The British sailor Alex Thomson has finished runner-up in the Vendee Globe round-the-world yacht race after a colossal battle with Armel Le Cleac’h.

The eighth edition of single-handed offshore racing’s ultimate test was won by the Frenchman on Thursday afternoon in a record time of 74 days, three hours and 35 minutes. That smashed the race record set by François Gabart four years ago by three days, 22 hours and 41 minutes – a time Thomson also bettered when crossing the line on Friday morning.

The Hugo Boss skipper, who was third four years ago, finished in 74 days, 19 hours and 35 minutes, with equipment problems eventually causing him to fall short in his quest to become the first non-French winner of the Vendee Globe.

Le Cleac’h had been in front since early December but Thomson chipped away at the lead and on Monday broke the world record for the greatest distance sailed solo in 24 hours, notching up 536.8 miles.

The 42-year-old continued to hunt down Le Cleac’h only to concede that victory was unlikely on Wednesday as the wind instruments on his 60ft race boat Hugo Boss had prevented the yacht’s autopilot working properly and him from sleeping for days.

It saw Thomson the gap to Le Cleac’h grow, with the British sailor eventually reaching Les Sables d’Olonne, near La Rochelle on the west coast of France, at around 7.40am on Friday, having set sail on the mammoth race on 6 November.

Thomson matched Dame Ellen MacArthur’s second-placed finish in the 2001 edition of the Vendee Globe and broke his own British record for the fastest solo circumnavigation of the globe in a monohull.

“You hope and you pray, but I think 24, 36 hours ago I knew that was the end,” Thomson said of his chances of winning. “Congratulations to Armel, what a great race he has done. The last few days I haven’t really slept very much. I think I have slept five hours in three days and in the last 24 I haven’t slept at all. The tank is on empty.”

Thomson’s biggest wishes now are to sleep, wake up with his family and have his life back after such relentless hardship at sea, where after just 13 days in an unidentified object in the water caused his starboard foil to break.

“You never know what is going to happen – that’s part of the Vendee Globe so it happened,” the Briton said. “I spent the whole race thinking ‘what if?’ and I’ve had the frustrations but I don’t really want to talk about it any more. It happened, it’s finished, it’s over.

“The race is as it is. I am very happy to be in second place and maybe next time it will be one better. I had moments of pleasure, for sure. For me, it was an exercise in trying not to be frustrated and try and be as positive as possible. It wasn’t easy. Maybe I made it seem easy.”

Thomson was clearly mentally and physically exhausted after crossing the line, but competing in a fifth Vendee Globe is clearly a tantalising prospect.

“A third, a second – it is easy to see what comes after this,” Thomson said. “Yeah, we’ll have to see. I think if I can put together a competitive campaign and we can take the level to the next one, I’d very interested to do the next one. I’d best ask my wife first.”