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Tag: Tour de Barents

  • Majdic Extends Tour de Barents Lead, Gaillard Unseats Teammate

    The Tour de Barents mini-tour continued with a 10/15km freestyle mass start in the Finnish town of Inari. Petra Majdic (SLO) broke away with Kristin Stoermer Steira (NOR) entering the last of four 2.5 kilometer laps.

    Steira was unable to respond to Majdic’s subsequent attack, and the tall Slovenian, in the process of wrapping up her final season, skied away to a 30 second victory.

    Bouyed by her strong performance and the accompanying 24 bonus seconds, Majdic now is comfortably leading the overall standings, 58 seconds up on Kerttu Niskanen (FIN).

    Niskanen placed fourth today, just over three seconds down on Steira, who came back to the pack after losing Majdic.  Finnish biathlete Mari Laukkanen was third, edging Niskanen at the line.

    Krista Lahteenmaki (FIN) placed sixth, at the back of the chase pack of five, but still holds third in the overall, a mere three seconds ahead of Alena Prochazkova (SVK).

    In the men’s race, the French continue to to lead the way. Jean Marc Gaillard, second to teammate Maurice Manificat in the opening stage, used a strong attack on the final climb to pull away from a strong pack.

    Matti Heikkinen (FIN) took second, 9.6 seconds down, barely edging Slovak Martin Bajcicak and Czech Lukas Bauer at the line.

    Gaillard jumped over Manificat in the overall standings, and now holds a 17.4 second lead on his teammate. Manificat was fifth today, 11.3 seconds back.

    Defneding champion Sami Jauhojärvi skied most of the race with the lead pack, but faded at the end and finished ninth.

    Heikkinen is third in the overall less than three second behind Manificat entering the off day. Racing continues on Saturday with a classic sprint.

    Results

     

     

  • Majdic, Manificat Victorious in Tour de Barents Stage 1

    The North American elite racing season may be over, but there is still plenty of action to be found in Europe, including the second annual Tour de Barents, a four-stage mini-tour in the Barents region of northern Europe.

    While fields are not large – just 11 women and 35 men are contesting this year’s event – there is plenty of firepower. Petra Majdic (SLO) leads the women as she wraps up her farewell tour. Majdic is joined by young Finnish star Krista Lahteenmaki and her World Cup teammate Kerttu Niskanen.

    World Cup standouts Kristin Stoermer Steira (NOR) and Alena Prochazcova (SVK) are also competing.

    On the men’s side, 2010 Tour de Barents champion, Sami Jauhojärvi (FIN) will attempt to defend his title. He will be challenged by the French duo of Maurice Manificat and Jean Marc Gaillard as well as Lukas Bauer (CZE), John Kristian Dahl (NOR), World Champion Matti Heikkinen (FIN), Tobias Angerer (GER) and Estonian veteran Jaak Mae.

    The mini-tour kicked off this morning with a 6/12km individual start event in Tana, Norway.

    Majdic skied to a 12.8 second victory over Niskanen. Lahteenmaki was just another .8 seconds back in third.

    Prochazkova was fourth, and Italian Virginia De Martin Topranin, 24th in the 2011 Tour de Ski took fifth.

    Stoermer Steira who has not been in top form in classic events this season, struggled to a seventh place finish, over a minute back of Majdic.

    “The race was perfect for me,” Majdic said, noting she hasn’t classic skied in two weeks. “The course was great for me, because the uphills were not steep and the track was fast.”

    Manificat served notice that this year’s Tour de Barents would be no cakewalk for Jauhojärvi, who ran away with the overall title last year.

    The 25-year-old Frenchman skied to an eight second victory over Jauhojärvi. Teammate Gaillard was third +9.9 seconds, with Bauer and Heikkinen rounding out the top five.

    “I heard intermediate times well, and my finish was really good today,” Manificat said referring to on-course splits. He led at every official time check, and surprised many given that he has been known as something of a skate specialist.

    “I have worked a lot on classic during the season, and it shows,” Manificat said.

    Racing continues on Thursday with a 10/15km freestyle mass start in Inari, Finland. Following an off day on Friday, the Tour picks up with a classic sprint in Rovaniemi, Finland, before concluding with a hill climb at the same location.

    Majdic is realistic about her chances in the hill climb, so is looking to build a substantial lead in the next two stages. The sprint, especially, with bonus seconds will be critical.

    “Tomorrow’s mass start and Saturday’s sprint with bonus seconds are important for me, because I think I will not be the best on the Ounasvaara Climb on the final day,” Majdic said.

    The final climb is a new take on the format popularized in the Tour de Ski. Instead of the standard mellow terrain into wall of a hill to the finish, the Tour de Barents version features a repeated 4.4km loop.

    The women will ski the circuit twice and the men three times. The hill is 109 meters of vertical over just a 900-meter stretch. The course then drops precipitously back to the stadium, where the fun starts all over again.

    Skiers may race any of the races individually and compete for prize money, but obviously must complete all stages to be eligible for the overall title.

    There is also a junior competition – both in the individual races and for the overall Tour.

    The Barents region consists of land bordering the Barents sea, and was established following the fall of the Soviet Union with the goal of creating international cooperation for promotion and development of the area.

    Tana is a municipality in Norway consisting of numerous small townships. It is the fifth largest municipality in the country based on area but is home to only 3,000 people. Bordering Finland, official languages include Sami and Bokmål.

