Route du Rhum 2026: Tom Laperche Wins in Record Time
French skipper Tom Laperche won the Route du Rhum on Saturday, setting a race record on his first attempt. The 29-year-old crossed the finish line
French skipper Tom Laperche won the Route du Rhum on Saturday, setting a race record on his first attempt. The 29-year-old crossed the finish line in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, at 10:31 p.m. local time aboard his Ultim multihull SVR-Lazartigue.
His time was 6 days, 13 hours, 27 minutes and 40 seconds. That beat the previous record, set by Charles Caudrelier in 2022, by about six hours.
A first-time winner leads from the front
Laperche led almost from the start and held his advantage across the 3,542-nautical-mile course from Saint-Malo to Guadeloupe. He headed the fleet alone for several days.
The final approach was tricky. He handled the demanding run around Guadeloupe in darkness, then celebrated at the finish buoy with a barefoot leap onto the trampoline net of his trimaran. He waved to his technical team on a following boat.
Coville and Burton complete the podium
Thomas Coville took second on Sodebo Ultim 3. Louis Burton finished third on Armand Thiery, in his first transatlantic race in the Ultim class. The podium was all French.
What the race is
The Route du Rhum is a solo transatlantic race held every four years. The first edition took place in 1978.
Laperche, a sailing prodigy from Morbihan, said the win fulfilled a long-held ambition. "This is a childhood dream come true," he said.
He said he had watched footage of finishes in Guadeloupe for decades, featuring great champions, and had dreamed of racing in the multihull category for the overall victory. The welcome in Guadeloupe moved him. "The noise, the atmosphere, I'm deeply touched by it all," Laperche said.
