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Sébastien Col is the first Frenchman
to win the Marseille International Match Race (the
previous winners were the American Ed Baird in 2005
and the Pole Karol Jablonski in 2004 and 2003).
It is also the first Grade 1 victory for this team,
consisting of Sébastien Col, Téva Plichart, Gilles
Favenec and Christophe André. It is also a great
win for the K-Challenge America's Cup team that
they represent.
The semis – best of three matches – were very closely
fought with both going to a third "winner takes
it all" match.
In the first semi, Philippe Presti beat Paolo Cian
only to be beaten by Paolo. In the second semi,
Peter Holmberg was the first to win, only for Sébastien
Col to win back in the second match. In both semis
the final match was very extremely tough, with Paolo
Cian and Sébastien Col managing to impose themselves
in the end.
The 5th place play-off was also really close, with
Dimitri Deruelle only beating Eugeny Neugodnikov
after three flights.
It took Col two extremely close matches to finally
win the regatta.
In the first match, Paolo Cian got two penalties
which prevented him from getting in front of the
French crew. But in the second match it was Sébastien
Col's turn to get a penalty. However, with a brilliant
peice of sailing, he managed to repair during the
first passage at the leeward mark whilst forcing
Cian to follow him. All in all a very physically
and tactically demanding final, with sailsmanship
at its very best.
Peter Holmberg, from the Alinghi team, won his third
place after beating Philippe Presti from Luna Rossa
by two matches.
Final & petit-final
Flight 1 : Sébastien Col def. Paolo Cian
- Peter Holmberg def. Philippe Presti
Flight 2 : Sébastien Col def. Paolo Cian - Peter
Holmberg def. Philippe Presti
Semi-finals & sail-offs
(places 5 & 6)
Flight 1 : Philippe Presti def. Paolo Cian -
Peter Holmberg def. Sébastien Col - Eugeny Neugodnikov
def. Dimitri Deruelle
Flight 2 : Paolo Cian def. Philippe Presti - Sébastien
Col def. Peter Holmberg - Dimitri Deruelle def.
Eugeny Neugodnikov
Flight 3 : Paolo Cian def. Philippe Presti - Sébastien
Col def. Peter Holmberg - Dimitri Deruelle def.
Eugeny Neugodnikov
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