MOSCOW, 31 December. /TASS/. The multi-day ski race "Tour de Ski" starts on Saturday in Val Müster, Switzerland. Next week there will be stages in German Oberstdorf, Italian Dobbiaco and Val di Fiemme, the winners of the tour will be determined in the overall standings and individual events.
The Tour de Ski was created in 2006 by analogy with the Tour de France in cycling, when participants overcome several stages in various cities over several weeks. As part of the ski tour, participants will have to run both sprint and long distances in classic and free style, so universal skiers usually win in the overall standings.
The only Russian winner of the Tour de Ski is Alexander Legkov, who finished first overall in 2013 but will miss out on the current race. Legkov, Evgeny Belov, Maxim Vylegzhanin, Alexei Petukhov, Yulia Ivanova and Evgenia Shapovalova were suspended from competition due to suspected anti-doping rule violations. Russian athletes sent a request to the International Ski Federation (FIS) to allow them to participate in the Tour de Ski, but the FIS doping commission rejected the appeal.
The results of the Tour de Ski races are included in the World Cup standings, where Russian skiers have achieved only one victory this season - on December 11, Sergey Ustyugov won the freestyle sprint at a stage in Davos, Switzerland. In the previous cup race in La Clusaz, France, Legkov took third place in the 15 km freestyle race from the mass start. Russian skiers did not take a place on the podium this season.
Three countries in nine days
The Tour de Ski will run from 31 December to 8 January. On the last day of the year, sprint races for men and women in the free style will take place in Val Müster, on January 1, there will also be mass start races in the classic style, for women at 5 km, for men at 10 km. On January 3, Oberstdorf will host a skiathlon (women - 10 km, men - 20 km), the next day - free style pursuit (women - 10 km, men - 15 km).
On January 6, the stage in Italian Dobbiaco (Toblach) starts, where women will run 5 km freestyle, and men - 10 km. On January 7th, in Val di Fiemme, races will be held from the mass start in the classic style (10 and 15 km). The tour will end on January 8 with the traditional nine-kilometer uphill pursuit, which will determine the winner in the overall standings. Only skiers who have completed all previous Tour de Ski races can claim success.
The first winners of the tour in 2007 were German Tobias Angerer and Finn Virpi Kuitunen. Dario Cologna from Switzerland won the tour three times, Justina Kowalczyk from Poland won four women's titles. Three times in 2014-2016, the Norwegian Martin Sundby won the overall standings of the tour, but his 2015 result was canceled due to anti-doping rule violations, and the victory was given to compatriot Petter Nortug.
Last year, the Norwegians Sundby and Teresa Johaug won the overall standings of the tour, the Italian Federico Pellegrino and the Norwegian Ingvild Flugstad Estberg were the first in the sprint standings.
Ustyugov wins the sprint at the Tour de Ski. This finish is worth revisiting.
Russian skier Sergei Ustyugov won the 1.5 km sprint at the Tour de Ski multi-day race in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
The 25-year-old athlete showed a result of 2 minutes 57.28 seconds. For Ustyugov, this is the first victory of the season.
Following the two-time world champion from Russia, the Italian Federico Pellegrino finished.
Ustyugov, we recall, is the winner of the Tour de Ski of the 2016/17 season.
Another Russian Alexander Bolshunov, who will turn 21 on December 31, managed to reach the semi-finals on Saturday.
“I am very happy that I won. You know what our circumstances are. We have to go out and fight to the end,” Ustyugov said in an interview after the race.
Tour de Ski. 1st stage. Lenzerheide (Switzerland)
Men. Sprint
1. Sergey Ustyugov (Russia) - 2.57.3
2. Federico Pellegrino (Italy) - +0.99
3. Luca Shanava (France) - +2.76
In women, the owner of the track Lauren van der Graff became a sensational winner. American skier Sophie Caldwell finished second, while Norwegian Maiken Kaspersen Falla was third.
22-year-old Russian Natalya Nepryaeva, who ran for the first time in the sprint final, finished fourth with 46 bonus seconds.
On December 31, cross-country skiers and cross-country skiers in Switzerland will run a 15 km and 10 km pursuit. The Tour de Ski will end with the traditional uphill climb on January 7, 2018.
