{"id":159843,"date":"2025-09-03T10:25:45","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T09:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/?p=159843"},"modified":"2025-09-22T18:39:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T17:39:45","slug":"homecoming-victory-for-ambrogio-beccaria-as-ocean-race-europe-leg-4-finishes-in-genoa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/races\/homecoming-victory-for-ambrogio-beccaria-as-ocean-race-europe-leg-4-finishes-in-genoa-159843","title":{"rendered":"‘This one was special’ \u2013 Homecoming victory for Beccaria in The Ocean Race Europe Leg 4"},"content":"The opening leg of The Ocean Race Europe<\/a> was rocked by drama within moments of the starting gun as two of the IMOCA 60s<\/a>\u00a0 \u2014 Team Holcim PRB and Allagrande MAPEI Racing \u2014 collided at speed, forcing both boats to suspend racing and return to the dock in Kiel.\r\n\r\nThe incident occurred just after the fleet set off in big conditions, with strong winds delivering fast-paced action from the gun. While Biotherm and Paprec Ark\u00e9a pulled into the early lead, a sudden side-on impact between Holcim PRB to leeward and Allagrande MAPEI to windward brought the two team's race to a halt before they had even cleared the first mile.\r\n\r\nBoth teams are now dockside in Kiel, where shore crews are assessing damage and preparing for rapid repairs. Fortunately, all crew members were reported safe following the collision.\r\n\r\nSkipper Ambrogio Beccaria of Allagrande MAPEI Racing expressed visible disappointment on the dock: \"I\u2019m sad to be back here now,\" he said. \"The team made a huge effort to be here and we only did one mile of the race. It\u2019s super sad for our competitor also. We are not alone in this story\u2026 We are checking the boat. For sure we will not drop out until there is no chance. It doesn\u2019t seem easy, but we will see.\"\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/1oRV4M_05-Q\r\n\r\nTeam Holcim PRB, skippered by Rosalin Kuiper, also confirmed significant hull damage. \"We had to retire from the race because of damage to our hull,\" Kuiper said. \"It is very disappointing for our entire team, and for Allagrande MAPEI and for The Ocean Race as well. We have to repair this damage and that is what we are going to do.\"\r\n\r\nRace Director Phil Lawrence confirmed that both boats had suspended racing and returned to port, and noted that Holcim PRB has lodged a formal protest against Allagrande MAPEI Racing. \"This matter will be handled by the International Jury at a time to be determined,\" he added.\r\n\r\nWhile the two damaged teams regroup, the race pressed on with Biotherm leading the fleet through the Kiel Lighthouse scoring gate, earning the first two points of the race. Paprec Ark\u00e9a followed close behind to take one point. Canada Ocean Racing \u2013 Be Water Positive impressed with a strong showing in third, ahead of Team Malizia and Team Amaala.\r\n\r\nWith strong winds forecast and a challenging course ahead \u2014 including wind farms, current zones, and the iconic passage under the Great Belt Bridge \u2014 this edition of The Ocean Race Europe is already proving to be intense.\r\n\r\nBoth Holcim PRB and Allagrande MAPEI Racing hope to rejoin the race in time for the next stage, with further updates expected early in the week.\r\n\r\n
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Ambrogio Beccaria’s team Allagrande Mapei Racing made a triumphant finish to The Ocean Race Europe Leg 4 as they arrived in Genoa, Italy early Wednesday morning. Beccaria, who built and launched his Class 40 yacht in Genoa in 2022, said he considers the city his second home, and was overjoyed to have gone from missing Leg 1 completely due to a dramatic collision with Holcim-PRB to winning this stretch. The Ocean Race Europe Leg 4 saw the fleet of IMOCA 60s on a 600 nautical mile leg that started in Nice before snaking around Corsica, through the famed Bouches de Bonifacio, and into Genoa, which hosted the Grand Finale of inaugural edition of The Ocean Race Europe in 2021. Already at the start of the Ocean Race Europe Leg 4, Beccaria had said he had only one goal\u2013 to be first across the finish line in Genoa. After coming ashore in the night, having finished the leg at 01:42:14 local time on Wednesday 3 September, he confirmed, “I always want to win every leg. But this one was special because the finish was in Italy.” Beccaria wasn’t the only Italian sailor looking forward to a homecoming. Francesca Clapcich of Team Malizia said, “I\u2019m really looking forward to having a lot of Italian people coming down in Porto Antico in the middle of the city. We have an Italian boat also in this race with Ambrogio. Hopefully people will be really excited to come down, check it out, and spend time together.” Second at the end of the Ocean Race Europe Leg 4 was Yoan Richomme’s Paprec Ark\u00e9a, followed by overall race leader Biotherm in third. Ocean Race Europe Leg 4 at a glance The fleet leaves Nice sailing upwind Biotherm first through the scoring gate off Monaco Light winds off the Western side of Corsica The pace picks up as the fleet races through the Strait of Bonifacio Power outage onboard Allagrande Mapei as they pass the Island of Elba Homecoming victory for Ambrogio Beccaria and team Allagrande Mapei Ocean Race Europle Leg 4 starts in Nice Holcim-PRB, with Nico Lunven replacing skipper Rosalin Kuiper for Leg 4, and Paul Meilhat\u2019s Biotherm made the cleanest start, slipping away from the pack within the first minutes of the race. Team Amaala opted for a port start, heading offshore hoping for stronger winds and hoping to reap the benefits of a radically different tactic. Paul Meilhat of Biotherm, the race’s clear overall leader, had commented, \u2018It\u2019s better to be the hunted than the hunter, that\u2019s for sure. I don\u2019t really care about the pressure. It\u2019s not that I like it, but it doesn\u2019t affect me a lot. When you\u2019re chasing the others, it\u2019s more pressure. You have a problem to fix, you\u2019re not really confident.\u201d True to his word, Biotherm was once again first through the scoring gate at Monaco, snatching the lead from Paprec Ark\u00e9a at the last second. The winds died away overnight, taking the fleet through patches of calm. …Continue reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5337,"featured_media":159855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[747,250,1674,162,207,1633],"review_manufacturer":[],"acf":[],"introduction":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159843"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5337"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159843"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160097,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159843\/revisions\/160097"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159843"},{"taxonomy":"review_manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review_manufacturer?post=159843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}