Category: XCFeeds

The Aple Cermis is becoming a place where no one is safe. Not only is it a daunting task, but more often than not, the athletes are surrounded by other who want to get to point B before they do. It doesn’t matter if you have almost 30 seconds on your closest competitor, it seems no one is safe within a minute of each other. All that matters is if you can beat them to the top. Today was another classic example of this as the Tour leaders coming into the final stage were different than the ones that won this years edition of the Tour de Ski. Kowalczyk rolled up the sleeves (literally), put on the hard hat and went to work and successfully won her first Tour de Ski title. Bauer on the other hand, dismantled the best all round skier in the world for the second day in a row to take his second Tour title in three years.

Women

At 1.7km, Majdic had actually gained a couple seconds on the chasers, but all that was erased by the next time check at 3.5km. Early on, it was actually the race for 5th that was the most interesting between Sidko, Størmer-Steira, Longa, Roponen and Savialova. They had quickly bunch together and actually saw Stormer Steira surprisingly stuggle to keep with that group.

At 5.6km, it was the same story for the top three with no real movement, but the important thing was now that Kowalczyk could see Majdic and Follis could see the Pole. Only 900m later, Kowalczyk had alredy gained eight seconds on the Slovenian as they were starting the final ascent.

It was slighty before the 7.4km time check that Kowalczyk got onto the heels of Majdic and you knew the Pole could taste blood. However, instead of immediately attacking, she just stayed behind the big Slovenian and bided her time. As soon as they past the 8.1km time check, Kowalczyk made her move and attempted to pass Majdic. It took a while due to the crawl that they were going at, but she eventually took over and never looked back. You could tell Majdic was broken and Kowalczyk easily opened up a fair gap. With 200 meters left, Kowalczyk had secured the victory but in typical fashion pushed it all the way until the finish only to crumple into an exhausted heap of athlete.

Størmer-Steira had a strong race to take 5th overall. It was close between her and Medvedeva for fastest time of the day as the Russian was the big mover of the day going from 22nd to 12th.

4th Edition of the Tour de Ski
1. Justyna Kowalczyk
2. Petra Majdic
3. Arianna Follis

Though Majdic didn’t win the Tour this year, she can take comfort knowing that she won the sprint ranking by a margin of 1:04 over Arianna Follis. This is the second year in a row that Majdic has was the sprint title. All the athletes who made the podium were ecstatic with there performances over the past 10 days and will now be resting up for the upcoming World Cup. While Majdic and Kowalczyk will be going to Otepää, Follis will be skipping that weekend but will continue World Cup racing in Canmore.

This is the first year in Tour history that a Finnish skier has not been on the podium; more specifically, the first time Kuitunen hasn’t been on the podium.

Stage 8 Results
1. Kristin Størmer-Steira
2. Riitta-Liisas Roponen
3. Evgenia Medvedeva

Notes: This years results for the fastest time up Alpe Cermis were extremely tight as 3.9 seconds seperated the podium for the
day. Sara Renner had a very successful Tour de Ski this year and finished in 18th.

Men

Northug started with an eight second lead but was predictably reeled in by Bauer over the first 2.7km. The chase group that consisted of Teichmann, Cologna, Hellner, Rickardsson and Gaillard quickly formed to fight for the last podium place. At 4.5km, it was Bauer who took the lead and was controlling the pace. Behind the leaders and chase group, many micro-groups of two to three skiers were forming including an enticing twosome of Babikov and Heikinnen who would be challenging for the time of the day.

At the base of the Alpe Cermis is where all the action started to happen. Lukas Bauer seemed to turn the screw and easily pulled away from Northug. Northug looked exhausted with his head already dropping and bobbing around. By 7.5km, Bauer had a 13.6 second lead and that lead was extended to 42.6 seconds by 8.4km. The chase group had its own drama and Teichmann was dropped at the base of the climb while Rickardsson was able to hang on until about 8km.

