Vendee Globe 2020: Alex Thomson prepares for fifth shot at round-the-world title

Sailor Alex Thomson knows a thing or two about having victory snatched away from him by cruel luck and bad timing.

But the 46-year-old remains undeterred and unflappable as he prepares to try to end more than 30 years of French dominance in the sport's so-called 'Everest' challenge, the Vendee Globe, which starts on 8 November.

"There's always pressure from all departments," Thomson told BBC South Today. "But I don't feel the sort of pressure people expect me to feel. I know what to expect having done the race four times.

"In my opinion, just finishing the race is the big win and that's the first objective.

"As my mentor Sir Robin Knox-Johnston always says: 'If you want to finish first, first you have to finish'."

The significance of that mantra becomes increasingly apparent when you look back at Thomson's previous major race fortunes.

Four years ago, he was the runaway leader in the early stages of the race, which starts and finishes in Les Sables-d'Olonne, western France. But a broken hydrofoil on the starboard side of his Hugo Boss vessel 11 days in effectively ended his victory charge.

Despite the setback, the Hampshire sailor still finished second behind Armel le Cleac'h in just under 75 days.

He will start as favourite next month, but knows his biggest challenge for his 60ft Imoca class monohull will be balancing "performance with reliability".

"Finding that balance is very, very tricky," Thomson said. "I'm always worried about what sticks out of the boat, but each tiny, little part has got a process to go through to try to make it as reliable as possible.

"So we try to eliminate as much of the bad luck as possible."

After a third-place finish in the 2012-13 edition and being runner-up last time, Gosport-based Thomson will hope fortunes allow him to top the podium in early 2021.

In the intervening four years, bad luck and bad timing have continued to follow him.

In November 2018, Thomson crossed the line first in the transatlantic Route du Rhum race from Brittany to Guadeloupe, only to be later disqualified for grounding off the north coast of the Caribbean island in the closing stages.

Thomson had unfortunately slept through his alarms when taking an hour's sleep and woke to find himself needing to use the engine to reverse safely off the rocks.

"This morning I expected to arrive in Guadeloupe, not hit it," Thomson later philosophically said as his disqualification was confirmed, shouldering all the blame rather than choosing to deflect it.

A year ago, more bad fortune crossed Thomson's path during the Transat Jacques Vabre race from France to Brazil.

The first competitive outing for the £6m edition of Hugo Boss he will use in the Vendee Globe ended when a broken keel left Thomson and former Olympic sailor Neal McDonald stranded in the middle of the Atlantic.

The £6m Hugo Boss Imoca class monohull features an inside cockpit rather than one out on deck

Eventually the vessel was transported back to the Hamble boatyard where Thomson and his team are based and, once again, he took positives from adversity.

"To my belief, any race is over before you start," Thomson reflects.

"It's all about the preparation and the choices you make. Some of those choices we made two years ago, so you can't worry about it too much.

"You have to stick to your plan, you've got to be calm and confident that you're working with some of the best people in the world."

Despite the additional challenges this year of coronavirus and lockdown, Thomson does not feel the pandemic will have any more adverse effects on his victory chances.

"If you pardon the pun, we're all in the same boat," he said.

"It has been an unexpected challenge in that we haven't been able to get the distances or the hours out on the water we'd have ideally liked.

"But sailing is a development sport so if you told us we've got six months to get ready, we'll always say we need eight."

Alex Thomson was speaking to BBC South Today's Lewis Coombes.