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Wellington (AFP)

Dutch team AkzoNobel held off a late challenge to win the sixth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race Wednesday, arriving in Auckland just two minutes ahead of their nearest rival.

Skipper Simeon Tienpont's team almost lost the lead they painstakingly built since leaving Hong Kong on February 7 as calm weather saw the rest of the fleet bunch up behind them.

They finished the leg in 20 days, nine hours and 17 minutes, just ahead of SHK/Scallywag.

"It's unreal, I've never sailed a race like this in my life" said Tienpont. "We?ve always been in each other's sights. They were always there. It's been neck and neck."

The first five yachts crossed the line within 28 minutes of each other early Wednesday, with Spain's Mapfre taking third place.

The sixth member of the fleet, Team Brunel, finished two hours later after a decision to break form the pack and seek stronger winds failed to pay off.

Mapfre still lead the overall standings in the 11-leg around-the-word race on 39 points, followed by the China-backed Dongfeng Race Team on 34 and SHK/Scallywag on 26.

A seventh yacht, Vestas 11th Hour Racing, did not compete in the leg after a collision with a Chinese fishing boat at the end of the previous stretch left one fisherman dead.

It has been transported to New Zealand for repairs and is expected to rejoin the race for the Auckland-to-Itajai leg which begins on March 18.

The 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race is the longest in the competition's 44-year history, stretching over eight months and 45,000 nautical miles around the globe ending in The Hague in the Netherlands in late June.

© 2018 AFP