With 900m left, Bauer had secured his second Tour de Ski victory in three years as he was 1:03.8 ahead of the pre-Tour favourite. At the base of the finish lanes, Bauer did a quick shoulder check to make sure Northug was nowhere to be found and stopped to grab the Czech flag and skied it proudly over the finish line to collect his second Tour de Ski victory in the past three years.

It was not long after Northug came across the finish line that the sprint for 3rd place came storming to the finish. Cologna started his sprint very early and showed some impressive skiing to keep the pace going to the dismay of Gaillard and Hellner as they eventually melted away to give Cologna 3rd place overall.

Bauer made today’s stage look easy as he seemlessly glided up the Aple Cermis while other athletes looked like a Raggedy Ann dolls as they climbed to the finish. Not only did he show devestating form, he also showed a lot of class as he waited for Northug and Cologna to congratulate them on a job well done before he started celebrating his victory.

4th Edition of the Tour de Ski
1. Lukas Bauer
2. Petter Northug
3. Dario Cologna

Even though Northug failed to win the Tour this year, he did win the sprint rankings for the second time in his career. A little consolation for all his hard work in this years Tour.

Stage 8 Results
1. Lukas Bauer
2. Marcus Hellner
3. Jean Marc Gaillard

What’s truly amazing about Bauer winning today’s stage is the fact that he slowed down to pick a Czech flag from the crowd and skied the last 100 or so meters non chaluantly while Hellner and Gaillard skied hard the whole race and sprinted the last couple hundred meters! Truly, some inspiring skier and a definite medal threat for the Olympics in all distance events.

Notes: The Canadian men had their best Tour de Ski results ever. Babikov picked up one stage win and a fourth place up the Alpe Cermis to ski his way to 9th overall. Despite all the back luck, Kershaw still finished in 16th and Harvey finished off his first Tour with a very strong 22nd overall.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more wrap-up from this years Tour de Ski.

Til Then.

The Aple Cermis is becoming a place where no one is safe. Not only is it a daunting task, but more often than not, the athletes are surrounded by other who want to get to point B before they do. It doesn’t matter if you have almost 30 seconds on your closest competitor, it seems no one is safe within a minute of each other. All that matters is if you can beat them to the top. Today was another classic example of this as the Tour leaders coming into the final stage were different than the ones that won this years edition of the Tour de Ski. Kowalczyk rolled up the sleeves (literally), put on the hard hat and went to work and successfully won her first Tour de Ski title. Bauer on the other hand, dismantled the best all round skier in the world for the second day in a row to take his second Tour title in three years.

Women

At 1.7km, Majdic had actually gained a couple seconds on the chasers, but all that was erased by the next time check at 3.5km. Early on, it was actually the race for 5th that was the most interesting between Sidko, Størmer-Steira, Longa, Roponen and Savialova. They had quickly bunch together and actually saw Stormer Steira surprisingly stuggle to keep with that group.

At 5.6km, it was the same story for the top three with no real movement, but the important thing was now that Kowalczyk could see Majdic and Follis could see the Pole. Only 900m later, Kowalczyk had alredy gained eight seconds on the Slovenian as they were starting the final ascent.

It was slighty before the 7.4km time check that Kowalczyk got onto the heels of Majdic and you knew the Pole could taste blood. However, instead of immediately attacking, she just stayed behind the big Slovenian and bided her time. As soon as they past the 8.1km time check, Kowalczyk made her move and attempted to pass Majdic. It took a while due to the crawl that they were going at, but she eventually took over and never looked back. You could tell Majdic was broken and Kowalczyk easily opened up a fair gap. With 200 meters left, Kowalczyk had secured the victory but in typical fashion pushed it all the way until the finish only to crumple into an exhausted heap of athlete.

Størmer-Steira had a strong race to take 5th overall. It was close between her and Medvedeva for fastest time of the day as the Russian was the big mover of the day going from 22nd to 12th.

