Abu Dhabi Racing clinched the 6,487-nautical mile opening leg of the Volvo Ocean Race on Wednesday from Alicante to Cape Town after just over 25 days at sea.

They had been pursued for the past 48 hours by Chinese entry Dongfeng Race Team who closed to within three miles but could not make up the gap in the South Atlantic chase into Cape Town. 

Skipper Ian Walker’s boat ‘Azzam’ has led, apart from one brief interlude, pretty much all the way from the halfway point of this first leg.

But the Briton and his crew have been able to savour barely a minute of all that time in front of a world class, seven-strong fleet of evenly matched Volvo Ocean 65s.

“It’s quite emotional actually. I didn’t think I would be – but that last couple of hours, they threw everything at us,” he smiled, after the finish line.

“”We’ve had people ride on our heels for the last 10 days or so.”

Leg 2 of the race starts on November 19, with the crews expected to arrive at Abu Dhabi in mid-December.