Prada Cup final: Sir Ben Ainslie and Ineos staring at defeat after poor starts leave them...

[ASFN Admin]

Sir Ben Ainslie is famous for his comebacks and the four-time Olympic champion is going to have to produce one of his best now if Ineos Team UK are to progress to next month’s America’s Cup match. Four successive defeats to Italian rivals Luna Rossa over the weekend have left the British challengers standing on the brink: 4-0 down in the first-to-seven Prada Cup final. Ainslie bemoaned two poor starts on Sunday which allowed Luna Rossa to control both races from the front, saying they had "given the races away”. And it is certainly true Ineos made their lives exponentially harder by ceding the advantage off the start line. But the truth is Britannia also looks a click or two slower than the Italian boat at the moment, particularly upwind and certainly in lighter breezes. Ineos desperately need to find some extra performance from somewhere and then they need to get their match racing heads on. The good news for British fans is that they will have a little extra time now to prepare for the next set of races, with the New Zealand government announcing that Auckland would be moving to a ‘Level 3 lockdown’ after three local cases of Covid-19 were found. Races 5 & 6 had been due to take place on Wednesday but the America’s Cup event authority said there would be a postponement with the lockdown due to last an initial 72hrs. The bad news for Ineos is that they will not be totally at liberty to practice. It is understood teams will not be able to sail on Monday while the details of on-water health protocols are clarified. With the breeze due to rise significantly over the couple of days - the forecast is for 30 knots-plus on Monday - they may not have sailed anyway. Whatever happens, when the racing does resume, Ineos must find a solution to their starting issues because what should be one of their strengths has really cost them so far in this Prada Cup final.

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