On François Gabart:
« What a beautiful victory. François invested all his energy and his passion in that race. He had said he would and he went all the way, making his dream come true. It’s a perfect way to win the Vendée Globe ».
Au sujet d’Armel Le Cleac’h:
« I also want to congratulate Armel! François and Armel had a similar race, it was very close. You need to have a winner and someone at the second place but both sailed with equal talent and skills »
On the record:
« I’ve always thought it could be done in less than 80 days, I’ve never seen how it could be a problem. Boats have improved so much since I won the Vendée Globe (Vincent’s 2004 race time: 87 days 10 hours 47 minutes). Today’s 60-foot yachts are so much faster that I’m not surprised at all. And of course there is another capital criterion: the weather conditions. It’s easy to see there really was not a big difference between them. If they had faced the same conditions as the skippers who chased them in the South Atlantic, they would probably have had troubles finishing under 80 days. »
