FR
ENOn paper they are one of the favourites to win. Beccaria’s shrugs off the tag of favourite, Beccaria and Ruyant on Allagrande MAPEI are one of the three IMOCA’s in the fleet to have done the Course des Caps and then The Ocean Race Europe. Neither race went to plan as they suffered a technical breakdown at the foot of the mast when second (still as For People) on the Course des Caps. Their Ocean Race Europe was blighted by a collision at the start in Kiel though they triumphed on the leg into Genoa.
Special chemistry Beccaria: “Macif are favourites”
IMOCA
25 October 2025 - 14h35
Put together the winner of the last two Coffee Route races in the IMOCA, Thomas Ruyant and the effervescent Italian winner of Class40 on the 2023 edition of the race Ambrogio Beccaria and that has to be one of the dream teams among the 18 IMOCA duos which will start Sunday. With a new sponsor in Mapei, Beccaria is on course for the next Vendée Globe and will shortly take over Ruyant’s IMOCA.
A dream team?
Beccaria is on great form. “We are the dream team? Yes that would be nice…like the US basketball team….it would be nice but we are a little bit smaller. But, no, I really, I don’t think we are the favourites. It is mathematical thing. If you won the last two races you are the favourites, Thomas and I are winners of this race but that was two years ago. But since then so much has changed, the boats have changed, crews have changed. So in fact we have done one abandon and one fifth in The Ocean Race Europe so we have the confidence that we are absolutely able to win but we don’t have the pressure.”
Configuration should work
He contends, “Mathematically….I don’t know…we should be top five. Our boat is very configured for downwind and strong winds and so for the two weather situation we are looking for we know are a little overweight compared to the others but it is a very reliable boat and so we can push the boat
super hard. The boat is very safe when you sail at 30kts in waves because we have a very nice bow shape which does not cut the waves and so it is very nice to sail on this boat.” “Everything on this boat is configured to be fast when it is windy and downwind. So we have a very specific sail configuration. Our biggest difference is the size of the J2 and the J3. We have a size configuration that is optimised to be a staysail, so smaller, by 25 per cent of surface. When we are able to sail downwind with three sails while the others can’t. The problem in turn is that when it is light or medium these small sails can be a negative point. But it is November (sic) it is the North Atlantic so we assume it will be windy and we assume that after the Canaries it will be downwind. This is our bet.
Not so complementary…
They have similarities beyond being the same height, both are solo racers who came through the Mini and Class40 rather than doing years of Figaro racing, both have a great natural feel for going fast..Beccaria explains, “We are not so complementary. We are quite similar, maybe that is a weak point of our duo because we have to find the balance because Thomas will do the navigation and I will be more in charge of performance but we have to find the way to share things. We need to have more confidence in each other. When you sail double handed that is one of the most important things, confidence and trust in each other. When you feel it you can do better.”
They have cultural and culinary differences…
The Italian chuckles, “Cultural differences? Thomas never looks at what we bring to eat on the Transat. I am in charge of that and Thomas is sugar addicted. I am not.”
Threats?
He reckons, “Charal is a very good compromise between what we are able to do and also is very fast upwind and reaching. It is a very good boat in every condition. Macif we know it is just super fast but they struggle in strong winds. We will see if it ever gets strong enough but they already won everything so I think they are the favourites and I saw Charal in training and they are very fast when it is their conditions they can hit very hard. Quéguiner are super fast and Élodie is super talented.
