Who will win the Route du Rhum in Ocean Fifty?

31 October 2026
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Route du Rhum

To assess the contenders lined up for the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe 2026, several sailors with experience on the platform joined our panel for the Ocean Fifty class: Audrey Ogereau, Erwan Le Roux, Gaston Morvan, Thomas Rouxel, and Yann Éliès—the latter having also served as race director for the 24H Ultim in late September and currently routing Anne-Claire Le Berre.

Ten skippers are taking the start this year—a record turnout for the Ocean Fifty fleet. While defending champion Erwan Le Roux had to withdraw at the eleventh hour after falling short on budget, all the other skippers—including nine Rhum rookies in these multihulls—are ready to go. Only one name stands out as the unanimous choice among our experts when picking the favorite: the youngest in the fleet (24 years old), Basile Bourgnon (Edenred), winner of both solo events this season, the Drheam-Cup and the 24H Ultim. “For me, he’s the undeniable favorite, the most obvious one across all classes,” sums up Gaston Morvan. “It really feels like all green lights are flashing for him.”

For Thomas Rouxel, “it’s truly the ideal combo between the fastest boat in the fleet and one of the sailors capable of total commitment,” while Erwan Le Roux points out: “Basile genuinely looks on top form; he’s a sharp, well-grounded kid who has it all. It feels like nothing can stop him and like he’s been doing this his whole life—it’s so magnificent to watch…” For Audrey Ogereau, who decided earlier this year not to enter the Rhum aboard Koesio, “Basile has been trained thoroughly; there’s naturally raw talent in him, but also a huge amount acquired through all those years in the Mini, Figaro, and Class40 circuits alongside Manu (Emmanuel Le Roch, team manager of Edenred). Sure, he climbed through the ranks quickly, but that’s just because he’s that good.”

The son of Laurent Bourgnon—the only sailor to have scored two back-to-back outright line honors in the Rhum (1994 and 1998)—also sails, according to Gaston Morvan, who raced aboard Edenred (the latest launch in the fleet, a Neyhousser design touched down in July 2025), a boat “built for the Rhum. I was able to see firsthand just how pleasant she is to sail; you feel safe and you get the sense that you can easily put your foot down on the gas.” Morvan adds: “It would be wonderful for Basile to win, thinking of his father—a lovely nod to capture a great photo in Guadeloupe perched on the bows of his trimaran. That’s got to be an extra spark motivating him as well.”

It’s tough to build a counter-argument to Edenred‘s expected supremacy, though Erwan Le Roux raises a question mark: “If nothing goes wrong, he has every chance. But I wouldn’t bank on it 100%, because I feel that nowadays, some are pushing these boats harder than ever, teetering right on the edge—especially the front-runners of this Route du Rhum.”

Pierre Quiroga and
Baptiste Hulin Waiting in the Wings

The two-time Rhum winner (2014 and 2022) includes among those contenders the sailor our experts place on the second step of the podium: Pierre Quiroga (Wewise, 34), “a solo racer at heart and a top-tier offshore tactician who prepped exceptionally well this season, especially physically. He spent plenty of time in Pornichet and very little down South—that says a lot,” smiles Audrey Ogereau.

“His slight weak point is his boat—older and a bit heavier (a 2018 VPLP design)—but over the distance of the Rhum, he’ll manage to erase all of that,” reckons Yann Eliès. “His boat is slightly less competitive than Basile’s, but with its 4×4 rugged nature, she goes toe-to-toe as soon as downwind conditions settle in,” adds Gaston Morvan, while Thomas Rouxel shifts the focus: “Given the conditions at the start of the race, which should level the playing field boat-for-boat, the sheer intensity and commitment the skippers put in will be decisive, and on that front, a guy like Pierre Quiroga has shown he’s definitely not afraid to go all out.”

The same applies, in his view, to Baptiste Hulin (Viabilis Océans, 29), with whom Thomas Rouxel won the Transat Café L’Or a year ago, rounding out our experts’ podium. “In Ocean Fifty, having total trust in yourself and your boat is crucial—knowing exactly where the line is, and Baptiste has that, notes Audrey Ogereau. Viabilis Océans is built for breezy conditions anyway, and he has smartly optimized his cockpit with lots of handy little tweaks to make life more manageable onboard.” For Yann Éliès, “Baptiste has made massive strides over the past two years; he ticked off every box one by one, he’s methodical, and he runs his campaign remarkably well.”

Four Solid Dark Horses

Our experts also point to several serious outsiders, starting with the veteran of the fleet and the only one to have already raced the Rhum in a 50-foot trimaran (3rd in 2018, capsized in 2022), Thibaut Vauchel-Camus (Solidaires en Peloton by Delanchy, 48). “I think that’s a huge edge, because he has already experienced the intense pressure of the start where you don’t sleep for three straight days. Even with a shore router, at some point, when you’re completely wiped out with bloodshot eyes, you risk sailing straight into trouble,” notes Erwan Le Roux.

“Capable of real sparks, well prepared, with a fast boat and a great team,” according to Gaston Morvan, Matthieu Perraut (Elvest, 36), who finished second in September’s 24H Ultim, is seen as “quite impressive” by Yann Eliès: “Because he capsized last year (in the Transat Café L’Or), I thought he might be somewhat shaken up, but that doesn’t seem to be the case at all.” Erwan Le Roux considers Erwan Le Draoulec (Lazare x Hellio, 29) “a very serious dark horse“ given the downwind conditions forecast for the opening phase, which he believes suit his VPLP design to perfection. “A high-strung boat, perhaps the toughest to handle solo,” according to Gaston Morvan, but one on which the skipper—who also suffered a capsize early in the 2025 Transat Café L’Or—“looks more and more dialed-in.”

Yann Eliès, for his part, would willingly put a chip on “young Léonard (Legrand, Sodebo Fifty, 32), a dedicated and sharp guy; the Sodebo shore crew did an outstanding job refitting his boat, the one I won the Jacques Vabre on back in 2013 with Erwan Le Roux.” Erwan Le Roux, however, questions “the choice of keeping an open cuddy (the cockpit is minimally sheltered); in a race like the Rhum, where you need to heat up food and get some sleep to preserve energy, at some point that could become really grueling.” Finally, Audrey Ogereau would find it “great” to see the first woman to ever take on the Rhum in an Ocean Fifty, Anne-Claire Le Berre (Upwind by MerConcept, 44), “right in the mix—she has what it takes, as she’s growing more confident and getting a real handle on her boat.”