Alexis Loison, from the imaginary to the real, big winner of La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec

Alexis Loison (Groupe REEL) lit up the Normandy night on the arrival day of La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec 2025. The skipper from Cherbourg finally claimed his first victory after 19 attempts. A victory of perseverance, a victory of passion, and a victory of panache, with two legs won out of the three on the program for this 56th edition. Bravo, Mr. Loison, you have finally entered the great book of La Solitaire legends!

© Armel Vrac

It was at 3 hours 47 minutes and 14 seconds, in a very dark and cool night, but dotted with stars, that Groupe REEL, Alexis Loison's white and red Figaro, pierced the darkness to heroically cross this finish line in Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue. It seems unimaginable to be able to feel what was going through the skipper's head a few seconds before achieving HIS feat, almost that of a lifetime, the feat he has been chasing for almost two decades.

A race he mastered from start to finish with two stage victories, the first at Roscoff - Baie de Morlaix and the second at Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue. The English Channel no longer holds any secrets for him, nor does the Bay of Biscay, and it was with a masterly hand that he succeeded in this very long climb from Vigo, delivering the final blow on the night of Wednesday to Thursday at the entrance to the English Channel.

“This Solitaire was tough, I'm so happy to win it. But this one, I don't know why, it was tougher than the others! I always had a little voice, every year, telling me to keep going, keep going, you'll make it. Finally I'm doing it and what's more, in style, by coming 1st, 2nd and 1st, it's fabulous! I can't believe it, I'm completely on top of things. Since the beginning of the year, I've been telling myself that this is my year and I've just been focusing on the little details so as not to leave anything to chance, and it's true that I'm having a fabulous season, it's completely crazy. There will be a 20th Solitaire. I'm going to savor it all the more, this one, without the pressure of a result. But I don't really know when: I'm keeping a little time. We'll definitely do a 20th for the fun of it.”

©Vincent Olivaud

Behind Alexis, the battle for second and third place in the overall standings was fiercely contested between Charlotte Yven (Skipper Macif 2023) and Arno Biston (Article.1). After a very good sail from Vigo, fluctuating between second and fifth place, Charlotte, thanks to her lead of 24 minutes and 5 seconds over Arno Biston, very successfully maintained her second place in the overall standings. The skipper of Article.1 thus completes this magnificent podium.

“Succeeding in making a podium finish in the Solitaire is incredible. I'm going to try to achieve it. Before leaving, I told myself that I wanted to do as well, and I think I did. I felt good on my boat. It's the culmination of a lot of work with Macif, which gave me the means to perform well,” confided Charlotte Yven upon her arrival at the pontoon.

A first podium for the youngest in the race

This stage was also marked by the excellent performance of Tom Goron (Groupe Dubreuil) who, as he said during the radio broadcasts, had difficulty finishing his stages properly. He went all the way and finished in a magnificent second place with a gap of 12 minutes and 17 seconds, just behind Alexis Loison. A very good performance for the youngest in the race who is participating this year in his second Solitaire du Figaro Paprec. 15 minutes after Tom Goron, Jules Ducelier on Région Normandie completed this last podium. He also had a very good race. In the first words of Alexis Loison, “We will have to keep a close eye on Tom and Jules because they have great potential. It’s a pleasure to sail against them and a joy to train with them.”

©Vincent Olivaud

“I'm so happy to finish on a high note! It's true that the first two stages, I was a bit upset and of course I managed to finish, it's cool. And then a great second place behind Alexis, no hard feelings! So happy for him! It was a very good stage: we only sailed upwind, but we managed to play in lots of different conditions, currents, peak effects and, at the same time, a crossing of the Bay of Biscay. So a super complete stage, super interesting. It's true that racing in front is still much simpler, and I think I was in the top 4/5 all the way, apart from at the beginning. So mentally, it was okay. At the Alderney Race, we got really shaken up, and it's true that I still had two little friends behind, so we couldn't give up. We knew that the overturn was coming, we knew that was where “The whole race could have gone either way,” commented Tom Goron upon his arrival.

Hugo Cardon wins among the rookies

Among the newcomers, Hugo Cardon (Sarth'Atlantique), thanks to his magnificent stage victory in Vigo, Spain, is ranked first in the BENETEAU rookie rankings with a race time of 12 days, 10 hours, 54 minutes, and 18 seconds. Hugo Cardon, for his first participation, finished his Solitaire in sixth place in the overall ranking of this 2025 edition.

A very fine edition concludes with a magnificent podium, and throughout the day, the arrivals of the competitors will follow one after the other. As soon as the gates of the Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue harbor basin open, the Figaros will finally be able to return to the pontoons.