Marie-Adélaïde Le Gué and Alexandre Carlo are building something that reaches well beyond a podium finish. The Saint-Malo pair, racing under the LGC Sailing–Bretagne Plaisance banner, have set their course for the 2026 Tour Voile with an ambition that is as much about what sailing can become as it is about where they finish on the leaderboard. Their central argument is a straightforward one: elite offshore competition and genuine crew diversity make each other stronger.
Le Gué's sailing life began at age seven, and she has been accumulating results ever since. She claimed the European J80 championship in 2022, then followed that with a runner-up finish in the world youth rankings the following year. Away from racing she studied sports management and now mentors younger sailors through regional committee programmes. Her partner in this project, Carlo, is 23 and arrived at offshore sailing via single-handed and two-person keelboat competition. His training in marine engineering and composite materials gives the team a technical fluency they are already putting to practical use in their sustainability work.
The pair made a notable impression at Spi Ouest-France in April, when their Figaro Bénéteau 3 crew received a Federation Prize for Exceptional Inclusion Commitment. At the heart of that recognition was crewmember Noah Guichoux, one of the first sailors with a significant physical disability to race a Figaro 3. Guichoux has been a full-time wheelchair user since spinal ischaemia struck him in 2021, yet he chose to race without any modifications to the boat, taking on the same deck work as everyone else aboard.
"For the past year we have sailed as a mixed-ability crew," Le Gué and Carlo said. "Noah brings real strength. He has incredible character, always smiling even when he's struggling." The connection with Guichoux goes back to the previous year's Tour Voile, where the team came home fourth overall. That result, and the experience of sailing together, proved reason enough to reassemble the crew for 2026.
The LGC Sailing programme runs across three years and takes in more than ten racing events. One of the broader goals is to establish the first dedicated Figaro 3 sailing association based in Saint-Malo Bay. Racing, though, forms just one strand of what Le Gué and Carlo are constructing. They are actively putting together mixed, multi-generational, and mixed-ability crews across both training and competition, working with regional sailing development committees and Brittany sailing authorities to underpin that effort.
Carlo's engineering background is also steering a distinct sustainability thread within the programme. The team is seeking partnerships with industry to develop more environmentally responsible sail designs and marine systems, and plans to use the profile that comes with top-level racing to highlight how climate change is reshaping ocean conditions.
None of this sits in tension with the Tour Voile's own character as a competition. The event has long placed value on sailor development, knowledge transfer, and broadening access to the sport. For Le Gué and Carlo, inclusion and performance are not parallel tracks running side by side. The architecture of their entire programme treats them as the same pursuit, and the 2026 Tour Voile is where they intend to show it.
