TOUR DE SKI. What most people thought would end up being a race with Dario Cologna and Petter Northug up front, helping each other to keep the speed up and avoid the group behind catching up on them, ended up being an impressive performance by Dario Cologna.
 
Cologna started 13 seconds ahead of Petter, and went with full speed from the very beginning. After approximate 3 k’s Northug caught up on him, but soon realized he couldn’t keep up with the speed Dario was skiing. Skiing together for approximate 1 k, Petter fell back, and lost over 40 seconds within a very short period of time. Petter had to give up on following Dario, and was overtaken by Alexander Legkov who started third. At 7.7 km the two of them were 1:12 behind Dario. The group behind them, led by Devon Kershaw, Maxim Vylegzhanin, Maurice Manificat, Marcus Hellner and Lukas Bauer had an impressing speed and skied together as a professional cycling team, constantly changing the leader of the group.
 
Lukas Bauer fell after approximate 10 km, broke his pole and lost contact with the group. Vylegzhanin was forced to leave the group as well, and ended up skiing together with Bauer. Now it was up to Hellner, Manificat and Kershaw to overtake Northug and Legkov. At 18.5 km Northug and Legkov could see the first group behind them and at 22 km they were gathered. Still working smart together by changing who was pulling the rest of the group, they could only take a few seconds on Dario, who kept an amazing speed throughout the race.
 
At remaining 3.3 km, Dario came into the stadium with cheering spectators applauding him for his great performance. Skiing out of the stadium and starting on the last 3 km, he met the group, and knew he had a solid gap. Even though he looked quiet tired in the end, he kept on fighting for the last kilometres and could ski into the stadium by himself for the second time, taking the most impressive stage win so far in this Tour de Ski, and winning another 15 bonus seconds.
 
The group, still lead by Hellner kept together for the last 3 k’s, and came into the stadium together. Finishing with a sprint, Northug was fastest ahead of Legkov, Kershaw, Hellner and Manificat.
 
Cologna has a solid gap before the two last stages of Tour de Ski. Tomorrow the athletes will have a well-deserved rest day, before the Tour continues with 20 km mass start in Val di Fiemme on Saturday. Stay tuned to see who the Tour de Ski winner will be!!

Bjoergen sprints to victory and takes the overall Tour Lead

That it was either Marit Bjoergen or Justyna Kowalczyk who would win the 7th stage of Tour de Ski in 15 km free technique was never a question today. Keeping a high speed throughout the race, Bjoergen and Kowalczyk fought together to keep the gap down to Johaug as much as possible. Bjoergen tried to attack a few times during the race, but Kowalczyk who is in a great shape at the moment kept up with Bjoergen, and the victory had to be decided in the last sprint before the finish line. Bjoergen was in front throughout the entire last round, and came in first on the last flat part on the stadium. Sprinting into victory, Bjoergen could celebrate her fourth in a row stage win, and thereby take over the overall Tour de Ski lead. Kowalczyk finished second, 2 seconds behind. Bjoergen who won 15 bonus seconds with her win, and Kowalcyzk 10, has now a lead of +7 seconds ahead of Kowalczyk in the Overall lead.
 
Therese Johaug, who started 2:28 behind Kowalczyk was never any threat to the two ladies in front. Having said that she hoped to be inspired by her amazing performance in Oslo, where she took her first individual World Championships gold medal in 30 km, where she also skied by herself for 15 km, she lost time this day. Having six stages in Tour de Ski in her legs, she didn’t look as fresh as earlier, and had to fight with herself. Still, she finished third, 3:26:09 behind Bjoergen.
 
The fight for top 10 was perhaps the most interesting part of this day. Krista Lahteenmaki who started fifth, went with an amazing speed and overtook Randall, Oestberg, Kristoffersen and Kalla. They skied together for a bit before Lahtenmaki attacked again and never looked back. Lahtenmaaki finished fourth, which is her best performance in Tour de Ski. Kikkan Randall, Marthe Kristoffersen and Charlotte Kalla came into the stadium as a group and sprinted for the finish.
 
With 5 Norwegian girls in the top 10 standing, Marit Bjoergen will probably have an advantage for Saturday’s 10 km classic race, where there will be further bonus points to win. Tomorrow they will have their second and final rest day, before Tour de Ski has its two last stages in Val di Fiemme.

FIScrosscountry.com
Thursday 5 January 2012