4th Edition of the Tour de Ski
1. Justyna Kowalczyk
2. Petra Majdic
3. Arianna Follis

Though Majdic didn’t win the Tour this year, she can take comfort knowing that she won the sprint ranking by a margin of 1:04 over Arianna Follis. This is the second year in a row that Majdic has was the sprint title. All the athletes who made the podium were ecstatic with there performances over the past 10 days and will now be resting up for the upcoming World Cup. While Majdic and Kowalczyk will be going to Otepää, Follis will be skipping that weekend but will continue World Cup racing in Canmore.

This is the first year in Tour history that a Finnish skier has not been on the podium; more specifically, the first time Kuitunen hasn’t been on the podium.

Stage 8 Results
1. Kristin Størmer-Steira
2. Riitta-Liisas Roponen
3. Evgenia Medvedeva

Notes: This years results for the fastest time up Alpe Cermis were extremely tight as 3.9 seconds seperated the podium for the
day. Sara Renner had a very successful Tour de Ski this year and finished in 18th.

Men

Northug started with an eight second lead but was predictably reeled in by Bauer over the first 2.7km. The chase group that consisted of Teichmann, Cologna, Hellner, Rickardsson and Gaillard quickly formed to fight for the last podium place. At 4.5km, it was Bauer who took the lead and was controlling the pace. Behind the leaders and chase group, many micro-groups of two to three skiers were forming including an enticing twosome of Babikov and Heikinnen who would be challenging for the time of the day.

At the base of the Alpe Cermis is where all the action started to happen. Lukas Bauer seemed to turn the screw and easily pulled away from Northug. Northug looked exhausted with his head already dropping and bobbing around. By 7.5km, Bauer had a 13.6 second lead and that lead was extended to 42.6 seconds by 8.4km. The chase group had its own drama and Teichmann was dropped at the base of the climb while Rickardsson was able to hang on until about 8km.

With 900m left, Bauer had secured his second Tour de Ski victory in three years as he was 1:03.8 ahead of the pre-Tour favourite. At the base of the finish lanes, Bauer did a quick shoulder check to make sure Northug was nowhere to be found and stopped to grab the Czech flag and skied it proudly over the finish line to collect his second Tour de Ski victory in the past three years.

It was not long after Northug came across the finish line that the sprint for 3rd place came storming to the finish. Cologna started his sprint very early and showed some impressive skiing to keep the pace going to the dismay of Gaillard and Hellner as they eventually melted away to give Cologna 3rd place overall.

Bauer made today’s stage look easy as he seemlessly glided up the Aple Cermis while other athletes looked like a Raggedy Ann dolls as they climbed to the finish. Not only did he show devestating form, he also showed a lot of class as he waited for Northug and Cologna to congratulate them on a job well done before he started celebrating his victory.

4th Edition of the Tour de Ski
1. Lukas Bauer
2. Petter Northug
3. Dario Cologna

Even though Northug failed to win the Tour this year, he did win the sprint rankings for the second time in his career. A little consolation for all his hard work in this years Tour.

Stage 8 Results
1. Lukas Bauer
2. Marcus Hellner
3. Jean Marc Gaillard

What’s truly amazing about Bauer winning today’s stage is the fact that he slowed down to pick a Czech flag from the crowd and skied the last 100 or so meters non chaluantly while Hellner and Gaillard skied hard the whole race and sprinted the last couple hundred meters! Truly, some inspiring skier and a definite medal threat for the Olympics in all distance events.

Notes: The Canadian men had their best Tour de Ski results ever. Babikov picked up one stage win and a fourth place up the Alpe Cermis to ski his way to 9th overall. Despite all the back luck, Kershaw still finished in 16th and Harvey finished off his first Tour with a very strong 22nd overall.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more wrap-up from this years Tour de Ski.

Til Then.

