Fuerteventura PWA Tag 5

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Am letzten Tag der Slalomrennen beim Fuerteventura PWA World Cup 2019 - gesponsert von René Egli - wurden zwei weitere spannende Eliminations gefahren, bei denen die großen Drei erneut in dem Kampf um den Sieg des Fuerteventura PWA World Cup Slalom Champion 2019 gingen. Bei klarem Himmel und ausgezeichnetem Wind wurden die letzten beiden Eliminations der Veranstaltung mit Segeln zwischen 6.2-7.0. abgeschlossen, ein passendes Finale für eine großartige Rennveranstaltung, bei der Sotavento erneut hervorragende Bedingungen bot.

 

Slalom Men’s

At the start of the final day of racing, the battle for the event title was still a three-horse race between Antoine Albeau (JP / NeilPryde), Pierre Mortefon (Fanatic / Duotone / Chopper Fins) and Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Severne) with just 3 points separating the big top 3. 

However, to remain in the race for the event title Iachino would be required to win Elimination 8 and that’s exactly what the Italian managed to do as he led from start to finish to claim a crucial bullet - his third of the week. 

Behind him, Albeau and Mortefon were locked in another epic tussle with the two heavyweights continually exchanging places, which led to a drag race for the finish line which Albeau would eventually win to secure an important second place as that result would then eliminate Mortefon from the event title race, leaving just himself and Iachino to battle it out!

The odds at this point were largely stacked in Albeau’s favour as a top two finish would guarantee him the title, and given that AA had only finished outside the top 2 twice in the preceding 8 races it seemed unlikely. While, in the scenario that Albeau was to finish 3rd or worse, Iachino would still be required to win the 9th Elimination.

In the end, Albeau didn’t leave the result in any doubt as he did what he does best in Sotavento by claiming a decisive bullet in the final elimination of the week to claim his 12th victory here in last 14 years - continuing his unbelievable dominance of the event. Having started the event very consistently the 25-time world champion then threw down the hammer in the second half of the event by winning 3 out of the last 4 races. Albeau came into the event tied on points with Jordy Vonk (Fanatic / Duotone), but leaves Fuerteventura with a 600 point lead.

The big top 3 have been truly dominant here, once again proving that they are in a different league to the rest of the fleet. In windsurfing terms they are the equivalent of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in the tennis world, such is their unbelievable dominance and consistency on the racecourse. Between them, they qualified for 26 out of 27 winners’ finals (96.3%), while between them they also won 8 out of the 9 eliminations completed (88.89%) - 3x Albeau, 3x Iachino, 2x Mortefon. In the event rankings, Julien Quentel (Patrik / Gun Sails) was the next closest challenger in 4th, but he was a staggering 29.6 points behind Iachino in 3rd place.

Mortefon finishes the event in an excellent second place after getting the better of Iachino in the final race of the day, while Iachino completes the podium. Mortefon remains 3rd in the overall rankings, while Iachino climbs from 9th to 5th and both men will be firmly back in the hunt for the 2019 world title if they can record solid results in Denmark - as they will then be able to discard a 12th and 25th place respectively. 

In the end, Julien Quentel was extremely fortunate to hang on to his fourth place as after yesterday’s quarterfinal exit in Elimination 7, the 33-year-old should’ve been eliminated at the quarterfinal stage of both of today’s eliminations. Quentel was outside the top 4 in both Elimination 8 and 9 as they headed for the final mark and on both occasions, the sailors in comfortably qualifying fell to offer Quentel a much-needed lifeline. Quentel would then go on to finish 10th and 7th, which was crucial with Cedric Bordes (Tabou / GA Sails) remaining in 5th place by just 1.3 points after finishing 6th and 7th today.

Maciek Rutkowski (FMX Racing / Challenger Sails) finished the event with a flurry to cement his 6th place in the event rankings, which is the Pole’s best result to date on the world tour. Rutkowski has sailed extremely consistently for the entirety of the event never finishing outside the top 14, while he ended the event with a superb 3rd place and with a little bit more luck earlier in the event he could’ve finished even higher.

Jordy Vonk finishes the event in 7th place, which keeps the flying Dutchman second in the overall rankings, while Finian Maynard (FMX Racing) enjoyed an excellent end to the event with a 4th and a 9th today, which sees him rise 5 places into 8th. 

Elsewhere, Alexandre Cousin (Patrik / Phantom Sails / Chopper Fins) signed off the event with his best result in a single Slalom elimination - second - which sees the 30-year-old climb one place into 9th, while Ross Williams (Tabou / GA Sails) falls two places to 10th after two quarterfinal exits today.

The top 16 is completed by Antoine Questel (I-99 / S2Maui), Enrico Marotti (JP / NeilPryde), Mateus Isaac (JP / NeilPryde), Tristan Algret (Starboard / Severne / Chopper Fins), Cyril Moussilmani (RRD / RRD Sails) and Pascal Toselli (JP / Loftsails / Chopper Fins). 

Overall Ranking 2019 Fuerteventura PWA Grand Slam - Men’s Slalom

1st Antoine Albeau (FRA - JP / NeilPryde)
2nd Pierre Mortefon (FRA - Fanatic / Duotone / Chopper Fins)
3rd Matteo Iachino (ITA - Starboard / Severne)
4th Julien Quentel (SXM / Patrik / Gun Sails)
5th Cedric Bordes (FRA - Tabou / GA Sails)
6th Maciek Rutkowski (POL - FMX Racing / Challenger Sails)
7th Jordy Vonk (NED - Fanatic / Duotone)
8th Finian Maynard (KV - FMX Racing)
9th Alexandre Cousin (FRA - Patrik / Phantom Sails / Chopper Fins)
10th Ross Williams (GBR - Tabou / GA Sails)

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