On Friday, Maître CoQ announced the end of its partnership with Yannick Bestaven. The latter, who has been aware of this decision since his stopover in Ushuaia during the Vendée Globe, intends to bounce back with a project combining The Ocean Race and transmission to a younger sailor with a view to the 2028 edition of the round the world race. Tip & Shaft tells you more.
After the Apicil group (Damien Seguin) and the V and B-Monbana-Mayenne trio (Maxime Sorel), another partner who has been involved in the Imoca class for a number of years is about to withdraw: after making it official to its employees this morning, Maître CoQ announced this Friday afternoon that it was not renewing its partnership with Yannick Bestaven and his Imoca team.
The decision was ratified on 5th December by the company, in consultation with the shareholders of the LDC group (which owns it) and announced to the skipper during his stopover in Ushuaia, shortly after his retirement from the Vendée Globe, as confirmed by him: “It was obviously hard for me, because I found myself at the end of the world trying to repair the boat to bring her back as best I could and I learnt that it would all be over when I arrived in Les Sables d’Olonne. I have to admit that the first week at sea wasn’t easy. Now it’s coming to an end for strategic reasons within the LDC group, we’ve had some great adventures together in eight years, I won the Vendée Globe thanks to their support and then they enabled me to build a new boat, so I can only thank them.”
When asked about the reasons for this decision, Roland Tonarelli, managing director of Maître CoQ since January 2022, began by making it clear that it had nothing to do with the skipper’s retirement from the Vendée Globe – “the decision was taken beforehand”. Before adding: “When you reach the end of a cycle, you have to ask yourself the question of stop or start again, so it’s the fruit of several months’ reflection. With Yannick, we reached the pinnacle thanks to his victory in 2020, then we put in the resources to try and win a second consecutive one, and we asked ourselves what more we could go after, bearing in mind that he had announced that he wouldn’t be doing any more solo racing after the Vendée Globe, which would have meant setting off again with another skipper. But our icon is Yannick.”
A strategic choice
The desire of the sailor from La Rochelle to concentrate on double-handed racing and crewing, and in particular to aim to take part in The Ocean Race in 2027, also tipped the balance. “I told him very clearly that we wouldn’t be taking part in The Ocean Race because it’s a race that doesn’t meet our expectations, with an international profile that doesn’t interest us,” confirms Roland Tonarelli. “We could have continued with the French races, but that would have meant entering into a rather complex system of visibility, so we decided that it was the right time to withdraw, and we made that choice rather than fight the battle too hard.”
Last but not least, the sponsor and its shareholders felt that strategically, sailing and the Vendée Globe, despite a proven return on investment, no longer necessarily matched their commercial expectations. “Sailing gives us an undeniable amount of good visibility, and it’s a great way of communicating internally, which has been very useful to us in terms of the company’s dynamism, since a good proportion of our employees, around 30 to 40%, are passionate about the project. On the other hand, for a BtoC brand such as ours, and even if the audience for this sport is growing, sailing doesn’t allow us to reach all consumers. Despite everything, it’s the 35-50 year-old woman consumer who does her shopping in the supermarket that interests us, and that justifies a large part of the decision.”
Hence Maître CoQ’s decision to redirect this investment – “from 2.2 to 2.5 million euros a year”, explains its managing director – “towards communication on social networks, television and cinema advertising, which will undoubtedly be more profitable in relation to our target”. Which doesn’t necessarily mean, adds Roland Tonarelli, “that in ten years’ time, Maître CoQ won’t be back in sailing”, as the company did for Jérémie Beyou in the 2012 Vendée Globe, after supporting Thierry Arnaud, Jean-Luc Van den Heede and Bertrand de Broc in the 1990s.
The Ocean Race and transmission
The story doesn’t end there, however, as the company has agreed to financially support YB Sailing, Yannick Bestaven’s structure, until the end of the year – the contract was originally due to run until the end of June – in order to help him turn around and find partners capable of taking over. “The fact that it’s not a sudden break is an opportunity, I’m not sure that all the sponsors would have done the same thing,“ says the skipper. “And it’s not as if we’re starting from scratch, we already have a good part of the project ready with the boat and the team.”
This team is also at the end of another cycle since, after five Vendée Globe races, including the last two with Yannick Bestaven, team manager Anne Combier has decided to hand over to Marine Derrien, who held the same position four years ago at the start of the Holcim PRB project before joining Paris 2024 to lead the river parade for the opening ceremony. “Like Yannick, I don’t want to do one too many Vendée Globes,” explains the former, “I should point out that this decision has nothing to do with that of Maître CoQ.” Asked about the choice of Marine Derrien, she adds: “I’d been spotting her for a while, even though we’re 25 years apart, we have a fairly similar profile. I suggested the idea to Yannick during the Vendée Globe and he texted me back: ‘Anne, whatever you decide for me will be the right decision’. I think she’s going to give the project a boost and bring a breath of fresh air.”
Having been made aware of the withdrawal of Maître CoQ before signing up, the sailor who has previously worked for OC Sport (race organisation, Dongfeng project in the Volvo Ocean Race) and teams (LinkedOut, Holcim PRB), nevertheless accepted the offer: “I had all the facts before deciding, as well as other offers, but I liked the project, along with The Ocean Race, which I wanted to do again, it’s a really great adventure. I’ve already taken on several challenges, never the one of finding partners and setting up a project. I really believe we have what it takes to write a new story and bring a young sailor to the start of the next Vendée Globe.”
In addition to lining up this season at the start of the Transat Café L’Or and The Ocean Race in 2027, the aim is to quickly integrate a young, but already experienced sailor to enable him or her to quickly take charge of the Verdier design (Groupe Dubreuil‘s sistership) and aim for performance in the eleventh edition of the round the world race. “We’ve already received some calls and we’re going to be casting about. We mustn’t lose any time, as the qualification process for the Vendée Globe is starting very quickly”, says Yannick Bestaven, for whom “it’s time to hand over the reins, as Yves Parlier did with me”. But only single-handed: “I want to move to the other side of the fence, but I’m not retiring at all.”
Photo : Loïc Venance