Tomorrow could be the most exciting finale to a Tour de Ski we have ever seen. There are 30 seconds separating Majdic and Kowalczyk while Northug and Bauer have eight seconds between them; a gap like that will be fairly useless as I can see Bauer catching Northug within the first couple kilometers. The other interesting battle will be the race for the men’s final podium spot. There are five athletes starting tomorrow stage all within 28 seconds of each other. If they bunch up before the ascent up Alpe Cermis, there will be some great action going on behind the fight for this years title.

In case you have been living in a box with regards to World Cup skiing the past five years, here is an image that will scare the crap out of anyone that has strapped on the skinny skis.

Northug’s game plan for tomorrow is rather straight forward; “My tactics for tomorrow will be faster than Lukas and be the first on top of Alpe Cermis. It’s another matter entirely if he actually successfully executes it. Prior to the Tour, Northug wanted to have a minute lead on any competitor prior to the final climb. He doesn’t quite have that time luxury and will have to dig hard to stay with Bauer because you know Bauer will not be waiting around for a sprint finish. Even Norwegian trainer Morten Aa Djupvik said that he would tip Bauer as the winner for tomorrow if he didn’t know the capabilities of Northug as an athlete… interesting.

A Facebook has been created to give a “bounty” to the first Swedish athlete outsprint Northug. The group is called “100 kr per edlem till den svensk som kan spurta ner Northug!” Roughly translated, “100 kroner (approx $20) per person to the Swede who can sprint down Northug!” It was created on Wednesday and due to widespread publicity, it has grown to 947 members. Though reading through the comments, it seems half of the members are Norwegian beeking the Swede’s because they are sore losers and that Northug will never be beaten by a Swede. Rather humorous in my opinion. Just some more fuel to the flames I guess.

Also, in the world of Northug, tonight he won “Male Athlete of the Year” and “Name of the Year” at the Norwegian Sports Gala. Since the awards were given out a night, Northug had already gone to bed and the awards were accepted on his behalf by Morten Aa Djupvik. Perhaps this is the spur that the Norwegian needs to get the job done tomorrow.

The bookmakers have Kowalczyk (1.44) and Bauer (1.65) pretty heavy favorites to take away the titles. Those odds are not very generous for those laying money down but I can’t say I disagree. Prediction time:

Women
1. Justyna Kowalczyk
2. Petra Majdic
3. Arianna Follis

Men
1. Lukas Bauer
2. Petter Northug
3. Dario Cologna

Til tomorrow, let the best skier win.

The biggest theme in todays races was the amount of bonus seconds up for the athletes to gain to increase their lead or decrease their deficit on the other athletes. The women were skiing 10km with three intermediate sprints while the men were doing 20km with six opportunities to grab bonus seconds. Five more women dropped the Tour while seven more men exited including George Grey who abandoned the Tour due to re-aggravating an old lower lack injury after crashing in the 10km race.

Women

A quick pace from the start caught the field out and a lead pack of four…Majdic, Kowalczyk, and Størmer-Steira with Saarinen in no-mans land between the leaders and the ensuing chase group. At the end of the first lap, the first set of bonus seconds were up for grabs and Majdic grabbed then with quite some ease. The 3.3km mark saw a substantial gap open up of 15 seconds from the lead three to a chase group that consisted of the majority of the rest of the field.

Over the next kilometer a combination of the lead three slowing down and some smart skiing from the main pack saw the two merge to one big group once again. The charge to catch up was led by Longa and to a lesser extent Renner. The second set of bonus seconds was dominated by Majdic again but this Sidko got into the mix and took 10 bonus seconds with Kowalczyk picking up the remaining five seconds.

The last lap was frantic as the main group split into a lead pack of four (Majdic, Kowalczyk, Størmer-Steira, and Savialova) and a the main group that desperately tried to keep pace. On the big downhill before the final short up-hill. The pack seemed to re-coil and were once again all together madly fighting for the final 300 meters. The final sprint was madness and Majdic had to out-lunge the Kazakhstan skier Elena Kolomina (What?!) by a boot and a half for the win. Marianna Longa just did enough to hold of top Fin of the day Riikka Sarasoja. It was a great result for Sweden’s Britta Johansson Norgren who ended up in sixth.

