRB (SUI) are today in a fight closed by the leader after a tense night of dinning along the Spanish coast for the seven IMOCA crews at Stage 3 of The Ocean Race Europe 2025 from Cartagena to Nice.

The French and Swiss crews have sailed in closed formation since shortly after the stage 3 score beacon in Cabo de Palos, where Paul Meilhat's Biotherm maintained its perfect score on the European tour so far, after being imposed for little time on Paprec Arkéa (FRA) and adding two more valuable points - a moment that the French regatists briefly celebrated with a round of hitting hands.

ETAPA 3 IN DIRECT
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2025-08-27: The Ocean Race Etapa3: The fleet part of Cartegena towards the Costa Azul gala

The weather part in the Mediterranean adds uncertainty to Stage 3 of The Ocean Race. The crews set sail from Cartagena and sailed to Nice in southern France

The third stage of The Ocean Race Europe 2025 began this afternoon in Cartagena under sunny skies and some scattered clouds, when the fleet of seven last generation IMOCA sailboats, each with a mixed crew of four people, moved away at full speed from the city to start the 680 nautical miles tour across the Mediterranean to Nice.

The seven teams spent four days in Cartagena after completing the second phase of 1,400 miles from Portsmouth, with passage through Matosinhos / Porto, the first visit from The Ocean Race to Cartagena.

After enjoying everything Cartagena offers and a spectacular day of pro-am races, which attracted the large audience, today the crews have returned to the competition at a stage that promises to be complex, with volatile weather conditions foreseen in the three days of navigation to Nice.

Biotherm maintains a full of wins so far, with the highest score in the first two stages. With the race in the equator, Meilhat has chosen to refresh the team, replacing Jack Bouttell with Benjamin Ferré (FRA), an exregatist of Mini 6.50 who was sixteenth (and first not failer) in the Vendée Globe 2024-25.

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