The French pair, picked for Tokyo 2020, finished second, first and second in today’s three opening races in The Netherlands to total five points and stand 11 clear of Germany’s Jakob Meggendorfer and Andreas Spranger, who were third, eighth and then fifth to total 16 points.

Poland’s Adam Glogowski and Maciej Krusiec moved up to third place with a steady sequence of improvement - seventh, sixth, then fourth.

The Polish pairing now stand on 17 points, one clear of France’s early leaders Erwan Fischer and Clement Pequin, who won the opening race but then finished ninth and eighth to go into day two on 18 points.

The 49er fleet features 33 boats and three Olympic teams including Rual and Amoros, Jonas Warrer and Jakob Precht Jensen of Denmark and Bart Lambriex and Pim van Vugt of The Netherlands.

The Dutch pair moved up to fifth place by winning the third race, and currently stand three points behind Fischer and Pequin, while Warrer and Jensen are eighth.

In the 49erFX, 16 teams are racing, with Dutch pairing Annemiek Bekkering and Annette Duetz the only team among them so far selected for the Games.

And they made a stunning start as they won the first three races, totalling just three points, with their nearest challengers, Germany's Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille and the British pairing of Isabelle Fellows and Alice Masterman, both on 11 points.

The first World Cup Series event since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to serve as the final major race before the Tokyo 2020 Olympics for many of the 350 sailors from 47 countries who are involved.

The 49er and the 49erFX fleets are due to race until Sunday (June 13).