Irish skipper Tom Dolan wins iconic solo French sailing race

Irish skipper Tom Dolan has become just the third non-French competitor to win the prestigious multi-stage Solitaire du Figaro.

The 37-year-old took victory in the 55th edition of the solo event onboard his boat, Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan.

He joins Belgian Joan de Kat (1970) and Swiss skipper Laurent Bourgnon (1988) as the only non-French winners of the event.

The format saw three separate legs of racing, with finish positions calculated on cumulative time.

The first leg, a 615-mile route from Rouen to Gijon, Spain, saw just five minutes separate the entire field, with Dolan ninth after the four days of racing.

Leg 2, 515 miles from Gijon to Royan, saw Dolan take victory after picking up a five-minute time bonus for winning an intermediate sprint race.

It left Dolan in first place going into the final stage, where 37 boats attempted to navigate a 700-mile course across the English Channel before returning to France in gale-like conditions.

"The last leg was a bit hairy," he told RTÉ's Morning Ireland. "We went from France, to the south coast of England and back to France.

Ireland's Tom Dolan has won the grueling and prestigious Solitaire Du Figaro sailing race, becoming the first Irishman to do so in the 55 year history of the race. #RTESport pic.twitter.com/ged0FFFT3j

"We were in a gale and I was an hour behind the leader. I was a bit worried."

Frenchman Lois Berrehar won the final stage, having also won the first in Gijon, but it wasn’t enough as Dolan finished with an overall winning margin of 25 minutes and 38 seconds over Berrehar.

Dolan completed the final leg at 5.18am local time this morning to finish seventh to secure overall victory.

"It was emotional," he said. "I have lived in France the last 12 years. When I got over here,