Winners
Tobias Angerer. The winner of last year’s World Cup began the “Tour” in Munich you can’t imagine worse. In the sprint, he finished only 41st. But gradually he got excited and already in Oberstdorf noticeably corrected the situation, having closed the top three winners, first in the duathlon, and then in the classic 15 km race. “When it became known that the first stage in Nove Mesto will not take place due to lack of snow, I tore my hair out. I had to start with an unloved sprint. But I pulled myself together and spent the rest of the race flawlessly, ”the champion frankly admitted. Angerer was so concentrated on the overall victory, that in another sprint, which was held in Asiago, he reached the semifinals. For a 29-year-old German, this is an unprecedented achievement.
Virpi Kuitunen. The main favorite for women was considered the Norwegian Marit Bjorgen. But in reality it turned out differently. The 30-year-old Finnish skier, the bronze medalist in the team sprint at the end of November, gained such a fantastic shape that she has not lost it so far. At the stages of the World Cup, she successfully coped with any distance. In Kuusamo, she was second in the sprint, in Koni - she won the classic “ten”, in La Clouse - the “fifteen”. It is not surprising that the stage race submitted precisely to Kuitunen. On the snowy tracks of Germany and Italy, she showed exemplary stability and only once did not finish in the top six. After the final 10-kilometer climb to the mountain, Kuitunen promised reporters not to relax for a long time and already on January 20 to go to the start of the next stage of the World Cup in Rybinsk.
OUR
Alexander Legkov overshadowed even his titled peer Evgeny Dementyev on the Tour. For the first time, the junior world champion recalled himself in Oberstdorf, having foolishly lost the finish of the duathlon to Vincent Wittose. On the last descent, Legkova skidded, he lost precious seconds, which was used by an experienced French skier. However, the main race in life, Alexander held in Val di Fiemme. First, he closed the top ten in the classic 30 km race, and then he demonstrated crazy speed on a mountain climb. Legkov started two minutes behind the leaders. But over 11 kilometers he managed to overtake everyone: Renning, Ostensen, Northug, Goering, Hetland, Estil ... If the pursuit was a little longer, Angerer himself could not resist the pressure of the Russian.
Evgeny Dementyev took eighth place, although he could rise even higher. Suffice it to say that two stages before the end of the “Tour” he was the third in the general classification. Dementyev very smoothly went through a few days: he was the sixth in the duathlon, with beyond the limits of his time he overcame the classic "tag", made a real feat in the sprint, reaching the semifinals. The puncture happened, in fact, alone. In Val di Fiemme, the Olympic champion could not stand the fast pace in the mass start (30 km) with a classic style.
For two and a half weeks, Ivan Alypov ran ten races: four at the Russian Championship in Syktyvkar and six at the Tour de Ski. Incredible fatigue did not stop the bronze medalist of the Olympics in the team sprint to take second place in the prestigious classic “thirty”. This is Alypov’s first major success this season.
Olga Zavyalova reminded herself of the ski elite, taking third place in the duathlon. The 34-year-old world champion was less than a second ahead of the Olympic champion, Czech Katerina Neumannova. In the overall standings of the "Tour" Zavyalova, like our other girls, did not show off. At certain stages, Julia Chekaleva (duathlon) and Natalya Korosteleva (sprint) fell into the top six.
Unexpected
Norwegian youth. 22-year-old Simen Ostensen and 21-year-old Peter Nortug thoroughly shook the Tour. They are now called world stars. Last year, Nortug managed to celebrate his victory at the World Cup in Falun, after which he instantly became the highest paid skier in the world! Peter’s salary is raised monthly by Fischer equipment company and SAS airline. Simen Ostensen, unlike his younger comrade, cannot boast of high-profile successes. This season he played only at the Scandinavian Cup. At the "Tour de Ski" struck his finest hour. A pupil of the famous ski club Fossum equally quickly ran a sprint, distance racing, calculated his strength on a mountain climb and took third place.
QUOTE
“I am very pleased to be on the podium. I did not expect such agility from myself. I thought, at best, I’ll be the sixth or seventh. But when the leaders gradually overtook the final rise, he felt additional strength. I just ran to the finish ”, - silver medalist Alexander Legkov in an interview with Tour official website de Ski explained its incredible take-off.
NUMERAL
37 people did not pass the Tour de Ski test. For health reasons, such well-known skiers as Estonian Kristina Schmigun, German Axel Teichmann, Norwegian Odd-Bjorn Hjelmeset, Canadian Devon Kershaw, and Frenchman Roddy Darragon and Swiss Christoph Eigenmann retired from the competition. The last trio took all the prizes at the sprint stage in Munich.