Results
1. Petra Majdic
2. Elena Kolomina
3. Marianna Longa

Notes: Not only did Majdic win the race on waxless skis in dominating fashion, but her biggest rivals gave up some precious time. Størmer-Steira’s lack of sprinting prowess as she slipped to 18th in the final 300m while Kowalczyk was uncharacteristically not in the fight at the end and ended up 23rd and 15.5 seconds behind the Slovenian. Aino Kaisa Saarinen was the biggest surprise as she dropped off the pace early on and finished in 28th, almost half a minute off the pace. A huge blow was dealt to the Norwegian women’s side as Vibeke Skofterud was disqualified today as the jury claimed that she skated too much in today’s race. I’m sure the Norwegian team will be furious at the verdict and it’s unclear yet if any further action will be taken to appeal the decision.

Men

The men’s race surrounded one thing: the intermediate sprints. The start of the race was led out by Gaillard and he had a say in the first round of sprint bonuses as he was second and collect 10 crucial seconds. Østensen collected the full amount while Bauer was third.

There were some big team tactics from Sundby and Northug in the second round to sprint bonuses. After capturing the seconds, Northug gave Sundby a “pound” for his good work. All three Canadians were looking strong and traveling in the same main pack when Northug, Sundby and Baurer were swallowed up after their efforts.

The next round of sprint bonuses at 10km saw Bauer, Northug and Babikov break open a big lead over the rest of the field and passed the time check 22.5 seconds ahead of the next skier. Northug confidently and cockily took the point by pulling up beside Bauer and looked at him while doing just enough to “lunge” him at the line to get the 15 seconds. The trio set out of the stadium, but the pace was too much for Babkikov and he sank back into no-mans land and by 11.6km he was 15 seconds behind the lead two but 10 seconds ahead of the chase pack.

With only Bauer and Northug contesting for the maximum you knew who was going to take the next 15 bonus seconds and Bauer knew too. The pace didn’t increase at all and Northug pulled out from behind Bauer with 30 meters left and a couple poles later pulled ahead of the Czech skier. Going out of the stadium, Northug tucked back in behind Bauer and they started back out of the stadium. Northug finally cracked near the top of the big climb out of the stadium and Bauer was able to open up an impressive 19 second lead. It was quite evident that Northug’s wax was failing him and he was stuck in no-mans land.

At the penultimate sprint bonus, Bauer took the 15 with Northug and Cologna collecting the 10 and 5 seconds respectively. Bauer had also increased his lead at the 16.6km mark to 22 seconds on Northug and 42 seconds on the rest of the pack. With only 1.7km remaining, Bauer had secured the victory and was now 40 seconds up on Northug. The pack was breathing down the Norwegian’s neck as they had closed to within six seconds and were going in for the kill. While Bauer wanted to maximize the damage, Northug was desperately trying to keep the pack off so he could capture the last 10 bonus seconds. Northug was caught by Teichmann and
Cologna but was able to hold them off as he took second place while Teichmann took the bronze for the day.

With all the sprint bonuses collected by Bauer and Northug, the Norwegian only came out 10 seconds on top. Due to Bauer’s strong performance, Northug actually lost 21 seconds overall to the Czech skier today. Tomorrow will be very exciting as Bauer only sits 8.3 seconds back of Northug.

Results
1. Lukas Bauer
2. Petter Northug
3. Axel Teichmann

Canada Watch: With Grey out of the Tour, it only left Babikov, Harvey, and Kershaw. Babikov was very strong early on and even got into some sprint bonuses but quickly slipped back into the chase group as the pace that Bauer and Northug set was too fast. He eventually cross the finish line in 25th and 1:38 back of Bauer. Kershaw had a disaster-free race and finished in 22nd while Harvey continued to go about business quietly and ended up a very respectable 13th.

Talk to you later.