Luna Rossa knocked out, Ineos Britannia wins the Louis Vuitton Cup

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli lost, nothing to do in the last race against Ineos Britannia which basically led from start to finish without ever looking back. A fairly clear and visible superiority that will open up a chasm in the search for the whys. Luna Rossa had started with the favourable odds and ended up beaten by one of the boats considered a 'buffer'. Instead, the Challenger winner for the next America's Cup, which starts on 12 October in Barcelona, is the Cowes-based Royal Yacht Squadron. Once again the top sailing trophy, the coveted Match, remains a matter between Anglo-Saxons.

Sir Ben Ainslie celebrated in grand style with munificent backer Sir Jim Ratcliffe, and got more than one stone off his shoe, especially with the Italian press, which had a little mocked him. Skirmishes. 'It is the result of work that started ten years ago,' he said, 'we are on our third challenge and with each edition we have improved. You have to give him credit for learning and growing. Some people think he has been sandbagging, that is, hiding the boat's performance, stepping on the accelerator only when he needed to. Possible. Luna Rossa is left with the regret of having tried all the way, of having believed in it. It was Patrizio Bertelli's seventh challenge (the sixth on the water, from one he retired), and the preparation had been meticulous right to the end. "Luna Rossa will be back," said skipper Max Sirena warmly, "I will talk to the Bertelli family to see if I am still the right man to lead it. I would like to thank all the guys who worked with us for three and a half years, it was a huge effort in which we worked for fifteen hours a day". True, the team believed in it, 'but that's sport,' he adds, 'you can win but also lose, and this time it was our turn.

If you have to point the finger at how the Italian boat lost it is perhaps in the area of reliability, which cost it at least three important points and some crew uncertainties. James "Jimmy" Spithill, not brilliant at the start in the last race, declared his retirement from the helm. "There's a new generation growing up, not only in Luna Rossa, I've had my time now". Decisive words. His more immediate future is as non-sailing skipper of a boat that will take part in the SailGp circuit with Ruggero Tita at the helm and a sponsor already seen in the sailing world but kept secret for now. "It is a bad moment for me and the team," said the other helmsman Checco Bruni - truly dejected by the quick and cruel epilogue. Of Luna Rossa's real future we will know after the Cup, it is known that there is an agreement between the Kiwis and the British to be each other's Challenger of Record, and that the most likely venue for the regattas, despite the promise to return to the Solent in England, could be Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

Now the question is: will the British be able to beat Emirates Team New Zealand and keep the Cup in 'European' hands (despite Brexit)? It will be a bloody showdown. The determination and money invested by the British are not trivial. The design work involving not only expert yacht designers led by Grant Simmer but also the experts from F1 Mercedes could really give something extra to the British boat.