VOR: Who's your pick to win it all – Brunel, Dongfeng, or MAPFRE?

GOTHENBURG (#1041) – Excerpt from the Volvo Ocean Race press release following the skippers' press conference today (Wednesday) on the eve of the final Leg 11, which starts Thursday at 1400 CET, from Gothenburg (SWE) to The Hague (NED): The final leg brings the fleet into The Hague and with two Dutch skippers in the race, the reception is expected to be epic. “What we can expect in The Hague is something we’ve never seen before in the race, even going back to the Whitbread,” said team AkzoNobel’s Simeon Tienpont (NED). “There might be up to one-million visitors expected in that week and I think that shows what kind of event this is in the sporting world and especially in The Netherlands.” With the final leg to determine the winner just 24-hours away, SHK/Scallywag skipper David Witt (AUS) was doubling down on a prediction he first made in Cardiff: “That’s how confident I am Bouwe is going to win.”

Read the full release and more on the VOR website here.

Mr Witt's prediction aside, your Ed. and a lot of others are cheering for Team Brunel skipper Bouwe Bekking (NED), who is on his eighth Volvo Ocean Race without a win, but has come on strong in the latter stages of this edition. Brunel and Bekking certainly have the "big mo" going into Leg 11. The other top skippers recognize that as you will see in the video below.

Can Mr Bekking finally do it, and at the final finish line in his home country no less?

Who's your money on? MAPFRE and skipper Xabi Fernández (ESP), Team Brunel with skipper Bouwe Bekking (NED), or Charles Caudrelier (FRA) and his Dongfeng Race Team? More from each of them in the video below.

Brief video just out from VOR media featuring skippers Bekking, Caudrelier, and Fernández with their thoughts going into the 700nm final leg, which begins Thursday at 1400 CET.