Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe 2026
After a historic round-the-world voyage with an all-female crew, Alexia Barrier takes on the Atlantic solo. Sopra Steria is on board, turning data into performance and safety at sea.
In 2026, the Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe opens a new chapter in this sporting, human and technological adventure.
Follow the adventure
Alexia isn't simply lining up for a legendary race: she is leading the way. As the only woman competing in the ULTIM class on the Route du Rhum, she shows that it is actions, not intentions, that raise the standard. Through her commitment, she is challenging conventions and helping an entire discipline move forward.It is this same drive and ability to push boundaries that has brought Sopra Steria and Alexia Barrier together for more than a year. Alongside her, we are putting technology to work for her performance and her safety, with one clear conviction: innovation truly matters when it empowers people.We are proud to support her in this new adventure, and we admire a commitment that reaches far beyond sport.
Eric Pasquier
Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors
Since 2025, Sopra Steria has been the technology partner of The Famous Project for three years. A collaboration that goes beyond sports sponsorship, building bridges between two worlds that share the same culture: daring, innovating, deciding and moving forward together.
Offshore racing offers an exceptional arena to put these convictions into motion: a demanding, unpredictable environment where technology and data support human performance.
This year, the adventure moves up a gear. Alexia Barrier takes on the Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe, solo, aboard IDEC SPORT CIC.
After the crew, the solo. After the round-the-world, the Atlantic.
Since 1978, the Route du Rhum has brought together the great names of sailing every four years for a legendary solo Atlantic crossing. On 1 November 2026, the skippers will set off from Saint-Malo on a 3,542-nautical-mile course, approximately 6,560 kilometres.
Alexia Barrier will be the only woman competing in the ULTIM class, and the first woman ever to race the Route du Rhum in this category. Aboard a 32-metre maxi-trimaran, she will handle every manoeuvre, every navigation choice and her own sleep management alone. A format that places anticipation, decision-making and data mastery at the heart of performance.
Race at a glance block:
An iconic figure in women's offshore sailing, Alexia has built a 20-year career on the open ocean. She has sailed the equivalent of 10 laps of the planet, completed the Vendée Globe solo and non-stop in 2021, and crossed the Atlantic more than 18 times.
In 2026, she led an all-female crew to a ratified reference time on the Jules Verne Trophy. Now she becomes the first woman to race the Route du Rhum in the ULTIM class.
Technology in sport
In offshore racing, every decision counts. Weather conditions, routing, boat performance, navigation data: the information is abundant, and it has to be used at exactly the right moment.
This is where Sopra Steria's technology expertise comes into its own. Through the CRIMSON platform developed by its subsidiary CS Group, the Group helps collect and analyse data on boat performance and sailing conditions, as well as nutrition and recovery.
The aim: turn data into useful information, better understand performance and support real-time decision-making, for Alexia's performance and her safety at sea.
On the water as in business, performance depends on the ability to anticipate, adapt and bring expertise together.
2025–2026: a historic first challenge
The first chapter of this adventure was written around an extraordinary challenge: the Jules Verne Trophy. In January 2026, Alexia Barrier and her seven crewmates sailed around the world in 57 days, 21 hours and 20 minutes, setting a ratified reference time.
A sporting feat that also tells a human story: a team able to bring talents together, make decisions in extreme conditions and adapt constantly.
57D 21H 20MIN the ratified reference time set on the Jules Verne Trophy
Relive the Jules Verne Trophy
From preparation to the start in Saint-Malo and every mile of the race, follow Alexia Barrier on Sopra Steria's channels.