The Ocean Race Europe 2025: Ambrogio Beccaria’s Allagrande Mapei Racing claim 'special' home victory on Leg 4 in Genova

The Italian-flagged yacht of Allagrande Mapei Racing fought off a sustained challenge during the final 24 hours in the Gulf of Genova to break away into an unassailable lead in Leg 4 of The Ocean Race Europe. Skipper Ambrogio Beccaria described the moment as a "dream come true". You can follow all the action with the brand new 'Onboard' show every Tuesday and Friday on discovery+.

Ambrogio Beccaria’s Italian-flagged entry Allagrande Mapei Racing have pulled off a spectacular home victory after winning Leg 4 of The Ocean Race Europe 2025 in style in Genova, Italy in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Beccaria and his all-French crew – renowned multiple Vendee Globe competitor Thomas Ruyant, Morgan Lagraviere, Ruyant's regular training partner and co-skipper for his Route du Rhum in 2022 and Transat Jacques Vabre 2023 victories, and 2023 49erFX junior world champion Manon Peyre – finished the 600-nautical mile leg from Nice, France at 1:42am local time on Wednesday after completing the course in two days, eight hours, 41 minutes, and 14 seconds.

For the Italian skipper, it was the fulfilment of a dream he had expressed at the start of the leg when he identified the team’s primary goal was to be first into Genova – a city that became his home during the build of his Class 40 yacht in 2022.

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"I always want to win every leg," he said after coming ashore. "But this one was special because the finish was in Italy. We were improving so well as a team – in the last leg we were third, but we knew we could do better. So why not dream big and try to win this leg?"

'I'm so proud of the team' - Beccaria on 'dream' Leg 4 victory for Allagrande Mapei in Genova

Video credit: TNT Sports

Second home, finishing at 02:32:05 local time, was Yoann Richomme’s French entry Team Paprec Arkea. The overall race leader – Paul Melihat’s Biotherm – is expected to finish third.

The course for Leg 4 saw the seven-boat fleet leave Nice in upwind mode, racing along the Cote d'Azur on the way to a nearby Scoring Gate off Monaco. Biotherm led at the gate to collect two points, followed by the Swiss entry Team Holcim-PRB – skippered for this leg by Frenchman Nico Lunven – who picked up one point.

From there, the fleet had a slow night at sea as the closely packed fleet made its way down the western side of Corsica in light winds, staying well offshore to avoid the wind shadow thrown by the French island’s towering mountain ranges.

Holcim-PRB led through the Strait of Bonifacio – which separates Corsica in the north and Sardinia in the south – and were the first to benefit from the stronger, steadier southerly wind that whisked the foiling IMOCAs north at speeds over 20 knots.

While the top four teams – Holcim-PRB, Biotherm, Paprec Arkea and Allagrande Mapei – made a swift passage through the Strait of Bonifacio, the remaining three crews - Boris Herrmann’s Team Malizia, Scott Shawyer’s Canada Ocean Racing and Alan Roura’s Team AMAALA - were delayed by lighter winds and could only watch as the leading group pulled away.

Soon after the leading group passed the Italian island of Elba shortly before midnight on Monday night, it was Allagrande Mapei that hit the front – even after having suffered a power outage that had wiped out the boat’s instrumentation for an hour, leaving the crew effectively sailing blind.

Despite having to fend off fierce attacks from their three closest rivals, the Allagrande Mapei sailors held their collective nerve in the light winds that prevailed in the Gulf of Genova, to round the western waypoint off Alassio two miles ahead of Paprec Arkea and Biotherm.

The breeze softened again on the way back across the gulf to the final waypoint before the finish, slowing the leaders to a near-stop. Still in the lead, the crew of the Italian boat were the first to feel the welcome breath of a fresh new breeze generated by a nearby Mediterranean low pressure system and began to quickly extend their advantage at the front of the fleet.

They extended their lead at the final waypoint to 20 nautical miles over second placed Paprec Arkea, as they tore northward at downwind foiling speeds up to 25 knots.

Irrespective of this considerable lead, with a huge light wind zone blocking the path to the Leg 4 finish off Genova, the Italian boat’s victory was far from assured.

Things got really tense in the latter part of this evening when Allagrande Mapei started to slow in the light winds closer to shore and Paprec Arkea – still in the stronger breeze – started to inexorably close down the delta. By midnight, the gap was down to just eight miles.

Winning team Allagrande Mapei Racing on the finish line of Leg 4 in The Ocean Race Europe

Image credit: The Ocean Race

In the end, Beccaria and crew managed to hold their concentration and keep their boat moving well enough to pick up a stream of offshore drainage breeze that saw them pull away once again in the final miles to confirm their leg win and collect seven valuable points.

Beccaria said the racing had been intense throughout the leg, with the top four always within striking distance of each other, but made even more so when the crew could not start their engine to charge their batteries and had to reboot the boat.

"The top four boats were always very close, until the end when there was some separation, but before the last transition all four were within two or three miles after two days of racing," he said.

"We had a huge turning point on the big downwind from Bonifacio to la Spezzia, where at one point we tried to charge our battery and the engine didn’t start.

"So we had to shut down the whole boat, steer the boat with nothing – at night. Morgan succeeded in repairing the alternator and we were able to go on with the race. But that moment could have been the end for us."

After crashing out of the opening leg with damage after a collision with Holcim-PRB shortly after the start in Kiel, Beccaria said the Leg 4 victory went some way towards rewarding the entire team’s hard work to get them back in the race.

"I am really happy for all of the people who have worked on this project, it’s really wonderful," he said. "Everybody thought we would be out of the race, but now we have even won the leg in Genova. It’s huge, it’s wonderful."

Paprec Arkea skipper Richomme said he and his crew were pleased with their second place in Leg 4, particularly after such close racing for most of the route.

"It was a really great fight with the three others," he said. "We had an amazing race, I think everyone was in the lead at some point. They [Allagrande Mapei] took off in a little gust yesterday afternoon and just kept pulling away.

"And then there was this massive difference in wind. I think nobody can be happier to win at home than Ambrogio so we are happy for him and happy to be second as well."

How to follow The Ocean Race Europe

The new Onboard update show

With more onboard technology and more access to the sailors than ever before, a brand-new show, Onboard, has launched and is now available to stream on discovery+.

New episodes will air at 19:00 UK time every Tuesday and Friday on TNT Sports.

The official tracker

The brand-new official Ocean Race Europe tracker, allowing viewers to track the fleet in real time, is available on The Ocean Race website.

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