The Marina Militare Nastro Rosa Veloce of The Ocean Race-Genoa Grand Finale ended five seconds after 7:53 a.m. this morning, triumphant in the longest double-handed regatta in the Mediterranean thanks to the experience and determination of Pietro D'Alì, among the most accomplished sailors on the national scene, and Matteo Sericano, a young talent of the Italian sailing offshore.

Leader from the "escape" of the Venice Lagoon after an excellent start, The Ocean Race-Genoa Grand Finale was one of the great protagonists of this edition of the regatta organized by Difesa Servizi S.p.A. and SSI Events with the support of the Marina Militare: proof of this is the fact that D'Alì-Sericano, during the entire circumnavigation of the Italian peninsula, never fell more than third place and never accused more than 15 miles of delay compared to the various outriders who followed one another during the event.

They entered the Ionian Sea in the wake of Mexedia (Zorzi-Bauzà), who arrived at the finish line in Genoa at 15:57.43 as second overall, and of Sanfer (Waksman-Ferrelech), who retired yesterday about 100 miles from the finish line while in second position after the crew had exhausted every physical and psychological resourc, The Ocean Race-Genoa Grand Finale took the lead during the sailing between Trapani and Naples, surfing under gennaker even when the southwesterly gusts began to become prohibitive and the opponents pulled the handbrake.

A perhaps uncalculated risk, the result of the battling and never giving up spirit of this strong team with a Genoese soul, which paid off for the investment holder, giving him some margin on which Piero D'Alì aimed to lay the foundations for success. A plan that eventually succeeded, but ran the risk of not seeing the light of day, given the tactical error made by The Ocean Race-Genoa Grand Finale in the Gulf of Gaeta, where the choice of an offshore course allowed Sanfer, just few hours before the withdraw, to put the bow ahead again.

Back past Sanfer at the passage of the strait between Piombino and Elba, Pietro D'Alì and Matteo Sericano managed the remaining sailing to the finish line in Genoa, which was crossed just before 8 a.m. this morning.

"Already last year I had fallen in love with this regatta, which hides considerable tactical pitfalls and very challenging weather conditions at times, and I promised myself that I would come back to win it: thanks to the support of Matteo Sericano, who started racing with me when he was thirteen years old, we succeeded and it is a great moment of joy for us," explained Pietro D'Alì, who then added, "The important moments of our participation have been different and to single out one to be preferred over the others is difficult: certainly, so much the Gulf of Gaeta and the approach to Elba were important phases of the regatta, or much more simply are the most recent and vivid memories of a great adventure that lasted ten days".

"Joy, so much joy: it has been long, hard and complicated but the satisfaction of being here, first in home waters, is one of those emotions that I will find hard to forget. Sailing with Pietro is something that has no equal: knowing that I had him at the tiller while I was adjusting the sails allowed me to concentrate better on the boat performance" stated Matteo Sericano as soon he jumped on the dock.

The arrival of the third place finisher is expected later in the night: Marina Sant'Elena Venezia (Adamson-Calanach) is expected on the finish line around 8 p.m. this evening.

The regatta, the course and the record

The Marina Militare Nastro Rosa Veloce boasts a course, 1492 miles long non-stop, that unravels between Venice and Genoa and plans to leave Sicily to the right. Double crews are engaged aboard the Beneteau Figaro 3 and the benchmark record was set last year by Sophie Faguet and Pierre Lebuchersu Team Urban Value and is 8g 8h 23m 27s.