A French revival in the Cádiz sun
France finally found their rhythm in Cádiz, sailing a textbook race to claim their first win of the Spain Sail Grand Prix. Quentin Delapierre and his Les Bleus crew looked sharp from the gun, accelerating cleanly through the start line and never relinquishing control. In a fleet where flight stability was everything, the French maintained near-perfect foiling across the course, posting the fastest leg times of the day.
Behind them, Germany’s Erik Heil steered another confident performance. His Deutsche Bank-backed team stayed cool under pressure, using clean mark roundings and steady boat-speed to defend their position from the ever-threatening New Zealand and Great Britain crews.
Black Foils claw back ground
For Peter Burling’s Black Foils, Race 6 marked a return to the sharp end. After a conservative start, the Kiwis began picking off boats one by one, flying higher and faster on the downwind legs. By the final mark they were locked in a drag race with Emirates GBR, threading the needle inside Fletcher’s line to steal third on the approach to the finish.
“We’ve been working on getting that consistency back,” Burling said afterwards. “These were tricky conditions — light wind with a rolling swell — so it was about balance rather than raw pace.”
The move kept New Zealand firmly in the hunt for a place in the Cádiz final, just five points behind the new event leaders.
Shifting fortunes at the top
Dylan Fletcher’s Emirates GBR continued to show the composure that has characterised their 2025 season. A measured fourth place, combined with earlier podium finishes, moved the British team to the top of the event standings on 44 points. Rockwool Denmark, so dominant on Day 1, struggled to find their flow and finished sixth — enough to keep them second overall, but only three points clear of the chasing pack.
Australia’s Tom Slingsby endured another frustrating race. The defending champions rounded the course mid-fleet and later admitted they were “slower than the Spanish” — a rare concession from the powerhouse crew still searching for their trademark pace.
Local favourites Spain looked threatening early but sailed outside the boundary on Leg 4, earning a costly penalty that dropped them to seventh. For Diego Botín and his Los Gallos team, it was a tough setback after such a strong home showing on Saturday.
Fleet Race 6 results
1st, France, 10pts
2nd, Germany by Deutsche Bank, 9 pts
3rd, Emirates GBR, 8 pts
4th, Black Foils, 7 pts
5th, ROCKWOOL Racing (Denmark), 6 pts
6th, United States, 5 pts
7th, BONDS Flying Roos, 4pts
8th, Los Gallos (Spain), 3rd
9th, NorthStar (Canada), 2nd
10th, Switzerland, 1 pt
11th, Red Bull Italy, 0 pts
12th Mubadala Brazil, 0 pts
Tight margins, high stakes
With just one fleet race and a final remaining, the standings are tight:
Emirates GBR 44 pts, Denmark 41, New Zealand 39, Germany 38, Spain 33.
Any of those top four could still make the three-boat final.
The light Cádiz breeze and lingering Atlantic swell rewarded finesse rather than aggression, and it was France who mastered both. Their victory reignited a campaign that had looked adrift only a day earlier — proof that in SailGP, momentum can shift with a single gust.
