After months of preparation away from the competition, France’s La Roche-Posay Racing Team is ready to find out where it stands.
Starting Thursday May 21, the team led by skipper Quentin Delapierre will compete in the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta Sardinia, held on the Gulf of Angels off Cagliari. Eight AC40s will take part in a compressed format: one official training day followed by three days of racing, with up to eight fleet races before a match-race final between the top two crews.
The regatta carries no points toward Naples 2027. But for a team that has spent its build-up largely in isolation, Cagliari matters more than any ranking suggests. It is a first real pressure test.
“This is our first real milestone with our new crew,” said Delapierre. “In Lorient things came together really well, and the six of us feel comfortable together. We completed some very strong training blocks, but alone in Lorient we were a bit like kings of the track. Here, it’s a reality check.”
The team logged 19 sailing days in Lorient, with at least three hours on the water each day, covering a wide range of conditions and building the timing, communication, and boat feel that fleet racing will now demand.
“The conditions in Lorient were exceptional,” Delapierre said. “We had a lot of high-quality hours on the water and were able to cover the full range of techniques we wanted to test. Training alone also has advantages: it allows you to learn how to feel your boat, recognise the sensations that generate speed, and focus the whole team on a single objective.”
Sporting director Philippe Presti acknowledged the trade-off in their approach. “We focused on ourselves, our manoeuvres, our strategy, and our performance. The first few days will allow us to draw conclusions, adapt, and keep improving. That’s the most important thing.”
For the regatta, La Roche-Posay Racing Team will field Delapierre and Diego Botín as helmsmen, with Jason Saunders and Florian Trittel as trimmers. The crew is completed by two reserve athletes, helmsman Enzo Balanger and trimmer Timothé Lapauw. Delapierre and Saunders carry continuity from the 2024 campaign; Botín and Trittel, both Olympic champions, are new to the AC40 environment.
With limited time on the boat, the team prioritised role stability and getting the four-person decision loop working under pressure. Delapierre knows exactly how much depends on it.
“The start is really built by two and by four. If Diego doesn’t give me the tack exactly in the right place, things become very complicated. And if the tack is good but I don’t correctly apply our strategy in the final phase, it’s just as complicated. We spend a lot of time working on our timing and discussing these sequences.”
The Gulf of Angels course is expected to follow a fairly standard layout, but eight AC40s on the line changes the picture considerably. Less room, more crossings, and a compressed start box will add pressure to every phase of the race. The weekend outlook points to sunshine, a southerly airflow, and likely some sea state, which on an AC40 means manoeuvres and transitions become considerably more demanding.
“With eight boats there will be less room,” said Presti. “The starting phase is fairly close to a match-race box. Over the weekend there will probably be some sea state, and we’re happy to have sailed in those conditions in Lorient.”
Presti is straightforward about what the team is really after. “The America’s Cup is made up of big machines. You have to learn how to put yourself under fire, see how the organisation reacts, and improve from those situations. This regatta is one of the rare opportunities to put everyone into real confrontation.”
For Delapierre, Cagliari is also a reference point for how much ground the programme has covered.
“Compared to the start of the previous campaign, the team has really taken a major step forward. We worked extremely well in Lorient, dissecting manoeuvres, the feel of the boat, and making sure we are all on the same page. On the eve of Cagliari, I am reasonably confident. We have very good feelings onboard, and above all we are excited to race against eight boats.”
The racing begins May 21.
