Outside time but happy, Denis Van Weynbergh completed his world tour – Liberation
Twenty-five hours. It is the excess of time spent at sea which will have deprived the Belgian skipper Denis van Weynbergh, the last competitor of the Vendée Globe, to integrate the ranking of the famous sailing race around the world. Arrived this Saturday, March 8 in Sables-d'Olonne at 9:30 am local time, the browser swinging the pavilion of Ieteren Group will have completed his world tour in 117 days, or 54 more than The winner Charlie Dalin. The good last « official » will therefore be Fabrice Amedeo, who arrived on Tuesday March 4.
The failure to appear in the ranking seemed to be well digested for the 57 -year -old sailor, the only competitor of a 100 % lover team. Smokes, mists of mists and Belgian flags in a mess … He was greeted by hundreds of people, including many compatriots, during his rise in the Sables-d'Olonne channel. « It's indescribable, you're on a cloud », said Van Weynbergh to qualify his emotion, once descended from his boat, where he was notably welcomed by other competitors, in particular Jean Le Cam, Arnaud Boissières and Manu Cousin.
« I'm going to cry all day, but it's okay, it's not bad to cry for that », He said tears in his eyes. “Everything was complicated, hard. I hope everyone has not had such a hard globe, otherwise I don't understand why they come back ”, He said, this time laughing, when he couldn't get his mains around for two weeks.
The organization of the race had fixed the closure of the finish line on Friday morning, 8 hours, or a racing time of 116 days and 6 pm. « This time corresponds to the time of the last competitor of the previous edition, the Finnish Ari Huusela« , had indicated the organizers on the website of the event. The race management, inflexible on this however cruel point for Denis Van Weynbergh, had however specified that it would be the best possible welcome to him, which was the case on Saturday morning.
