The Franco-Belgian entente restored! This is not the first time that the duo of Matthieu Foulquier-Gazagnes and Xavier Broers have raced together. But fate (and the dentist...) had decided otherwise. A few days before the Transat Jacques-Vabre 2023, following a routine dental check-up, Belgian Xavier Broers contracted a bacterium which turned into septicaemia. This means a forfeit for the barely convalescing sailor, who will be there to watch Matthieu Foulquier-Gazagnes and his team-mate, Michel Milanese, who has been hired on the fly to work on his electronics. For a Route du café with a bitter taste. So it was with this desire to take to the sea once again that the winegrower from the Var and director of Château Angueiroun, in Bormes-les-Mimosas, and the director of the Belgian roadworks company Sotraplant, from Courroye-le-Château, put together a crew with strong accents, a shared good humour and the size of bon vivants! But they are fine racers all the same, with an interesting year in 2023: 3rd in the Roma Per Due and 4th in the Massilia Cup. And a further motivation for Matthieu Foulquier-Gazagnes on this MED MAX I Occitanie - Saïdia Resorts: to rediscover his memories as a young man.

The native of Saint-Jean-de-la Blaquières in the Hérault region of France has worn out his oilskins between Port-Camargue and Cap d'Agde, sailing in the Bay of Aigues-Mortes with his father, as well as a certain Jean-Marie Vidal, twice winner of the Solitaire du Figaro, on one of the legendary Triangles du Soleil from the 80s, the golden era of the port in the Gard region.  "A real return to our roots, says the man who is happy for his mate Kito that he has managed to organise "his" ocean race. "Having Kito here is a real opportunity for all the sailors.  A fine tribute.