Tour de Ski 2015

Day 1 - Prologues. This featured two short freestyle events, 3 Km for the women and 4 Km for the men.

Prologue: Women’s 3Km freestyle; Oberstdorf:  Looks a bit soft today, but that might suit Kowalczyk? Commentators a bit scathing about her skating (presumably in comparison to her amazing classic form?); Bjørgen here this year and hoping to finish – amazingly she has never won the tour de ski! Americans looking good in the early stages until Nicole Fessel takes over the lead – big names to come though, including Heidi Weng and defending champion Therese Johaug – what a work rate she manages!! Kowalczyk losing a bit of time – doesn’t look too happy on the downhills in the skating technique. Currently Haga is leading, but Johaug and Bjørgen are coming; lovely to watch. Predictably, having seen the split times, Marit Bjørgen wins, from Heidi Weng and Ragnhild Haga, with Therese Johaug 4th – all Norwegians! Best of the other countries was Nicole Fessel in 5th; Justyna Kowalczyk in 10th but perhaps with her better disciplines to come? Very early days – tomorrow the 9 Km classic pursuit!

Sadly I had to go out, so missed live coverage of the men’s race which looked close, and with a better spread of nationalities on the podium. Winner was Dario Cologna (Swi) from Calle Halfvarsson (Swe) and Petter Northug (Nor). Leader of the points series so far, Martin Johnsrud Sundby, was 10th almost 12 seconds back, but – early days! Nice to see 2 Brits in the Tour; Andrew Musgrave was 32nd, 27.5 off the pace and Andrew Young was 44th – in a field of 93!

Classic Pursuits: This time I missed the live coverage of the women’s 9 Km classic pursuit – Marit Bjørgen kept her advantage and extended her lead to win by 56.2 seconds from Heidi Weng, who was only just clear of Therese Johaug. Stina Nilsson of Sweden was 4th, Nicole Fessel maintained 5th place and Justyna Kowalczyk is now up to 6th. On to the men’s 15 Km classic pursuit – I gather Dario Cologna hasn’t been entirely well, so interesting to see how well he copes with such an intense series. Looks like a tough course and the waxing might be difficult in the rather icy conditions? (another reason I prefer freestyle!). Sundby seems to have closed up well but the pace might be a little conservative; still quite bunched at the front; incidentally I understand that Sundby was lucky not to be penalised on the sprint for doing the hills on the wrong side of the track! Now the pace is increasing a little and a few people have been damaged, but there are still some good names in the leading group. Penultimate time up the nasty looking serious climb and Cologna and Sundby are the leading 2, Alex Harvey 3rd and the Russians also looking good. Top 20 separated by only about 12 seconds; I think Andrew Musgrave has lost contact with the lead group a little while ago? Lead group are wandering all over the place looking for faster snow – final climb now; looks messy and a few stumbles; astonishing finish by Petter Northug to take this win and lead the Tour from Alex Harvey and Calle Halfvarsson. Dario Cologna was 6th, 2.3 seconds back and Sundby 8th. Andrew Musgrave in 26th place, so picking up some World Cup points. Next venue is Münstertal for the sprint freestyle event on the 6th.

Missed these live, but .. in the Women's race, guess who won? There were 4 Norwegians in the final 6, led home by Marit Bjørgen (who now has 999 points in the overall world cup) ahead of Heidi Weng and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg. Neither Justyna K nor Therese J made it to the final. In the men's race Federico Pellegrino (Ita) won from Petter Northug and Martin J-S; looks as though Dario Cologna didn't make the final. Andrew Young did finish third in his QF, and Andrew Musgrave 4th in his QF but neither seem to have made it through to the semis; haven't got the full result sheets. As an aside I gather that the incident during the summer involving Petter Northug that the commentators occasionally allude to is rather more serious than just drink driving (which is bad enough)!

Men's 10 Km and Women's 5 Km: Missed these again, as my main focus was on the biathlon relay at Oberhof! In the men's race, again a more varied affair than the women's race, Alexey Poltoranin (Kaz) just pipped Evgeniy Belov (Rus) by 0.5 of a second. Martin Johnsrud Sundby was third, 4.2 back on the winner. Sweden's Calle Halfversson was 4th and Dario Cologna 5th; Petter Northug was 22.8 seconds back in 7th. Andrew Musgrave was 20th, again beating Canada's Devon Kershaw and only about 6 seconds back on Vylegzhanin - great result. In the women's race the unstoppable machine that is Marit Bjørgen won yet again, 10.8 seconds ahead of Therese Johaug with Heidi Weng third - another all Norwegian podium. Justyna Kowalczyk was 5th. Tomorrow the men do a 25 Km  and the women 15 - freestyle

