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Illbruck victorious again

Germany's Illbruck has won three previous legs

LA ROCHELLE, France -- Illbruck has stormed into the French port of La Rochelle with a 40-mile lead to win leg seven of the Volvo Ocean Race.

Taking her fourth leg victory in the round-the-world race, the crew now has a virtually unassailable lead of eight points with just two legs left to sail.

The transatlantic crossing from Annapolis, U.S., which took just 10 days to complete, also gave the crew the satisfaction of setting a new 24-hour monohull sailing world record of 484 miles at an average speed of 20.1 knots.

Realistically only retirement from the next two legs could jeopardise the final result.

AUDIO Illbruck skipper John Kostecki on their win 1.90MB / 4min 8sec WAV sound Assa Abloy's Neal Mcdonald is happy with second place 768K / 1min 27sec WAV sound   YOUR SAY E-mail us with your views  on the world of sailing   RESOURCES Sailing Glossary     QUICKVOTE With Illbruck holding such a commanding lead, has the Volvo race lost its edge? Yes No View Results

In this unlikely scenario Neal Macdonald's Assa Abloy is ready to step onto the podium with a safe second place into La Rochelle.

Assa Abloy made a slow start to the race with a disappointing fifth on the first leg, which led to skipper Roy Heiner being replaced by Macdonald.

Wins in the third and fifth leg have allowed Assa Abloy to replace Grant Dalton's Amer Sports One as the top challenger to Illbruck.

As the Volvo fleet sails into La Rochelle, Dalton's all-female teammates on Amer Sports Too are working out how to get their boat and her replacement mast to La Rochelle in time for the restart for Gothenburg, Sweden on May 25.

After retiring with a broken mast, Lisa Macdonald and her crew were towed to Halifax, Novia Scotia and faced the ignominy of crossing the Atlantic on the deck of a container ship, the Atlantic Concert.

The ship is due to arrive in Antwerp, Belgium on May 16. The shore team is trying to decide how to get the boat and the mast together. One option being discussed is to get the hull across to England where the spare mast can be fitted and the boat sailed across to La Rochelle, where the crew will rejoin the race in time for Leg 8 to Gothenburg, Sweden.

The race, held once every four years, ends in Kiel, Germany. Racers visit 10 ports in the 32,700-mile (52,600 kilometres) course.