Women. Sprint
1. Lauren van der Graff (Switzerland) - 3:25.80
2. Sophie Caldwell (USA) - +1.42
4. Natalia Nepryaeva (Russia) - +3.17
Photo: RIA Novosti/Alexey Filippov
Tomorrow, December 30, 2017, as part of the 2017/18 World Cup, the 12th traditional ski race Tour de Ski will start, which will consist of seven races over nine days in three countries. The first, second and third stages will be held in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, the fourth and fifth - in Oberstdorf, Germany, and the final sixth and seventh stages will traditionally take place in Val di Fiemme, Italy. We bring to your attention the schedule of starts and broadcasts of the competition. Lenzerheide. Switzerland
Stage 1. Sprint, freestyle
Like last year, the Tour de Ski will not start with a prologue (short-distance time trials), but with a skating sprint.In qualifying, the seeded group of athletes, determined by the current position in the World Cup, will start first. Athletes in it will be located in the reverse order. The starting order for other competitors will be determined by their sprint FIS points.
Prize seconds: The first 30 riders will receive bonus seconds which will be deducted from the qualifying time. Winner - 60, 2nd place - 56, 3rd place - 48, 4th place - 46, 5th place - 44, 6th place - 42, 7th place - 32, 8th place - 30, 9th place - 28, 10th place - 26, 11 place - 24, 12th place - 22, 13-15th place - 10, 16-20th place - 8, 21-25 - 6, 26-30 - 4.
Broadcast schedule:
Sprint, free style, men, women.
Final races
Stage 2: Women's 10 km / Men's 15 km, individual start, classic
The red group will include the top 15 athletes according to the current standings on the Tour after the first leg. The start order will be organized according to the FIS rules chapter 5.4.
Prize seconds: 15.10 and 5 bonus seconds will be awarded to the winner, silver and bronze medalists of the race.
Broadcast schedule:
Men's 15 km Classic Single Start
Eurosport 12:15 (Live), MatchTV 12:25 (Live)
Women's 10 km Classic Single Start
Eurosport 17:15 (Live), MatchTV 16:55 (Live)
Stage 3: 10 km women / 15 km men, pursuit, free style
Bib numbers will be issued according to the position of the riders in the overall stage standings after two rounds. Athletes will start with a backlog from the leader equal to their backlog in the overall standings of the Tour. In order to avoid too long start intervals, the Competition Jury may decide on a "wave start".
Prize seconds: 15.10 and 5 bonus seconds will be given to the first three at the finish of the race. There are no intermediate prize finishes.
Broadcast schedule:
Women's 10 km Freestyle Pursuit
Eurosport 12:45 (Live), MatchTV 12:55 (Live)
Men's 15 km Freestyle Pursuit
Eurosport 14:45 (Live), MatchTV 14:55 (Live)
Oberstdorf. Germany
Stage 4: Sprint Classic
In qualifying, the seeded group of athletes, determined by the current position in the Tour after three stages, will start first. Athletes in it will be located in the reverse order. The starting order for other competitors will be determined by their sprint FIS points.
Prize seconds: See step 1
Broadcast schedule:
Sprint, classic style, men, women.
Final races
Stage 5: 10 km women / 15 km men, mass start, freestyle
The leader of the overall standings of the stage after four stages will start first and will receive the starting jersey with number 1. The other riders will also receive a starting position and a number according to their position in the overall standings of the stage after four stages.
Prize seconds:
Broadcast schedule:
Women's 10 km freestyle mass start
Eurosport 12:00 (Live), MatchTV 12:10 (Live)
Men's 15 km freestyle mass start
Eurosport 13:00 (Live), MatchTV 13:10 (Live)
Val di Fiemme. Italy
Stage 6. 10 km women / 15 km men, mass start, classic style
The leader of the stage overall standings after five rounds will start first and will receive the starting jersey number 1. The other riders will also receive a starting position and a number according to their position in the overall standings of the stage after five rounds.
Prize seconds: There will be one intermediate finish for women and two for men. Bonus seconds in the amount of 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 will be given to the first ten riders who have passed the intermediate cutoff. In addition, 15.10 and 5 bonus seconds will be given to the first three at the finish of the race.
Broadcast schedule:
Women's 10 km Classic Mass Start
Eurosport 16:30 (Live), MatchTV 16:10 (Live)
Men's 15 km Classic Mass Start
Eurosport 17:45 (Live), MatchTV 17:40 (Live)
Stage 7: Ascent to Alpe Cermis - 9 km women / 9 km men, pursuit, freestyle
Start numbers will be issued according to the position of the riders in the overall stage standings after seven rounds. Athletes will start with a backlog from the leader equal to their backlog in the overall standings of the Tour. To avoid too much backlog, the jury may decide to use a "wave start".Prize seconds: there are no bonus seconds at the final stage of the multi-day race
Broadcast schedule:
Women's 9 km Freestyle Pursuit
Eurosport2 15:15, Match!Arena 13:25 (Live), MatchTV 15:00
Men's 9 km Freestyle Pursuit
Eurosport 16:00 (Live), Match!Arena 16:25 (Live), MatchTV 18:15
The second day of the prestigious stage race turned out to be less successful for Russia than the first.
