It’s Never Over: Five Races That Turned Everything Around

Depending on the edition and the boats, Vendée Globe skippers spend between two and four months crossing some of the most hostile oceans on the planet. At times, hundreds of miles separate the competitors. Equipment failures appear to end the favorites’ hopes, and the standings seem all but settled. The history of the race tells a very different story.

Weather systems constantly reshuffle the deck. Every sailor is alone on board and must repair their own boat — one skipper, one boat, one ocean. And the duty to assist a competitor in distress is an integral part of the rules. Together, these factors have produced some of the most dramatic turnarounds in the history of the sport. Five of them have become legendary.

Michel Desjoyeaux: The Comeback That Became a Legend

On November 9, 2008, the sixth Vendée Globe set sail from Les Sables-d’Olonne. The following morning, after just over twenty hours of racing and 200 miles covered, Michel Desjoyeaux turned back.

A leak in a ballast tank had caused an electrical failure: he could no longer start the engine and therefore could not recharge his batteries. Without power, there was no autopilot, no instruments, no weather routing and no watermaker. Continuing would have been reckless.

The Breton skipper returned to port, made the necessary repairs and set off again. By the time he crossed the starting line for the second time, forty-one hours had passed. He was almost two days behind a fleet already racing toward the trade winds. For most observers, his chances of victory were gone.

What followed became the stuff of legend.

Desjoyeaux did not panic. In the Atlantic, he clawed back a few miles every day. Then came the Southern Ocean, where the Foncia skipper showed the full extent of his talent: faster through the low-pressure systems and exceptional at anticipating changes in the weather. By the time he entered the Indian Ocean, he was already within roughly a hundred miles of the leader. Then, in December, the seemingly impossible happened: he took the lead — and never gave it back.

On day 56, he rounded Cape Horn in first place, just a few hours ahead of Roland Jourdain. Their duel continued all the way up the Atlantic until day 81, when Jourdain lost his keel bulb and was forced to retire.

On February 1, 2009, Michel Desjoyeaux crossed the finish line in Les Sables-d’Olonne after 84 days, 3 hours and 9 minutes at sea. He had broken the race record by more than three days. Armel Le Cléac’h, in second place, arrived more than five days later.

That edition captured everything that makes the Vendée Globe unique: of the thirty skippers who started, only eleven were officially classified as finishers. And the man who had appeared to be out of contention by the second day ultimately won the race. Nearly twenty years later, whenever the greatest comeback in Vendée Globe history is discussed, one name still stands above the rest.

→ Relive the 2008–2009 edition

Yannick Bestaven: When Solidarity Decided the Winner

On November 30, 2020, south of the Cape of Good Hope, Kevin Escoffier’s boat, PRB, broke in two. Escoffier, who was running third at the time, barely had enough time to escape into his life raft.

Race management diverted four competitors to assist him: Jean Le Cam, Yannick Bestaven, Boris Herrmann and Sébastien Simon. All four put their own races on hold. Around twelve hours later, in heavy seas, Jean Le Cam rescued Kevin Escoffier.

In accordance with the rules, the international jury subsequently awarded time compensation to the skippers who had diverted from their routes: 16 hours and 15 minutes for Jean Le Cam, 10 hours and 15 minutes for Yannick Bestaven, and 6 hours for Boris Herrmann. Sébastien Simon, who was forced to retire a few days later, would not benefit from his compensation.

Two months passed: the Deep South, Cape Horn — which Bestaven rounded in the lead — and then an extraordinarily intense race back up the Atlantic. Four skippers were separated by just four hours at the equator, and eight would eventually cross the finish line within twenty-four hours. Nothing like it had ever happened before.

On January 27, 2021, Charlie Dalin crossed the line first. But the standings were still provisional. Yannick Bestaven arrived third a few hours later — and his time compensation moved him into first place. In the final standings, just 2 hours and 31 minutes separated the two men. Louis Burton completed the podium, while Jean Le Cam took an unexpected fourth place.

This was not a comeback built on speed. It was something else — and perhaps something more important. In the Vendée Globe, diverting to assist a competitor in distress is not optional. It is a rule. That year, it ultimately decided the winner.

Holding the trophy after embracing Charlie Dalin, Yannick Bestaven told him: “In four years, it’ll be yours.”

→ Relive the 2020–2021 edition

Le Cléac’h vs. Thomson: The Battle After Cape Horn

Some comebacks do not end in victory, but they leave a lasting impression.