    Complete Results

  • Roponen and Jauhojärvi Win Inaugural Tour de Barents

    Roponen and Jauhojärvi Win Inaugural Tour de Barents

    Sami Jauhojärvi (FIN) celebrates his win in the 2010 Tour de Barents

    The Finnish team claimed bragging rights in the inaugral Tour de Barents as Riitta Liisa Roponen and Sami Jauhojärvi took the victories in the four event stage race in northern Finland and Norway.

    Roponen entered the final stage – a handicap start of 8.8 kilometer – with a 15 second lead on Kristin Stoermer Steira (NOR).  After being defeated by Steira in the classic sprint Roponen did not leave anything to chance at the end, stretching the gap to over a minute.

    Despite struggling on the hilly course, Steira easily held on to 2nd place.  Kamila Rajdlova (CZE), on the strength of the 2nd best time of the day, skied up from 5th to claim the final podium spot.

    World Cup skiers Pirjo Muranen (FIN) and Katerina Smutna (AUT) finished 4th and 5th respectively.

    Jauhojärvi used an impressive performance in the opening race of the Tour to build an insurmountable lead.  He started with 1:09 on Jean Marc Gaillard (FRA) in the 13.2km handicap final.  Gaillard managed to knock 30 seconds off, but was unable to close the rest of the gap and settled for 2nd.

    Martin Bajcicak (SVK) skied the fastest race of the day and overtook Tour de Ski champion Lukas Bauer (CZE) for 3rd place.

    Andrew Young (GBR) finished 3rd in the Junior men’s event, getting edged at the line by Daniel Stock (NOR).  Finn Haugen Krogh (NOR) took the victory by 1:39.

    Susanne Saapunki (FIN), starting 3 seconds down on Eeva Palosaari (FIN) crushed the Junior women’s field by 1:36.

    Complete Results

    Roponen on her way to victory.
  • Tour de Barents Underway With Strong Field

    Tour de Barents Underway With Strong Field

    Tour de Barents Stage 1 – Steira, Roponen, and Muranen

    The Tour de Barents, a “mini-tour” modeled on the Tour de Ski is halfway done with a small, but elite field battling for the overall title.  The event consists of four races in the Barents region of northern Nroway and Finland.

    Racing action began on Wednesday with a 5/10km individual start classic race.  Finnish World Cup star Sami Jauhojärvi (FIN) skied to an impressive win in the men’s race, besting fellow Finn Mikko Koutaniemi by over a minute.  Frenchman Jean Marc Gaillard was 3.3 seconds behind Koutaniemi in 3rd.

    Tour de Ski champion Lukas Bauer (CZE) finished 4th and Norwegain Odd-Bjoern Hjelmesset was 7th.  A total of 17 skiers started the race, mostly Finns.

    In the women’s 5km race, Riitta-Liisa Roponen (FIN) posted a 15 second victory over Norwegian Kristin Stoermer Steira.  Pirjo Murnanen (FIN) took 3rd, just .3 seconds behind Steira.  Katerina Smutna (AUT) was 4th, +40.5.

    “I’m happy with second place, but I was a little heavy on the last lap,” said Steira.  “Roponen seems strong enough for the overall victory after today’s demonstration. But it was incredibly fun to be racing so close to home . There were lots of spectators and the atmosphere was phenomenal.”

    On Thursday Tour participants took on a 10/15km freestyle mass start.

    Roponen and Steira quickly skied away from the field, opening a 15 second gap by the 2.5km mark and ultimately cruising to a 52 seconds gap.  Roponen took the victory in a tight finish battle, edging Steira by .2 seconds.

    Kamila Rajdlova (CZE) bumped Murnanen down a spot, claiming the final podium step.

    “It’s only just over 15 seconds up to Riita and I have not given up.  Tonight’s race was better than yesterday,” said Steira after the race.  “Riita and I ran hard from the start. We got an early gap to the others and took turns.

    “It was a good effort for me, but huff.  This is an important training exercise ahead for next winter.”

    For all intensive purposes the men’s race featured two fields – the elite, and the second tier.  The top 6 crossed the line within 7.8 seconds, while the rest of the race came along a full minute back.

    Gaillard skied clear of Martin Bajcicak (SVK) for a 1.5 second victory on the 6×2.5km race.  Lari Lehtonen (FIN) was 3rd, +2.3 and .5 seconds ahead of Bauer.

    Italian Fulvio Scola bounced back form a tough race on Wednesday to place 5th, +3.0.  Jauhojärvi couldn’t hold the finish pace and ended up at the back of the lead pack, +7.8 seconds, but still holds a commanding lead in the overall.

    The Tour de Barents continues on Saturday with a classic sprint, and concludes Sunday with a 8.8/13.2km handicap start.

    To qualify for the overall title skiers must complete all four events, but racers can start fewer racers.  For example Hjelmesset only competed in the first day.

    In addition to the main Tour, there is also a Junior Tour.  Junior skiers participate in the same race schedule, but race separately (with the exception of the individual start).

    The first Tour de Barents was scheduled for April 2009, with races in Russia, Finland, and Norway.  But there were doubts that the Russian organizing committee would be able to meet financial commitments, and the Tour was postponed until this spring.  There are no races in Russia.