#VOR - Skipper Bouwe Bekking led his Team Brunel to a win in Leg 10 of the Volvo Ocean Race over Xabi Fernández’s MAPFRE squad, who claimed second place less than two minutes behind.
Brunel crossed the finish line at the Swedish port of Gothenburg at 20:42:01 UTC, with MAPFRE’s tine at 20:43:56. Team AkzoNobel, another Dutch entry, followed 19 minutes later to complete the podium.
The results mean MAPFRE and Team Brunel sit equal at the top of the leaderboard with 65 points. MAPFRE will be ranked in first place by virtue of leading the In-Port Race Series, which is the tie-break mechanism for the race.
Charles Caudrelier’s Dongfeng Race Team were the leaders at the beginning of Leg 10 but slid down the table as the week progressed.
However, with their fourth-place finish into Gothenburg at 21:15:32 UTC, Dongfeng will be on 64 points —with an additional bonus point for best elapsed time to be added after the Leg 11 finish.
This means the top three boats in the Volvo Ocean Race will start the final sprint into The Hague on June 21 in a dead heat, with the overall title on the line.
As of 11pm Irish time, six of the seven boats in the Volvo Ocean Race fleet had completed Leg 10.
Turn the Tide on Plastic, with Ireland’s 49erFX Olympic hopeful Annalise Murphy on deck, placed fifth at 21:32:00 UTC, while Vestas 11th Hour Racing completed the evenings arrivals at 21:56:40 UTC.
Only Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag are still racing, with 23 nautical miles left to cover as of 11.42pm Irish time (UTC+1).