In 2016–2017, Armel Le Cléac’h took the lead on November 28 and never gave it up. Alex Thomson, meanwhile, never fell out of contention — despite losing his starboard foil as early as November 19 after hitting an unidentified floating object.

At Cape Horn, the Breton had a lead of almost two days. Then everything tightened dramatically. Becalmed in the wind shadow of Tierra del Fuego, Le Cléac’h watched his advantage disappear: on December 29, the gap was down to 150 miles; by the following morning, it was just 30.

Then it was Thomson’s turn to be slowed by light winds, allowing Le Cléac’h to pull away again.

The British skipper made one final charge, closing to within 34 miles with only 309 miles left to sail. It was not enough.

On January 19, 2017, Armel Le Cléac’h finally won his first Vendée Globe after finishing second twice — the first time, in 2009, behind none other than Michel Desjoyeaux. He also set a new race record: 74 days, 3 hours and 35 minutes. Alex Thomson crossed the line sixteen hours later.

→ Relive the 2016-2017 edition

Charlie Dalin: Four Years to Turn the Tables

“In four years, it’ll be yours.”

Yannick Bestaven’s words in January 2021 summed up Charlie Dalin’s race that year: first across the finish line, second in the final standings. Dalin’s comeback would take an entire edition to complete.

On November 10, 2024, he set off again as part of the fastest fleet in the history of the race. The 24-hour distance record fell successively to Nicolas Lunven, Yoann Richomme and then Sébastien Simon, who pushed the mark to 615 miles.

In the Indian Ocean, a powerful low-pressure system near the Kerguelen Islands reshuffled the deck. Dalin and Simon held their easterly course, while Richomme, Ruyant and Beyou chose to skirt the system to the north to protect their boats. The leading pair held firm and opened up a significant gap.

But the race was far from over.

South of Tasmania, Yoann Richomme caught Sébastien Simon — who was sailing with damage to his starboard foil — and then Charlie Dalin. The PAPREC ARKÉA skipper rounded Cape Horn in the lead, just nine minutes ahead. Nine minutes, after more than forty days at sea.

It was not until the fleet reached the waters off Brazil that Charlie Dalin regained the lead. This time, he would not give it up.

On January 14, 2025, he sailed up the channel into Les Sables-d’Olonne at sunrise, completing the race in 64 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes and 49 seconds. He shattered the race record by more than nine days. Vendée Globe rookie Yoann Richomme finished second, with Vendée-born Sébastien Simon in third.

What the public did not know at the time was that Charlie Dalin was racing against an invisible opponent: cancer, diagnosed in the fall of 2023. Undergoing treatment throughout the race, he adapted his sleep patterns and his routine on board without ever allowing the illness to take control.

Charlie Dalin died on June 11, 2026, at the age of 42. The victory he had spent four years building remains one of the greatest stories the race has ever produced.

→ Relive the 2024-2025 edition

Ellen MacArthur: The Outsider Who Became a Legend

At 24, Ellen MacArthur started the 2000–2001 Vendée Globe without being considered one of the favorites. Twenty-four skippers lined up at the start, only two of them women.

Yet against far more experienced sailors, the British skipper immediately established herself as a contender. She was already fourth by December 1 and moved into second ahead of Roland Jourdain in early January after he suffered damage to his mainsail track.

That was when her real comeback began.

On January 10, Michel Desjoyeaux rounded Cape Horn with a 600-mile lead over her. The race back up the Atlantic became a succession of dramatic gains and losses, until the two leaders found themselves neck and neck at the equator.

Suddenly, the seemingly impossible was within reach.

Her challenge suffered a decisive blow on February 8, when Kingfisher’s forestay failed in heavy seas generated by a low-pressure system.

She eventually finished second in 94 days, 4 hours and 25 minutes, just one day and 28 minutes behind the winner.

More than a remarkable sporting performance, that edition introduced an exceptional sailor to the world and propelled the Vendée Globe into a new era of international media attention.

→ Relive the 2000-2001 edition 

And What About 2028?

On November 12, 2028, the eleventh edition of the Vendée Globe will set sail from Les Sables-d’Olonne. The boats will be faster, weather routing more precise, and the gaps will likely be tighter than ever.

The ocean, however, will not have changed. It will keep doing what it has always done: reshuffling the deck when no one expects it.

If the history of the Vendée Globe teaches us anything, it is this: you have to wait until the final mark before declaring a winner.

→ Follow the road to the Vendée Globe 2028