Just caught the end of the men's 25Km freestyle - by which stage a group of 4 had broken clear; Belov, Northug, Sundby and Halfvarsson who took turns sharing the lead (with one notable exception!). In the next group, some 1.40 mins or so back, were some other good names including Dario Cologna, who seemed a little off the pace again, maybe he's not as well as he could be? Coming in to the final stretch Northug made the break for the line that he'd been saving himself for, and couldn't be caught. Calle Halfvarsson was second with Sundby 3rd and Belov 4th - only 2.4 seconds separating 1st from 4th after 25 Km! Alex Harvey (Can) was 6th and Cologna 7th about 1.46 back. Great news for GB as not only did Andrew Musgrave finish 11th but (given the nature of the pursuit start) he was also the fastest around the course - great effort! Rest day tomorrow with a mass start at Val de Fiemme on Saturday and the amazing height gain of the Alpe Cermis on Sunday (I think it's an alpine red run if you do it downwards!)

Boring - Marit B won the women's 15 Km by nearly 2 minutes from Heidi Weng with Therese Johaug almost another minute back in third - another all Norwegian podium! Emma Wiken (Swe) was 4th with Ragnhild Hage (another Norwegian!!) 5th with Justyna Kowalczyk 6th. I know Bjørgen is an amazing athlete, and works extremely hard at it, but almost 2 minutes lead going into the final 2 events is one great big margin! Seems astonishing that she has never won this event.

Men’s 15Km mass start – seems to have been a tricky day; both Cologna and Belov apparently fell (not sure if that was as a result of a collision, as I didn’t see the whole race) on the descent. Great news in the end however as Tim Tscharnke (Ger), in a very tight race for the line by the leading five racers, has just pipped Alexey Poltoranin (Kaz) for the win after a photo finish! Despite the fall Dario Cologna was third. Sundby was 8th, taking time out of Petter Northug, who was 21st, 17.1 seconds behind the winner; overall I think Sundby gained 13 seconds. Biggest loser today arguably Halfvarsson, who was 27th; Belov ended up 16th and Andrew Musgrave was 35th. Not sure what that all does to the overall standings – they seem to still be working them out! Just the pursuit up the Alpe Cermis to come, hope the weather doesn’t affect that!

From FIS site: quote - Petter Northug Jr (NOR) still leads the overall Tour standings despite a 21st place finish today.  His lead is now +3.1 over Martin Johnsrud Sundby (NOR) who was 8th place today.  Sweden's Calle Halfvarsson still sits in 3rd place +26.8 back.  He was 27th today in the 15 km classic.  Unquote

Women's 10 Km race: Well, a slight change at long last, although fairly minor! Very close at the front, but in the end Therese Johaug just won from Bjørgen and Heidi Weng; another all Norwegian podium and the three of them were over a minute clear of fourth place Aino-Kaisa Saarinen! Good to see Elizabeth Stephen (USA) in 4th; Justyna Kowalczyk was 7th. Not sure yet what the time gaps are for tomorrow, but despite Johaug's form on the Alpe Cermis I can't see anyone stopping Marit Bjørgen from winning this event at last.

Men’s 9Km Pursuit – Alpe Cermis: This is going to be tight, but at least they aren't having such extreme weather here as what is playing havoc with BKK for the women's alpine events; at the first timing point Sundby is almost up with Northug with Halfvarsson just over 30 seconds back, just ahead of Belov. Big gap then to Cologna who is in no man’s land with a fair gap to Poltoranin and Dyrhaug, and seems to be losing ground. Andrew Musgrave going well here and could make up some places. Next split and Sundby is past, and pulling away a little; Halfvarsson and Belov don’t seem to be closing on Northug though and Cologna is definitely losing time. It’s all over and Martin Johnsrud Sundby wins the tour de ski from Petter Northug (so glad he didn’t win!) and Evgeniy Belov; Halfvarsson 4th, Dario Cologna 5th; Andrew Musgrave finished a very creditable 20th, just ahead of yesterday’s stage winner, Tim Tscharnke.

Women’s 9 Km pursuit: Good pre-race interview with Elizabeth Stephen – good climber so she might gain a little? This must surely be a race to see who joins Marit Bjørgen on the podium, in what order, as she has such a massive lead? First split point shows very little change in the timing gaps; this is such a procession that Eurosport might have done better to go live on something else and leave this for later? There’s a gap of over 4 minutes between the first three and anyone else! Second split and Johaug has closed a little; time for a cup of tea before anyone else crosses the line; possibly best to ignore the podium and watch the race for the rest of the top 10 places?!! Disregarding that thought – Johaug has passed Weng! So, predictably Bjørgen wins the TdS at last from Johaug who has pretty much halved her deficit today and Weng in third. Great race between Stephen and Haga for 4th, almost 5 minutes back; Haga puts in a final burst so Norway have taken the top 4 places; great effort from Stephen to get 5th.