Sweden's Ericsson 3 won Thursday the fifth and longest stage of the Volvo Ocean Race between Qingdao in China and Rio de Janeiro.
The boat headed by Sweden's Magnus Olsson arrived at Guanabara Bay at 7:38 am (1048 GMT), completing the 12,300-mile stage in about 40 days and five hours.
"It's unbelievable, we actually deserve it," said Olsson.
"We had a fantastic strategy when we needed it. We were so tired but we had a great fighting spirit to the end.
"We were on the borderline of destroying the boat, but we managed to find a balance and we managed to keep the boat in one piece."
He paid tribute to Norwegian navigator Aksel Magdahl who, between Qingdao and Rio chose to ignore the traditional southern route for a more northerly passage in contrast to their rivals.
Magdahl reflected: "The northerly route didn?t seem special at the time but when all the rest did not follow us then it suddenly seemed a big decision and very important.
"It then became the biggest sailing decision of my life, the biggest sailing moment of my life, that is for sure."
Ericsson 3 was ahead of its Swedish compatriot Ericsson 4, the leader in the classification by points, and US side Puma Racing, who are both expected to cross the stage's finish line later on Thursday.
Much further behind were Chinese-Irish yacht Green Dragon and Spain's Telefonica Blue, which suffered a blow during at the beginning of the month when it broke its forestay off New Zeland as it made its way to Rio.
Telefonica Blue had been tipped as the main rival of the Swedish entries in the race, but it is now set to cross the finish line in last place.
Ericsson 4, headed by Brazilian and local hero Torben Grael, will see its lead in the classification by points increase if it finishes the stage in second place as looks likely.
Only five of the original eight teams are contesting the stage, as Dutch entry Delta Lloyd and Spain's Telefonica Black have skipped the leg and Team Russia has provisionally withdrawn from the event.
The Volvo Ocean Race, which began in Alicante, Spain in October, is to conclude in St Petersburg, Russia, in June after nine months negotiating 10 stages over 37,000 nautical miles.
Next stage will take the teams from Rio to Boston and will depart on April 11.
Comments