La Roche-Posay Racing Team is ready to begin a new chapter in its sporting campaign. From 21 to 24 May 2026, the French team will take part in the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta Sardinia, held in Cagliari. The event marks the first official racing appointment of the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup cycle, ahead of the main event in Naples in 2027.
Set against the backdrop of the Bay of Angels, the teams entered in the next edition of the America’s Cup will meet for the first time in real race conditions. More than an opening act, Sardinia will set the tone for the sporting and strategic journey that will take the Challengers through to Naples.
This first regatta of the new cycle will bring together five teams entered in the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup, three of which will also field Women & Youth crews. In total, eight AC40s will line up in Sardinia, creating a valuable opportunity to generate race situations, compare levels of preparation and take an early reading of the depth and maturity of each campaign.
Founded in 1851, the America’s Cup is the oldest continually contested trophy in international sport and remains one of the most demanding arenas in world sailing. It brings together elite sporting execution, advanced technology and the collective expertise of teams where sailors, engineers, designers, shore crew and strategists all work towards the same goal: finding the few tenths of a knot, the few metres, or the few seconds that can define a campaign.
For La Roche-Posay Racing Team, this first confrontation carries particular weight. It comes just weeks after the announcement, on 17 March, of La Roche-Posay, a L’Oréal Groupe brand, as Title Partner of the French team. The partnership brings together an internationally recognised skincare brand and a French sporting project shaped by science, performance, innovation and high standards. Two new partners, Mouser and MTN SAT, have also joined the team, with further announcements to follow shortly.
Sardinia: the first real test
A Preliminary Regatta does not count towards the final America’s Cup standings. Its value, however, is unquestionable. It allows teams to see where they stand, observe the opposition, test their routines under pressure and start building momentum.
In Sardinia all crews will race aboard identical AC40s. These foiling monohulls, capable of exceeding 40 knots, are the one-design platform linked to the AC75s, the prototype yachts that will contest the America’s Cup in Naples. With identical boats, the difference will come down to execution: the quality of the helming, the precision of the trimming, tactical decision-making and the crew’s ability to perform under pressure.
The format is designed to be intense: up to eight fleet races, followed by a head-to-head match-race final between the top two teams. Each AC40 will be sailed by four athletes: two helms and two trimmers. Short, sharp and spectacular, the format should quickly reveal where the teams stand.
A new international line-up for the French Challenger
For its first appearance of the cycle, La Roche-Posay Racing Team will field a crew combining America’s Cup experience, foiling expertise and Olympic pedigree. On board the AC40, the four sailors will operate within a highly precise set-up: two helms and two trimmers, constantly connected to the boat, its flight systems, the data on board and the feel of the yacht itself.
The race crew has been built around two sailors from the Barcelona 2024 campaign: Quentin Delapierre, skipper and helm of the team, who also helms the French F50 on the SailGP circuit, and Jason Saunders, an experienced trimmer who was also part of the French 2024 campaign and is involved in SailGP. Their understanding of the America’s Cup environment gives the team a strong foundation.
They will be joined by Diego Botín and Florian Trittel, both Olympic champions, who bring a fresh perspective, world-class standards and a proven ability to adapt quickly. Together, the four sailors offer complementary profiles and the qualities that matter most at this stage of a campaign: learning fast, sharing information clearly and accelerating the development of the group.
In Sardinia, the crew will be supported by two reserve athletes: Enzo Balanger, a helm from the K-Challenge Akademy and skipper of the French Youth team in 2024, and Timothé Lapauw, trimmer, a regular SailGP athlete and already part of K-Challenge during the 2024 Challenger campaign. Their presence reflects K-Challenge’s wider sporting pathway, connecting talent development, knowledge transfer and elite competition.
This spring, two training camps led by Philippe Presti, Sports Director, and Philippe Mourniac, coach, helped lay the foundations for the crew’s work on board. The sessions also marked Diego Botín and Florian Trittel’s first sails in the AC40. Across a range of conditions, the team focused on the fundamentals: boat handling, communication, starts, transitions, and the progressive mastery of the interfaces and automatic systems specific to the boat.
Philippe Presti, Sports Director of La Roche-Posay Racing Team, said: “We made a lot of progress during the spring training camps. Diego and Florian were new to the AC40, and they integrated remarkably well. There was a real connection between the athletes, a shared drive to make the boat faster, to learn quickly and to correct what needed correcting straight away.”
“Sardinia will allow us to take the next step. In training, you can feel that things are working; in racing, against other teams, under pressure and in real race situations, you find out where you truly stand. We arrive with fewer days on the water than some of the other teams, but with a great deal of talent, energy and room to improve. The objective for La Roche-Posay Racing Team is clear: to learn quickly, show that we can deliver strong moments and close the gaps race by race.”
A sporting test and a statement of intent
Beyond the racing itself, Sardinia is an important strategic moment for La Roche-Posay Racing Team. This first official appearance in the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup cycle will allow the team to assert its ambition, begin shaping its story and strengthen its visibility with the public, the media, partners and the wider international sailing community.
Stéphan Kandler, CEO of K-Challenge, the organisation behind the French Challenger La Roche-Posay Racing Team, said: “Sardinia is an important moment for our team. It is the point at which the campaign truly enters the public, sporting and international arena. A Preliminary Regatta may be an opening event, but in the America’s Cup, no event is minor. Every appearance matters: it shapes how the team is seen, builds momentum, brings people into the campaign and gives the project substance.”
“With La Roche-Posay, a L’Oréal Groupe brand, we are building an ambitious, modern and demanding French team, one that intends to establish itself over the long term at the highest level of world sailing. This first confrontation will, of course, allow us to assess our sporting level. But it is also a powerful opportunity to create visibility: for the team, for our partners, for our athletes and for everything this project represents in terms of performance, innovation and French excellence.”
“The America’s Cup is unique because it is won not only on the water, but also on shore — through the ability to build a strong brand, create engagement and bring audiences into the campaign well beyond the traditional sailing community. That is one of our key objectives in Cagliari: to introduce La Roche-Posay Racing Team, define what makes us different and lay the first foundations of the story that will take us to Naples in 2027.”
In Sardinia, La Roche-Posay Racing Team will not simply be lining up against its rivals. It will be setting down its first marker: testing its progress against the fleet and opening, on the water and on shore, a campaign it intends to build with rigour, consistency and determination through to Naples 2027.