After the success at the start of the Tour de Ski, we all waited for the continuation of the banquet. Fortunately, there are enough strong skiers in the current team. One is worth it. And, fortunately, he is not alone. There are others who can win medals at big competitions.
DRAMA BOLSHUNOV
Even at the 11 km mark in the men's race, everything was going great for us. That's all, which drove the nearest pursuer 4 seconds, and even 10. I wanted to believe that the ward Yuri Borodavko will make a wonderful gift for himself, because on December 31 the athlete turned 21 years old. However, the last part of the distance was given to the Russian too hard...
At the cutoff of 13.5 km, Bolshunov was already third, ahead by 3.8. At the same time, the Norwegian had an earlier starting number, and Alexander ran, focusing on his time. But that didn't help either. The Russian with all his strength, of which there were few left by the end of the distance, threshed at the finish line, but in the end lost to Sundby a meager 0.9. The frustrated sportsman angrily beat his fist in the snow and left the stadium in a terrible mood. Bolshunov failed to make a gift to himself. Although for a man who spends his first season in the World Cup, fourth place is far from bad.
Moreover, in the sum of the first two races, Alexander is third. He is only 12.7 behind the leader. In the first place is still the triumphant of last year's "Tour de Ski" Sergey Ustyugov. In “Losenok” today's race is not particularly good – he is tenth in 37.1 from the winner Cologny. At the same time, the two-time world champion did not look immensely tired after the finish. Maybe the servicers did not quite guess with the ski wax, or maybe Ustyugov was simply not in the mood. After winning yesterday's sprint, Sergei did not hide the fact that he went to the start without any special emotions, and a couple of days ago he seriously intended to miss the multi-day race. The point is 11 suspended Russian skiers, for whom our athlete is very worried.
As for the denouement of today's cut-off, it turned out to be dramatic. Colonia was ahead of Alexei Poltoranin by some 0.6. As a result of this, the Swiss is now only 1.6 behind Ustyugov in the overall standings of the tour, and Poltoranin has moved up to fourth position. He is 22 seconds behind the leader. Tomorrow we will have a freestyle pursuit race and it promises to be very interesting.
WOMEN: OUT OF TOP 10
Hopes for a Russian medal on Sunday did not fade after the men's race. A few hours after its completion, on the same track, the strongest in the 10 km time trial was determined by women. And this season she managed to teach everyone that she is able to fight with world leaders, including in this discipline. Curiously, the 22-year-old athlete was one of the last to start. After her, there were no top distance athletes, that is, Nepryaeva ran, knowing exactly the results of most of her rivals.
The start was optimistic. At the first cut-off (1 km) Natalia was in the top three. Alas, our athlete failed to keep the pace taken. With each next kilometer, her backlog from the leaders grew, and in the protocol she fell lower and lower. It's probably due to inexperience. Still, the day before, Borodavko's ward left many strengths and emotions, having reached the sprint finals, and the difficult track against the backdrop of under-recovery was not easy for her.
As a result, Nepryaeva finished 12th and became the best of ours, ahead of even, which was faster at the cutoff of 8.5 km. In the overall standings, Natalia is now fifth. If we proceed from the fact that Yuri Borodavko, before the start of the Tour de Ski, set her the task of finishing in the top six according to the results of the entire stage race, so far everything is going according to plan. But the athlete herself is completely dissatisfied with her performance today. And this is a good sign.
The Russian is 1.6 seconds ahead of the Swiss, who became the best in today's 15 km race.
Men. 15 km COP. 1. Cologna (Switzerland) - 35.29.5. 2. Poltoranin (Kazakhstan) - 0.6 (lag). 3. Sundby (Norway) - 13.1. 4. BOLSHUNOV - 14. 5. CHERVOTKIN - 15.2 ... 10. Ustyugov - 37.1 ... 13. VOLZHENTSEV - 48.6 ... 23. LARKOV - 1.08 ... 29. YAKIMUSHKIN - 1.25.5 ... 37. MELNICHENKO - 1.38, 6… 40. SPOKES - 1.47.1… 43. VICENKO - 01.49.9.
Overall score: 1. Ustyugov. 2. Columns - backlog 1.6. 3. BOLSHUNOV - 12.7 ... 8. CHERVOTKIN - 49.8.
Women. 10 km. KS. 1. Ostberg - 26.59.4. 2. Weng (both - Norway) - 25.7. 3. Bjornsen (USA) - 42.2 ... 12. NEPRYAEV - 1.15.1 ... 16. SEDOV - 1.21.2 ... 20. ZHAMBALOVA - 1.38.4 ... 54. GUSCHINA - 3.00.01 ... 56. NECHAYEVSKAYA - 3.08.4 .