Assa Abloy wins fifth leg

Abloy is now in top form after taking time to settle

Assa Abloy won the fifth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, crossing the finish line in Miami just ahead of Illbruck.

It was the Swedish yacht's second victory in the round-the-world race.

The result lifts Assa Abloy, skippered by Briton Neal McDonald, into second place in the overall standings, eight points behind Illbruck.

In a thrilling finale, the Swedish boat left long-time shadow Tyco behind and drew level with Illbruck.

The weather was pretty unpredictable - with the clouds and the storms and all that nonsense, it was quite hard work

Neal McDonald

Having avoided serious damage, Assa Abloy was able to sail away from its German rival, which had lost a light wind spinnaker overboard three days before.

Tyco finished in third spot ahead of Team SEB, News Corp and Amer Sports One.

McDonald said the victory had not yet sunk in.

"I'm actually coming back to earth here, I've been asleep on the boat on the way back here from the finish line.

"I am a bit tired, it has been very intense during the past couple of days," he added.

  Leg five result

1: Assa Abloy

2: Illbruck

3: Tyco

4: SEB

5: News Corp

6: Amer Sports One

7: Djuice

8: Amer Sports Too

McDonald said that he and his crew were pleased to win after setting their sights on a top three place.

"We needed another good result - we were keen to get a top three place, that's what we were planning on and so coming first is a bonus."

Steve Hayles, of Tyco, expressed disappointment despite his team's third consecutive podium finish.

"In Auckland we came in third and everyone was pretty elated. We were also pretty happy that we finished third in the last leg.

"But we are somewhat gutted to come in here third really. We were really close there at the end to shutting Illbruck down."

  Overall points standings:

1: Illbruck - 36

2: Assa Abloy - 28

3: Amer Sports One - 25

4: Tyco - 24

5: News Corp - 23

6: Djuice - 19

7: SEB - 17

8: Amer Sports Too - 8

Britain's other Volvo skipper Jez Fanstone was unhappy with News Corp's sixth place, but said his crew were still performing well.

"It was disappointing result wise, but we are still on good form and sailing the boat as hard as ever and that is going to continue."

Djuice Dragons and Amer Sports Too finished some distance behind the other boats in seventh and eighth places.

Leg six begins on 14 April and takes the fleet to their second US stop, in Baltimore.

After this, the Volvo Ocean race sweeps across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, where a sequence of exciting shorter legs will decide the final standings.