Paul Meilhat and his Biotherm crew have stamped their authority on The Ocean Race 2025 with another commanding performance, claiming line honours and maximum points on Leg 2 to extend their grip on the overall leaderboard. Crossing the finish line at Cartagena at 02:53 UTC on Saturday morning, they completed the leg in five days, ten hours, and 53 minutes, adding a leg victory to their scoring gate win and earlier triumph in Matosinhos. The crew stepped ashore looking worn but jubilant, their perfect record now speaking for itself.
What made the leg so compelling was the sheer range of conditions the fleet encountered. From thundering through the Strait of Gibraltar at 30 knots to being reduced to a crawl off the Spanish coast, Leg 2 was the Mediterranean at its most theatrical. Boats that had sat 100 miles back at Gibraltar found themselves within 35 miles of the leaders once the breeze deserted everyone, a reminder of how ruthlessly this sea rewards patience and punishes complacency. The finish captured the mood perfectly, with Biotherm tacking upwind in barely a breath of wind before nudging across the line. By dawn, the top three crews were docked and the relief on the dock was palpable.
Franck Cammas brought Holcim-PRB across the line at 04:19 UTC, roughly 90 minutes behind the winners, to claim second place and 16 points across the leg. After a difficult start to the race, the result carried weight well beyond the points tally. It was a statement of intent from a crew that had refused to capitulate, grinding through shifting breezes and light-air frustration to claw their way back into contention.
The mood around the team's arrival was captured on social media: "💪 What a comeback! Team Holcim-PRB cross the line in 2nd place on Leg 2 of #TheOceanRaceEurope. Back in the Race and showing huge resilience with a brilliant performance in tough, light-wind conditions."
“There’s always a chance for the boats behind to come back,” he had warned earlier in the week. In Cartagena, his words proved prophetic, though his team ultimately delivered when it counted.
Third place went to Paprec Arkéa, who crossed at 06:37 UTC under skipper Yoann Richomme, and the finish carried a familiar sting. Having pushed hard into the Mediterranean and led much of the charge, they were stopped in their tracks by calm patches offshore and watched rivals move past them. Twelve points banked, but the sense of opportunity lost was hard to shake. It echoed Leg 1, where a brutal wind shift near Dover cost them dearly. Richomme had described that earlier transition bluntly: "We went from 25 knots to 4 knots in 10 seconds." Cartagena offered a similar lesson, and the crew will be well aware they cannot afford many more of them.
The leg served as a vivid reminder of why the Mediterranean carries such a fearsome reputation among offshore sailors. No margin feels safe here. The drag race out of Gibraltar gave way almost immediately to a tactical puzzle, and the teams that navigated it best were not always the ones who had looked strongest in open water. Position meant little until the line was crossed.
With two legs now completed, Biotherm sit at the summit of The Ocean Race 2025 with an unbeaten record that is growing harder to ignore. Yet both Holcim-PRB and Paprec Arkéa will take genuine confidence from what Leg 2 has shown: that conditions can unravel any advantage in a matter of hours. Across the fleet, attention has already shifted to weather routing and repair lists as preparations begin for what comes next. The standings may look settled, but in this race, the only certainty is that nothing is certain until the finishing line is behind you.
