Alexis Loison finally had his night. In the small hours off Saint Vaast la Hougue, at 03:47:14, the white and red Groupe REEL crossed the line and a pursuit of nineteen years came to its conclusion. The skipper from Cherbourg is the winner of La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec 2025, the fifty sixth edition of the single handed classic, crowned after three stages that demanded everything of the sailors and left little to chance. He did it with authority too, sealing victories at Roscoff to Baie de Morlaix and again on the Norman finish, and mastering the long climb up from Vigo with a cool head and a steady hand.
This was not an overnight breakthrough but a campaign built step by step. Loison admitted that it felt tougher than previous attempts, yet he arrived with the conviction that this was his year. The English Channel and the Bay of Biscay offered their usual traps, from shifty coastal winds to relentless tides and the unforgiving crossing of Biscay, yet Loison’s rhythm rarely faltered. His sequence of first, second and first speaks of the composure he displayed when the race tilted towards its decisive moments on the approach to the Channel.
Behind him the contest for the remaining podium places was fiercely contested. Charlotte Yven, sailing under Skipper Macif 2023, protected a cushion of twenty four minutes over Arno Biston on Article One and secured second place overall. In doing so she became the first woman to reach the overall podium of La Solitaire, an historic achievement built mile after mile rather than by a single flourish. Yven sailed consistently among the leaders throughout the final leg from Vigo and, by her own account, relied on a season of careful preparation with Macif to keep the door firmly closed on Biston’s challenge. Biston completed the top three after a campaign marked by consistency and smart positioning.
The last leg also highlighted the promise of the younger generation. Tom Goron of Groupe Dubreuil converted a season of near misses into a fine second place at Saint Vaast, finishing only twelve minutes behind Loison, while Jules Ducelier of Région Normandie followed fifteen minutes later to round out the stage podium. Loison himself praised both sailors as talents to watch and the evidence on the water fully supports that view.
Among the rookies, the BENETEAU prize went to twenty three year old Hugo Cardon of Sarth Atlantique, whose assured victory into Vigo set the tone for a debut that ended with sixth place overall. His elapsed time of twelve days, ten hours, fifty four minutes and eighteen seconds reflected strong execution across all three stages, not just a single breakthrough. The international nature of the event was underlined by Britain’s Oliver Hill with Connected by Water, who claimed the Vivi Trophy as the best non French skipper after a demanding fortnight at sea.
By the time the gates of the Saint Vaast la Hougue basin opened, the Figaros returned to the pontoons in sequence, tired but smiling, the crowd applauding each arrival. The course from Rouen to Roscoff, then across Biscay to Vigo, and finally the long haul back to Normandy, was classic Solitaire, three acts without hiding places. Eleven different winners across the fleet throughout the season confirmed the depth and competitiveness of the event, yet the headline belongs to Loison, who chased this prize for nearly two decades and at last writes his name into its most exclusive pages.
Two days later the emotion remains. La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec continues to stretch its sailors to the limit, testing skill, patience and resolve. Loison’s triumph stands as a story of perseverance and detail, Yven’s podium as a landmark moment, and the emergence of Goron, Ducelier and Cardon as a promise of the future. In Normandy, beneath a cold starry sky, the race crowned a champion who finally allowed himself to savour the moment.
